From one day to the next, the rule of knowledge was abolished that taxi drivers in Oslo must have street knowledge. For decades, taxi drivers had to pass a test that demonstrates their near-encyclopedic knowledge of the city's streets and routes. The test for drivers in Norwegian called kjentmannsprove, is comparable to the knowledge test of taxi drivers in London.
In total, 13 different taxi companies operate in Oslo and Akershus. In Oslo and Akershus, there was only one neutral entity, Taxiskolen, that organized the knowledge test, but that company went bankrupt in September. Because there is no longer an approved test center, the rules have been adjusted so that there is no longer any need for a replacement company to test the drivers.
The ministry claims in a new bill that technological advancements with satellite navigation make driver testing less important. Still, the owner of a taxi company says his company would introduce its own road knowledge test for employees.
“In its eagerness to dismantle the taxi industry, the government majority in parliament decided this spring to scrap the (knowledge) test, but we expected this change to take place on July 1 of next year, when the changes to the Professional Transport Act (yrkestransportloven) will come into force ”, added Jarle Kanaris, owner of the Bytaxi company.
