The season has barely wound down and the village is already counting the damage. Nearly 900 violations logged by the municipal police over the summer months. Ride-hailing drivers flooding in from across France, some without the required paperwork, some openly touting for fares along the beach road or around the port. Anyone who tried to drive through the village in July will not be surprised.
Mayor Sylvie Siri has referred the matter to the Ministry of Transport and is in active discussions with a ministerial advisor to map out concrete solutions before 2027. Her line is blunt: « Now is the time to prepare the next season, not next spring when the emergency is back at our door.» For a file that usually gets shelved in September, that is something.
The municipality is careful to draw a line. This is not about the profession. Local drivers who work the peninsula year-round, know the roads, and follow the rules are suffering too, squeezed by operators who treat Saint-Tropez like a seasonal gold rush. Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle are jointly pushing for a regulatory framework tailored to territories with exceptional tourist pressure. Whether Paris will move, and how fast, is another question.
Nothing is decided yet. But for once, the VTC problem will not wait until June to be discussed.
