The event brought together more than 1,500 participants who found solutions to stabilize taxi prices and outlined new growth points for the taxi industry.
The practical conference TAXI-2023, which took place in Sochi on October 5 and 6, has ended. Over the course of two days, 1,536 participants from 78 regions of the country were present directly at the site itself. In addition, politicians, experts and representatives of federal departments joined the conference via video link.
Over two days, 88 speakers spoke at the event, and meetings of discussion clubs, working and partner sessions were held. Several closed meetings were held with authorized bodies from two dozen regions of Russia. We can say that the conference demonstrated the maturity of the industry. Difficult times and interstructural problems united the taxi community and attracted representatives from all levels of government and a number of departments. They also forced us to consolidate intellectual, technological and financial resources to solve common problems: curbing the rise in prices for taxi services, maintaining and increasing jobs, creating a favorable environment for the development of the taxi business in the country.
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It was possible to find out that the implementation of the new sectoral law is proceeding more intensively than expected. At the same time, local infrastructure problems slow down the legalization of the industry no less, and even more, than the inert attitude of illegal carriers to emerging from the shadows.
As of October 3, all necessary regional acts have been issued on the territory of 23 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In 63% of regions, the corresponding regulatory documents are being finalized, in 14% they have not been published. Vladimir Lugovenko Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Automobile and Urban Passenger Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia During the first month, more than 15.6 thousand vehicles and 1.3 thousand carriers were entered into the register. The dynamics are great. At the same time, about 40 regions are just beginning this work. And although they still have time until December, I would like to hurry them up. Over the course of a month, more than 600 self-employed taxi drivers appeared on the register. We expect that their number will increase significantly over the next six months. Sergey Solovyov Deputy Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “SIC of the Ministry of Transport of Russia”
At the same time, serious problems with MTPL insurance remain. The Russian Ministry of Transport also noted that special attention is required to issues of remote medical examinations of taxi drivers, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses regarding liability, localization and establishment of a minimum share of electric vehicles in taxis.
The conference also demonstrated that there has been a steady trend toward the reorientation of passenger transport to electric vehicles, which also affects the taxi industry. As a large-scale study by Autostat presented at the event showed, taxi companies are ready to switch to electric vehicles, but only under certain conditions. Today, those who are ready to try electric transport in action want to limit themselves to only a few copies, citing a number of significant limitations in the development of this direction.
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A new notable independent player in the taxi market is the self-employed driver. According to legislators, the mass legalization of drivers through self-employment should whiten the market and make transportation safer. But, as was announced at the conference, now their full-fledged exit is being slowed down locally. In particular, self-employed people cannot apply for a permit to transport passengers and luggage by taxi through government services due to the lack of an enhanced qualified electronic signature. It turned out that getting it is not at all easy. This has become one of the most serious barriers to the legalization of self-employed people and the reason for the growing shortage of drivers.
A significant role in the overall negative agenda is played by increasing prices for taxi services. Thus, according to a survey conducted by Roskachestvo together with the Public Council for Taxi Development, in 2023 the cost of travel came first on the list of things that cause dissatisfaction among passengers. Previously, this item was in third place, after the driver’s driving style and interior cleanliness.
Remove barriers by lowering pressure
The main goal of the event was an open and honest dialogue between all parties. For the first time, representatives of the “Big Three” taxi aggregators frankly answered questions from conference participants regarding adaptation to new conditions, about compulsory motor liability insurance and carrier liability insurance, and about the implementation of the new law. They talked about working with the self-employed, about interaction with drivers, their social support and assistance, about their plans and tasks. An open conversation resolved some questions and cleared up misunderstandings between taxi ordering services and carriers.
The joint work of the taxi business, government officials and departments allowed us to come to the following conclusions. First of all, it is necessary to take measures to prevent the growing shortage of taxi drivers. The speedy development and implementation of regional acts regulating the activities of taxis, the establishment of mechanisms for applying for a permit for the self-employed are the most pressing problems. Work on them is already actively underway, and will soon allow legal taxi carriers to enter the market and reduce pressure on prices.
In parallel with regulatory tasks, it is necessary to solve problems with taxi insurance. Finally, the state of affairs in this matter has recently reached a new level – on September 29, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the taxi and insurance communities. The parties expressed their readiness to improve insurance mechanisms in the taxi industry. Carriers hope that they will soon be able to establish fair and transparent insurance mechanisms, increase the insurance market and, accordingly, reduce the cost of the MTPL policy for taxis.
Special attention requires modernization of approaches to conducting pre- and post-trip medical examinations of taxi drivers, as well as technical inspections of cars. If the latest telemedicine technologies are gradually being introduced in the issue of monitoring drivers, the situation with the technical inspection of cars does not meet modern standards. The methodology for carrying them out requires immediate revision and simplification in accordance with the safety requirements of modern cars produced. The existing system is overloaded with outdated requirements and leads to massive falsification of waybills throughout the country.
We can definitely say that, after going through an adaptation period, the taxi industry will continue its qualitative development. The first steps could be the localization and electrification of taxi vehicles. These are promising areas not only for taxis, but also for the domestic automotive industry. We and industry experts are ready to share some research in this area with interested parties. We believe that joint work in this direction will bring positive results. Irina Zaripova Chairman of the Public Council for Taxi Development
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