In Russia, there is a significant development of illegal taxi services, due to the increase in prices for legal taxi services and strict requirements for self-employed drivers. According to the analytical agency "Pressindex", 234 groups and 29 chatbots for calling a taxi are registered in the Telegram messenger, and in VKontakte - 3.8 thousand groups where passengers can find drivers directly, bypassing aggregators and ordering services. In the context of increased prices for legal taxis, which, according to Rosstat, have increased by 26% year-on-year, citizens have begun to turn to illegal offers, where prices can be at least half as low.
User dissatisfaction with legal taxi services is associated not only with rising prices, but also with high commissions that aggregators charge drivers. This leads to the fact that many self-employed drivers go into the shadows, which, in turn, creates a security threat to passengers. In this regard, market experts consider it necessary to liberalize the requirements for self-employed taxi drivers, which will allow them to return to the legal field.
According to the law "On Taxi" that came into force a year ago, the requirements for legal activities for drivers have become more stringent, which does not allow many self-employed drivers to comply with them. For example, drivers cannot undergo the necessary medical examinations and technical inspections due to a lack of points in the regions. This leads to the fact that 72% of drivers, according to a survey by the "Digital World", are ready to work illegally if they cannot fulfill the requirements of the law. To correct the situation, it is necessary to introduce mechanisms into the legislation that allow self-employed drivers to work, of which there are about 2.5 million in the country.
Read more on the topic:
Yellow color of taxis in Russia will be canceled
An experimental legal regime for taxis may be launched in Russia