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Copenhagen hotels up in arms over insufficient taxi supply

Christian Wenande
June 21st, 2017


This article is more than 7 years old.

Guests being forced to wait for up to an hour during busy periods

This could take a while (photo: Tony Webster)

The hotel industry in Copenhagen is calling for an increase in the number of taxis in the Danish capital.

A number of hotels, including the upscale Hotel d’Angleterre and Hotel Kong Arthur, contend that guests are being forced to wait up to an hour for taxi service. The situation is especially dire during the busy summer months.

“On a dour January day with low crowd densities, it’s fine, but as soon as it’s a typical busy summer day in Copenhagen, we end up having to wait an hour for a taxi. And that’s just really poor service,” Kirsten Brøchner, the co-owner of Hotel Kong Arthur, told Berlingske newspaper.

The tourism interest organisation Horesta is familiar with the problem, which it maintains is well known in the industry. When a cruise ship docks, for example, there’s no way to get enough taxis for the demand, Horesta says.

READ MORE: Uber pulling the plug in Denmark

Taxi commish refutes
Since 2009, the number of taxis operating in the capital region has dwindled by about 450 cars to 1,891 in total. Moreover, more stringent laws recently led to Uber ceasing operations in Denmark.

But while certain taxi companies, including 4×48 Dantaxi and Taxa 4×35, admit that more taxis are needed, the taxi commission, Taxinævnet, rejects any notion of there being a lack of cabs.

Taxinævnet’s head, Jens Jørgen Nygaard, instead contends that surveys compiled by Taxa 4×35, Taxi 4×27 Amager-Øbro and 4×48 Dantaxi in 2016 and 2017 showed that waiting times had been reduced.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”