The authorities plan to regulate taxi prices
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The authorities are thinking about how to limit the rise in taxi prices in bad weather. The Federal Antimonopoly Service is analyzing travel pricing. Last week, the service admitted that the Yandex Taxi service occupies a dominant position in the market. And cases of abuse of this status are already a reason to check and take additional measures, the FAS said. Deputies also demanded to influence the situation. They sent a letter to the Ministry of Transport, where they stated that cases where, due to bad weather, the cost of a trip could increase several times, are unacceptable.
How justified are the authorities’ claims? And are there mechanisms to limit taxi prices? Stanislav Shvagerus, head of the Competence Center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum, answered these questions to Kommersant FM: “Politicians have recently been absolutely sure that taxis are public transport, but they never have been and never will be. This understanding has developed due to the fact that taxis are developing very seriously, they have become fast, high-quality and convenient. The fact is that it is impossible to regulate price increases in purely practical terms, because the essence of pricing in a taxi is completely separate and different from all other types of transport.
And if regulated, taxi cars will become buses with a set price and the corresponding status of public transport, and not the convenient type of personal transport to which we are accustomed. And this is akin to the fact that every year on September 1 and March 8, prices for flowers increase significantly, but somehow no one has come up with a mechanism that would make it possible to equalize prices on March 8 and September 1 with regular prices, because this is business.
The only way is to introduce taxi tickets, but again, then it will be a bus. You wait much longer for a bus in the snow than usual. The same thing will happen with taxis. Snowfall makes it difficult not only for pedestrians, but also for drivers, and there are much fewer cars on the line than in normal times, and, accordingly, the demand is higher, more people want to leave. Therefore, this mechanism can be adjusted only by averaging.”
Despite the fact that the FAS recognized Yandex Taxi as the dominant service on the market, it cannot take any measures. This is due to the fact that the government two years ago prohibited regulators from conducting any inspections of IT companies. According to this document, the only thing they can do is advise and inform organizations.
The aggregator itself stated at the end of the year that the Russian market currently lacks 80 thousand drivers, and because of this, the cost of trips has increased significantly. So the only way to influence the situation is to increase competition, noted the chairman of the Public Council for Taxi Development Irina Zaripova: “The more we regulate something, the more performers, that is, the number of businesses in this area, will be eliminated, because not all may be subject to this regulation.
And, as another economic example shows, prices fall when there is competition in the market. And in 2023, the law “On Taxi” came into force, this is already a kind of regulation. And deputy Vitaly Milonov proposes to begin to control tariffs against the backdrop of the current situation. It’s unlikely that anyone in business will stand this, so we believe that this initiative is absolutely populist.
In addition, from a technical point of view, price regulation is a huge complexity. Well, first of all, the country is big. Secondly, how will they distinguish “good” weather from “bad” weather, who will count the taxi drivers, check that today they took some money from the passenger, and tomorrow another. Thirdly, in taxis there is the concept of tipping. Even if some kind of decree on price regulation is written tomorrow, it will not physically work, especially in remote regions.”
At the end of 2023, the relevant department of the Ministry of Transport stated that in less than a year, taxi prices in some regions increased by 44%, with an average increase throughout the country of 5%. Moreover, the rise in prices affected almost half of the subjects. And according to Yandex Taxi estimates, prices in Moscow increased by almost 20% over the year, and the demand for travel increased by the same amount.
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