Taxis, yes from the junta to one thousand more licences in Rome. Fares will be more expensive: minimum fare 9 euro

One thousand more taxi licences, fares adjusted upwards. Two resolutions approved by Roberto Gualtieri's Capitoline Council, two steps towards the call for tenders at the end of the month for new 'licences' for the city's white cars, currently around 7,800. And the next step will be the increase in the number of Nccs, 2,000 new authorisations: none have been issued since 1993. 'There are too few taxis, we need more as soon as possible to avoid the scenes of endless queues we are witnessing,' the mayor's comment. The announcement had come during the 'Roma si muove' initiative organised by Mobility Councillor Eugenio Patanè to take stock of the capital's transport prospects. "It has been waiting for 20 years," said the councillor. "During these months we have been working silently with the category to increase the service offer.

Drivers, however, welcomed the novelty with a certain coldness: only the CGIL, in consultation, gave its approval; the other unions, such as Uritaxi, abstained while the Ugl voted against. The drivers demanded greater progressivity in the introduction of the licences - which, instead, will come all at once - but also an extra 'effort' on the retouching of the fares. "An increase was due, by law," Patanè explained, "They should be increased by 15%, but in some cases, in agreement with the categories, we did not exceed this threshold. It was only exceeded for the Ciampino route'.

The new fare schedule envisages an initial step on the taximeter from 3 to 3.50 euros on weekdays and increases from 7 to 7.50 euros at night, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. A minimum fare of 9 euros is introduced. The minimum fares from Fiumicino Airport and Ciampino Airport to destinations inside the Aurelian Walls go up from 50 to 55 euros and from 31 to 40 euros respectively (35 and 25 euros for destinations outside the Walls). The discount for women seeking a taxi to get around at night has risen from 10 to 15 per cent, the discount for those who need to go to hospital or who are leaving a disco and do not feel up to driving remains at 10, while a 10 per cent discount has been introduced for the over-70s. The step forward on taxis is one of the elements of the Campidoglio's transport strategies: 'Today we see the light at the end of the tunnel,' said Gualtieri at the event in the former Atac depot in San Paolo. In front of him were two trams: a historic car from the 1920s and a model of one of the new trains on the way: past and future.

The mayor has claimed to have bought more than a thousand buses, 400 of which are already on the road, and then 121 trams (the first on the road in a year's time) and 53 metro trains: 'a complete overhaul of the equipment'. The construction of the Grab, the 'bicycle ring road', is also underway: the first two lots will be ready for the Jubilee. "We have a secure, hinged and financed timeframe," added Gualtieri. "We have put in place 10 billion for investment for 10 years, one billion a year: in previous years it was less than 100 million a year. Now we must continue like this - the appeal to the government - because Rome needs 20 billion between now and 2040, and an increase of between 120 and 180 million in the National Transport Fund. 'The construction sites,' he finally emphasised, 'cause inconvenience, but we decided to take the situation by the hair. Either we did the horse cure or Rome's tpl would collapse'.