No exception for locals!: Taxi drivers in Zurich must take the German test

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“That’s ridiculous,” says taxi driver Walter Müller. He was born and raised in Switzerland, his mother tongue is “Züridüütsch”. Yet he is not spared what is now required of taxi drivers in the canton of Zurich: proof of German.

A new regulation has been in force in the Canton of Zurich since January 2024. It says here: Anyone who takes people from A to B needs a taxi permit. You must provide a passport photo, an extract from your criminal record and a copy of your driver’s license. And proof that you master the German language.

The canton’s website explains how this can be achieved. For example, through five years of compulsory education or training in upper secondary education in German. Or via a language test.

Müller applied for the identity card for the new year in December. He hasn’t seen his school report for a long time. It must be in a box somewhere in the basement. Müller looks around, but can’t find it. “Well, that’s not important for the job,” he thinks. They probably said goodbye at the last “Züglete”. “I’m just going to try something different.”

As proof of his language skills, he presents a certificate from his last employer in Zurich. It says he “took orders and took care of customers over the phone.” Müller thinks that this way they would notice in the canton that he speaks German. The answer comes immediately: this would not be accepted.

Taxi driver Müller doubled down. A friend is a high school teacher. He confirms in writing that “Walti” has German as his mother tongue. Once again the evidence is not accepted.

“I’m slowly going to 100”

Müller calls the Mobility Office. There he is told that he must apply for school confirmation from his former school district. “I’m slowly going to 100,” he says. But since he has no other choice, he does so. In Horgen, the clerk must go to the archives specifically for this purpose. Cost point? 100 francs.

Judith Setz, head of communications at the Mobility Agency, says: “The new law introduces high quality standards.” Anyone who takes a taxi in Zurich can assume that the driver speaks good German. There would be no additional costs for three of the four options for demonstrating language proficiency.

Müller now has his ID. But his fellow taxi driver Alessio Sägesser, a former municipal police officer in a Zurich municipality, is now facing the same problem. It’s actually called something else. His language test of one and a half hours must take place on February 27. Cost point? 250 francs. His mother tongue is “Bärndüütsch”.

Source:Blick