Amsterdam city council has called on officials to take urgent action to stop abuses by taxi drivers based at the central station taxi rank, the Parool reports on Wednesday.

An investigation by the paper showed that taxi drivers are continuing to refuse to drive short journeys, even though they are required to accept every potential customer. Drivers were also caught overcharging passengers and refusing to put on their meters.
Since the beginning of last year, all taxis using central station have to have the TX quality mark, which means they meet certain standards. The quality mark was introduced in an effort to stop complaints about poor service.
Liberalisation
TCA, the capital’s biggest taxi firm, said last month it was pulling out of the TX scheme because it did not work.
Hans Gerson, the city council executive in charge of transport, said he will ensure the station’s taxi rank has better supervision. In addition, he said he is working on plans to increase self regulation in the taxi sector.
The Dutch taxi market was liberalised in 2000, when the permit system was abandoned and anyone was able to set up a taxi service.