Prague City Hall intends to push an amendment to the Road Transport Act through relating to taxi services to allow the city to check whether the applicant for a license has a work permit or to undergo the licensing test.
It also wants to make it impossible to block telephone numbers and credit cards of municipal controllers in alternative carrier applications. Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Prague) said it on Monday. The amendment will be discussed in January by the Senate, to which Prague will submit its proposals.
„We overall agree with the amendment in substance, it is not total disagreement. But we need to capture two or three things that our MPs tried to push through, but unfortunately, we have failed, so we will try it in the Senate once again, “said Scheinherr.
Over the past two years, the Municipality has issued around 1300 driving licenses to drivers from the so-called third countries. “We issue them a taxi license without even being able to check whether they have a work permit at all. Very often, they are taken away by the Foreign Police and expelled. We want the office to be able to check the work permit before granting a taxi license, “said Scheinherr.
According to available information, alternative taxi drivers such as UBER and Bolt often drive and work without permission. These drivers often do not speak Czech and often drive using a profile of another carrier.
The city management also wants to incorporate the obligation to undergo the licensing test in the amendment. According to Scheinherr, although the City council agrees to cancel the topography tests, it wants the driver to pass the aforementioned proficiency test. “It would ensure that the driver has a basic knowledge of the rights and obligations that insurance must have and so on. We all should have that knowledge, ”said Scheinherr. The third proposal is to prohibit the blocking of mobile numbers and credit cards in alternative carrier applications. “So we can’t perform controls. We want this to be banned, ”he said.
