Will be traveling to Paris during the Christmas holidays and normally would use public transportation for this trip. Would it be better to book a car or van in advance rather than depend on possibly over-stressed taxi service? RS says he normally uses whichever service his hotel suggests. Any other suggestions for reliable company?
Official taxi will cost you 55 Euro. Flat fee, and don't talk to unofficial taxi drivers who try to solicit you before you stand in the official taxi rank.
We always get a cab, but I think if I were arriving on a strike day and the RER was completely down that I would book a ride ahead -- those are sometimes unreliable and I assume will be even more so under these conditions but the RER takes thousands every day into Paris; I cannot imagine that there will be enough cabs to get those same thousands into town. No one can tell you for sure, but if it were me I'd be booking a shuttle or private car and doing it through the hotel if I were staying in a hotel.
What is your date of arrival? (I.e. how far into the month of December)?
The later it is, the better chance that the strike will be over (it’s of course impossible to say with any certainty now)
Maybe plan to use the official Taxi service for now. Check the strike status a day or two prior to flying out, if it is still going on then book a shuttle or car through a service then.
Enjoy your trip.
I always take the RER. If there's a strike, some trains will still run. If I were going and the train schedule didn't work, I'd take a cab (haven't yet used an uber in Paris). I'd never want to drive in Paris. It's likely to be even worse if public transportation isn't moving people.
One strike season, I visited Paris and was fortunate enough to fly Iceland Air into Orly instead of CDG. The strike effected the RER going out to CDG but not to Orly.
No one knows for sure -- but other public service workers may be striking as well including closing down museums. This may well be a more disruptive strike than most and it is not clear that 'some trains' will be running. The yellow vests are also threatening to close down the highways to the airport.