The Ministry of Transport, together with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), are exploring the possibility of fixing the maximum size of the increasing coefficient to the base taxi fare during bad weather and emergency situations. This follows from the ministry's response to the head of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Yaroslav Nilov — the deputy proposed legislatively limiting the permissible increase in the cost of trips, after which the Ministry of Transport sent a request to the FAS, Izvestia reports.
According to the FAS, Yandex Taxi dominates the aggregator market — the operator of Yandex Go, Uber and Vezet services. Its tariffs apply an increasing coefficient, which is multiplied by the base cost of the trip: in some regions it reaches a triple value or higher. The antimonopoly service recognized that the mechanism serves to balance supply and demand, but its applied values can significantly increase the final cost of a particular trip. The FAS considered it appropriate to work out the issue of regulating the size of the coefficient. The Ministry of Transport, in turn, confirmed its readiness to participate in the discussion of changes to legislation on the platform of the Duma Committee on Transport.
Earlier, on February 20, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov proposed setting a ceiling on tariffs in officially recorded adverse weather conditions, as well as introducing a fixed price for trips to airports, train stations and hospitals.
Carriers are against government intervention in pricing. The Maksim aggregator explains the increase in tariffs by an objective increase in costs: in snow and ice, the driver spends more time and fuel on one order and makes fewer trips per shift. According to Yandex Taxi, winter traffic jams and poor visibility increased the average duration of trips by 25%, and on some routes during peak hours — by half. Maksim warns: if fixing the coefficient makes trips in bad weather unprofitable for drivers, some of them will refuse orders — the number of available cars will decrease, and the waiting time will increase.
Experts interviewed by Izvestia recognize that it is possible to develop uniform criteria for increasing tariffs: snow, rain and hail are phenomena that are the same for all regions, and the regulator, not the carriers themselves, should set requirements for them. At the same time, experts admit that the state will not want to interfere in pricing, fearing to harm business. Industry observers also insist on a transparent methodology for calculating tariffs and oppose the dominant player setting prices at its own discretion — the issue should be resolved jointly with business, the regulator and independent experts. Nilov, for his part, allows dynamic pricing, but draws a line: the cost of the trip should not approach the price of an airline ticket.