According to the Associated Press, organizers of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games will select an elite corps of about 2,000 taxi drivers from the city’s 30,000 cabbies to work during the Games.
The plan is to create a handpicked fleet of well-mannered, professional – and honest – cab drivers to work during the Summer Games.
The drivers will go through seminars and will be informed about the behaviour they must have as professionals.
About 1,500 drivers will be paid a flat fee of about $120 for a 12-hour shift in which they will drive International Olympic Committee officials and other VIPs.
Another 600 taxi drivers will get permits to drive their taxis on some of Athens’ major roads and make airport runs – areas that will be generally closed to vehicles without special passes.
At the start of next year Olympic planners will begin a series of one-day sessions on Olympic protocol and safe driving techniques.
Athens 2004 transportation direct Panos Protopsalitis said, “courses in the history of Greece and the Olympic Games are also on the agenda”.
