In Moscow and St. Petersburg, every second person regularly uses a taxi. On average across the country, 73% of Russians use taxis several times every six months or more often. This service is one of the most “digitalized”: across the country, almost three-quarters use a mobile application to call a car, and in cities with a population of more than a million, almost everyone does.
According to the vast majority of respondents, things have not gotten worse since the law was passed. They have gotten much better, though. But they have become more expensive.
One of the main arguments in favour of the adoption of the law was concern for the safety of passengers. But now the prevailing opinion is that nothing has changed over the year, neither in terms of safety and comfort of travel, nor in the work of drivers (72%, 73% and 69%, respectively). Only 10-15% noticed an improvement in these parameters, 6-8% noticed a deterioration. The technical condition of cars also did not change according to the opinion of the respondents (63%; another 13% believed that it had improved; 9% believed that it had worsened).
One can take into account the increasing demands of Russians, as well as the fact that “people quickly get used to good things” and therefore do not always notice small but important changes for the better. For example, the passenger is now insured. They take good things for granted and are sure that “it has always been this way.”
In my subjective opinion, compared to other countries, taxis in our country work well. In general, the very idea of a “platform” for providing such a service, when a passenger can quickly write a review, rate the driver (and the driver the passenger), which is reflected in their earnings, is very disciplined.
However, the survey revealed the most important problem – the increase in the cost of travel: according to 66% of respondents, it has become less attractive (expensive), only 22% did not notice any change. At the same time, the high demand for taxi services, as well as the increase in price, do not guarantee the absence of problems during the trip. According to sociologists, two-thirds of taxi passengers have encountered various problems during the past year (66%, first of all, “drove the car to the wrong place”). Thus, it can be summed up that more was expected from the above-mentioned law.
To be fair, we note that the rise in prices for taxi services began somewhat before the adoption of Federal Law 580, but then accelerated noticeably. According to Rosstat, in September 2022, a taxi ride cost a Russian 29.55 rubles per kilometer, in June 2023 – already 31.27 rubles, and in September of the same year – already 36.22 rubles. The growth for the year was 22.57%.
Since 2023, the cost of a taxi in Moscow has increased by 40% compared to 2022. In the regions, the growth is more modest – by 25%. Too much. At the same time, taxi drivers themselves cannot say that they are getting fat: their average salary in Russia in 2024 will be about 107 thousand rubles, which corresponds to the “salary expectations” of a typical guest worker. So that there is something left to live on and something to send to the family homeland. In Moscow, the average net income of a driver is 80-150 thousand per month, in the regions 50-70 thousand.
Of course, it was difficult to expect a reduction in taxi prices against the background of what is happening in the car market (sanctions, difficulties with spare parts, rising prices for all car components), as well as against the background of (albeit still moderate) increases in fuel prices. But the price should not have increased by 25-40 percent.
According to experts, this is due to the fact that the law is “overburdened” with excessive requirements. The colour of taxis has been regulated; ordering services must open regional offices if orders are handled by 4,000 or more vehicles per day in the region.
Although self-employed people were legally allowed to provide taxi services in their own cars, such legalization turned out to be prohibitively expensive: they need to have civil liability insurance (MTPL) at the taxi rate (which is 10-15 times more expensive than standard rates), undergo medical examinations before and after the shift, issue consignment notes. Why was this archaic Soviet law? But in the provinces up to 90% of orders are made by self-employed drivers. The vast majority of them consider it an additional income and do not complete more than two or three orders a day. It is not profitable for them to comply with all the requirements of the new law; some have left the market.
Many small taxi operators also left. It is no coincidence that Yandex.Taxi has become the absolute leader among applications offering taxi-calling services (79% of those using such applications). In reality, it is a monopoly that has never been cheap for consumers.
Moreover, if for large cities like Moscow the requirements for not admitting drivers who have not been certified in terms of knowledge of the geography of transport infrastructure, cultural heritage, medical organizations, educational facilities, sports, government agencies, etc., are still clear, then why? Is this for a small provincial town? Leave it to the tour guides. Many people do not take out compulsory insurance from the carrier. To prevent them from falling into the “grey zone”, it is worth thinking about more flexible tariffs.
In terms of fine-tuning the law, it would be necessary to adapt it “on the spot” to the specific peculiarities, solvency of the population and the labour market. At the very least, to provide regional authorities with more opportunities to amend the law that would free the local “taxi market” from excessive requirements, allowing taxi services to be provided to the largest possible number of consumers using digital platforms, also eliminating staff shortages in taxis, first of all, at the expense of self-employed workers. And also eliminating unnecessary technical and medical examinations.
The taxi law may be right in its ideology: order is needed. But they clearly went too far. And the “dominated” service sector will always strive to move into the “shadow”. And this will only get worse and more expensive.
