
Ride-hailing in Paris
Private hire is legal in France but only on a booking made before you get in the car, and the regulated airport flat fare does not apply to it.
The legal category is VTC, voiture de transport avec chauffeur. A VTC driver has no right to take a customer who has not booked the journey in advance, so the booking made in the app is what makes the ride lawful.
Maraude, driving slowly and empty in search of a customer, is prohibited for VTC and reserved to taxis. A car circling arrivals looking for passengers is not operating within the rules.
VTC prices are free and not regulated. The fare is either fixed at the moment of booking or calculated after the journey from travel time and distance. The 56 and 65 euro Charles de Gaulle figures are regulated taxi fares and do not apply to a VTC.
How to tell them apart at the kerb: a VTC must carry a compulsory red adhesive sticker and is forbidden from using an external illuminated device, precisely to avoid confusion with taxi activity. A roof light means taxi. A compulsory blue sticker marks a licensed two or three wheel service, not a car.
- Service-Public Entreprendre: rules applying to VTC drivers (fiche F31027) · checked 2026-08-17
- Ville de Paris: taxis · checked 2026-08-17
- Service-Public: taxi, prices, supplements and obligations (fiche F22127) · checked 2026-08-17