It wasn't explained in the video but I got the impression some sort of 'liberalization' of the licensing laws has occurred to make this possible.
I did some Googling and found some discussions about licensing liberalization in France but no specific mentions of how/when it was implemented (if it ever was).
It wouldn't surprise me if it were, though, since here in the UK getting a license isn't particularly tough (added: with some notable exceptions, see reply posts).. so maybe there's some EU harmonization going on in this regard.
What about "The Knowledge" required for London black cab drivers - which apparently takes between two and four years of study and exam attempts to pass:
[Edit: I sometimes wish they had something like this in Edinburgh - I've had to tell taxi drivers here where to go a few times and the taxis here are very expensive compared to Glasgow and London].
Good point. It's night and day between different areas. It's hard work to become a 'black cab' driver in central London, as you say. But just a few miles away in a different borough of London you can get a license with barely more than a criminal check and some other commonsense precautions (these are often called "minicabs" in London and can't call themselves "taxis" for a number of legal reasons). I used to do a lot of work for several south London cab firms and becoming a driver for them seemed pretty easy - you just had to do a certain amount of "account" work for free and you then got the lion's share of the remaining take. No "medallions" or crazy expenses beyond insurance and car maintenance.
I'm pretty sure minicabs can't pick up passengers on the street, only black cabs can do that. Don't minicabs have to rely on bookings through a central office?
My knowledge for outside of London is merely anecdotal as I never had any clients like that, but to the best of my knowledge, you're right for London. Outside of London, minicabs can use taxi ranks (in their area) and I'd be surprised if they couldn't be hailed in certain areas too (at least, I've seen it done in other large British cities).
I did some Googling and found some discussions about licensing liberalization in France but no specific mentions of how/when it was implemented (if it ever was).
It wouldn't surprise me if it were, though, since here in the UK getting a license isn't particularly tough (added: with some notable exceptions, see reply posts).. so maybe there's some EU harmonization going on in this regard.