It all started with a simple family request, for Herenii. When her sister-in-law, a regular bus user, asks her to take her to the Nouville campus, the 23-year-old young woman spots the opportunity: public transport has been at a standstill since May 13, depriving thousands of people using their only means of getting around the city. She, on the other hand, has a vehicle and a lot of free time. She published her first messages in July to sell her chauffeur services in the city. A good way to earn a little money, as she has been living without income since she lost her position as an operations agent due to the crisis. “I still had bills, particularly on the car, and no news of partial unemployment, I had to survive,” relates Herenii. She is not overwhelmed by demands, but manages to do a few errands each week. “It helps with food costs and it pays for my gas,” says the new driver.
From 1,000 to 2,000 francs per trip
Like Herenii, many of them in recent months have taken advantage of the absence of buses to develop a passenger transport activity in Greater Nouméa. On Facebook groups, dozens of messages and numbers are shared every day. “Hello group, I offer to transport you for your shopping, work or other”; “In these difficult times, I offer my services to transport you”, we can read in particular in the dedicated conversation groups. Internet users quickly gave a name to this service between individuals: “taxis 1000”, in reference to the price systematically charged: 1,000 francs, for a trip to Nouméa. A price which may increase slightly depending on the destination: 500 francs more for Dumbéa, Mont-Dore or Païta, 1,000 francs more for a journey to Tontouta. After a quick watch on social networks, Herenii lined up. “I looked at what was being done, it seemed okay to me.” She sometimes even accepted payment “in fruits and vegetables”.
These new cheap drivers do not have the only thing in common with their sudden retraining. In most cases, they are economic victims of the crisis that occurred on May 13. All the people interviewed started their transport business following a loss of income within the household. “We don’t have any money anymore, so I thought of that to make some spare change,” says Marie-Cléa, a week after the launch of her “taxi 1000” service. Her husband, a mechanic, has been unemployed for several weeks. He was the family’s only source of income. Marie-Cléa therefore waited “until the car was repaired” to offer her chauffeur services on the networks. “I haven’t had any clients yet, just family,” she admits.
A supervised profession
The proliferation of these passenger transport offers, however, raises the question of the legal framework for such an activity. “I admit that I didn’t really look at whether it was necessary to take any particular steps,” admits Herenii, who is now considering stopping everything after being alerted “by certain people on Facebook of all the necessary paperwork.” “I don’t know if we need to do anything special, for the moment I haven’t done anything,” Marie-Cléa also admits.
The fact is that a certain number of formalities govern the profession of passenger driver. Contacted numerous times on the subject, the Directorate of Infrastructure, Topography and Land Transport did not respond to our requests. However, several documents, accessible on the DITTT website, provide an overview of the constraints set by the local government. In particular, we can discover that applicants for a passenger transport activity must follow compulsory five-day training at the Craft Training Center (CFA) of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts, billed at 95,000 francs, in order to to obtain “professional capacity” for “public road transport of people”. Specific professional insurance is also required.
If some people play the carpooling card to avoid these obligations, the “taxi 1000” service clearly differs from them: shared transport between individuals only applies to journeys made for oneself and not on request. Furthermore, the only financial exchanges in carpooling must be limited to sharing transport costs, which prohibits the making of profits.
With the return to circulation of Karuïa buses on September 14, the future of the “taxis 1000” service has become darker in recent weeks. The resumption of public transport announced by the SMTU on October 1 should not help the affairs of these new drivers.