Comfortably seated in the driver’s seat of his taxi, Ryad watches the endless line of cars stretching out in front of a BP station near the Montparnasse station in Paris. At a glance, he gives his verdict, more than pessimistic. “If we rush into it, we have a two-hour wait”. At 11 a.m., a period considered to be an “off-peak hour” in normal times, around forty vehicles are already piled up around the gas pumps, immobilized in the fine rain of October. “It’s quite depressing, isn’t it?” Ryad commented. “And again, there, it’s nothing. A few days ago, you had 30 or 40 more cars here, with a double queue, people honking… And as many people losing weight time, and especially money”. In the queue, the driver identifies three of his fellow taxis, lights off and empty seats. “Right now, between waiting at the pumps and the price of gasoline, we are losing around 30% of our turnover every day”.
For ten days, Riyadh can only observe the parade of cars in front of the few stations that still deliver fuel in the capital. “It’s simple, there is no longer a drop of gasoline in Paris,” he breathes. While the CGT announced this Friday, October 14 that the strike would be renewed on all TotalEnergies sites, and that the government specifies that 28.5% of French stations are currently “in difficulty”, the driver multiplies the little tricks and the great sacrifices to continue working.
“We no longer maraude in the streets, we stop in a strategic place hoping that customers will call on us. We no longer accept races that are too long. We get up early, and we stay close to our network… All means are good”, he lists. This Friday, October 14, Ryad woke up at dawn to try to refuel in the capital. “But from 7 a.m., the stations were taken by storm. The wait was too long, I understood that we had to get out of Paris”. Through a driver friend, he learns that a station in Roissy-en-Brie (Seine-et-Marne), located about forty kilometers from his starting point, gives priority to the pump to different professions. including the police, nurses, paramedics, or contracted taxi drivers for “the transport of seated patients”. “It’s my case, so I went for it,” says Ryad.
Long wait and “bird names”
Arrived on the spot, the forty-year-old is slightly disillusioned. “There were a lot of people, and I took a few bird names while passing other motorists. But I remain positive: at least I had my fill”. The driver also assures that the gas station attendant scrupulously monitors the badges of his contracted colleagues, in order to avoid any fraud. “It’s like during the Covid pandemic… People are ready to do anything to get their few liters of fuel. There’s a lot of selfishness,” he says in despair. In recent days, he claims to have witnessed “dozens of scenes of tension” between motorists, some dropping violent insults, others filling several cans of gasoline in plain sight. “You have to keep your cool, I guarantee it.” Ryad knows what he is talking about: during his last fill-up, the driver waited for almost 2h30 to access the pump, before learning on the last meters of the queue that the latter was empty. “In this case, all you have to do is take a deep breath of fresh air. And for the amateurs, smoke a good cigarette”, he confides, laughing.
Despite the growing tension on the ground, Ryad nevertheless categorically refuses to take a few days off during the shortage, or to leave Paris to do his shopping in a more serene climate. “How would my customers do? And the seated patients that I transport regularly? Look, people are in trouble,” he argues, pointing to a couple who were victims of the rain, hailing the driver desperately. Already, the driver feels guilty at the idea of having to refuse certain journeys to patients waiting for a too long race, like this man who wanted to leave the Parisian hospital of Pitié-Salpêtrière to join Pacy-sur -Eure, more than 90 kilometers away. “Normally, it’s a golden race. But there, nobody wanted to take it, for fear of then finding themselves in a shortage of petrol”. Of the dozens of WhatsApp groups of contracted drivers on which Ryad is registered, the race “passed on” from taxi to taxi, before one of them gave in. “One of my colleagues ended up taking it since he was returning home to the Yvelines. But it took a little time, whereas a trip like this normally leaves in a second”.
“It’s hard for everyone”
District after district, Ryad insists on touring each of the gas stations it knows in the south of Paris. Of four establishments visited this Friday, two are completely closed for lack of fuel, one only offers one type of gasoline, and the last displays at least “two hours of queue”. “And they have fun with the prices,” notes Ryad, referring to the refueling carried out in recent days at 2.50, 2.80 or even 2.90 euros per liter of gasoline. A price that forces the driver to give up on certain outings, which he previously offered himself more easily. “There are restaurants where we no longer go, we avoid the cinema… It’s hard for everyone”. At this price, Ryad is also delighted to have invested in a secure parking lot to park his car, and in two cameras in the front and rear of the vehicle. “People already think that taxis handle a lot of cash, which is wrong. So it’s better to anticipate those who would like to rob my fuel!”.
Slaloming between the eternal works of the capital, the driver confides. While a full tank allows it to last three days on average and the SNCF and RATP unions are calling for a general strike Tuesday October 18, he is already anxious at the idea of having to fill his tank at the beginning of next week. “It will be a black day in transport, customers will need us”. To ensure his working hours and find a station with supplies, Ryad knows that he will have to get up around 4 am. “For now, we have no choice. But this strike won’t have to last… Because everyone is exhausted.”