Naples – Between the "Futurist Naples" imagined by Mayor Gaetano Manfredi and the real Naples, drowning in smog and honking horns every day, lies a sea of metal. It is precisely this gap that fuels the latest attack by the Comitato Tassisti di Base (Base Taxi Drivers Committee), which in a harsh statement slams the plans for the extreme pedestrianization of the historic center, branding them unfeasible without proper management of the traffic emergency.
The "white cars" return to the trenches
This isn't the first time Neapolitan taxi drivers have stood guard over the city's traffic. Naples' recent history is marked by the industry's battles: from protests against the de Magistris administration's "leaky" restricted traffic zones, to barricades against unfair competition from illegal operators and multinational platforms, to complaints about the subway construction sites that for years have transformed Piazza Municipio and the port area into an inaccessible labyrinth.
Today, history repeats itself. Taxi drivers, who spend 12 hours a day on the road, warn Palazzo San Giacomo: the future cannot be built by ignoring the chaos of the present.
A phantom traffic plan
The casus belli is the Mayor's recent statements regarding his desire to limit private car access to the heart of the city. "While we agree with the need for a strategic vision," write representatives of the taxi driver base, the reality is quite different. The finger is pointed at chronic structural issues: dramatic deficiencies in road safety and the complete absence of a comprehensive traffic plan.
But the most serious accusation concerns tourist flows. Sold-out Naples has become a trap: inadequate management of the mass of visitors is placing unsustainable pressure on the city's vital arteries, paralyzing non-scheduled public transport.
The paradox of the Euro 5 Ordinance
There's a passage in the press release that reads like a mockery. Taxi drivers are denouncing the failure to comply with Executive Order 784 of November 24, 2025, which would ban vehicles up to Euro 5 from entering the city. This regulation, on paper, should make the air breathable and the roads clear, but in reality—the unions denounce—is a dead letter. No checks, no fines, just waste paper while congestion increases.
Six months of silence
The conflict isn't just technical, it's political. Grassroots representatives revealed they asked for technical discussions over six months ago to discuss concrete solutions. The result? No response. A deafening silence that now adds to the discontent of other groups.
The Committee cites TG3 Campania and the concerns of shopkeepers in the historic center, whose businesses risk being stifled, not by pedestrianization itself, but by the impossibility of reaching the center in a reasonable amount of time due to perimeter traffic.
The call to the Administration is peremptory: "timely and concrete measures" are needed. Taxi drivers are demanding they return to the center of decision-making, not as opponents, but as urban mobility experts, to prevent the "Naples of the future" from becoming merely an election slogan, while the Naples of the present remains stuck in traffic.
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 09/12/2025 at 07:32 - Article revised
- Article updated on 09/12/2025 at 08:37 - Content updated
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Comments (1)
It's interesting to see how Naples taxi drivers are always complaining about traffic, but they don't seem to have any real solutions. The issue of white cars is complicated, and traffic management in the city is a truly serious problem.