Dubrovnik’s taxi drivers will soon no longer be able to stop, wait or pick up passengers on Pile as six stands are set to be abolished.
It seems the taxi drivers just can’t get a break! If it isn’t being shunned (can’t imagine why) for blocking traffic on a highway in the middle of summer, making people miss flights and infurating the Mayor and the bosses at Dubrovnik Airport, now they’re being told their main tourist hunting ground at Pile is being swiped from them!
Pile is unarguably the most busy area in the City of Dubrovnik outside of the walls, with the highest level of congestion in the area. People, buses, cars, taxis and attempts to sell tours and kayaks all stuffed rather uncomfortably in one place. Anyone trying to escape this concentrated hell faces being belted around the back of the head by a selfie stick or two. To tell you to avoid it wouldn’t be enough. To tell you to do anything in your power to avoid it still wouldn’t do it justice.
As Dubrovački Dnevnik reports on the 7th of August, 2017, when representatives of the Dubrovnik City Council were asked by the local publication about abolishing the taxi ranks at Pile after the topic was discussed at the session, the city administration replied that “they can safely say that six taxi ranks will be removed.”
Previously, Mato Franković indicated that the city was “messy and in anarchy” regarding taxis. It should not be forgotten that, as mentioned previously, recent ”spontaneous” protests by taxi drivers who blocked the Adriatic Highway (the only road to Dubrovnik Airport) to send some sort of bizarre message to the Government against Uber’s illegal business activities in Croatia, which is another topic entirely, saw Franković become absolutely infuriated, and rightly so.
If you think I’m being unfair towards Dubrovnik’s taxi drivers, please read our report on how one of our writers, otherwise a New Zealander living near Split, was treated horrendously by these self-entitled individuals. She is just one of a long, long line of unfairly treated, ripped off passengers who leave Dubrovnik with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Mato Franković’s long-term goal is clear and correct, and that is the introduction of calm and order for Dubrovnik’s increasingly congested traffic. Pile is a challenging but an excellent starting point for such a move and the newly elected young Mayor continues to impress and win over support with his aims and desires for a better functioning city for everyone.
The City Administration states that three parking places at Pile are intended to be made available to disabled drivers, while the remaining three would serve as a pick up and drop off zone with no waiting.
“The City of Dubrovnik is in the process of drafting a traffic analysis that will define the exact number of taxi rankings in the city area.” stated the City Administration.
Other stops which will continue to be available to taxi drivers are located at Ploče, Dubrovnik’s main bus station (Gruž), Lapad post office, Hotel Lero and the Port of Gruž.
Excerpts taken and translated from Dubrovački Dnevnik
