Taxi drivers actively soliciting passengers at airports will now face fines. According to the new regulations, passengers can only book taxis through official service counters or mobile aggregator applications. Legislators believe that these `taxi touts` inflate prices and disrupt passenger flow at the airports.
Fines have been introduced for taxi touts at Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports in the Moscow region. This law, now effective in the Moscow Oblast, stipulates that taxis can only be ordered via official service desks or through aggregator applications. What does this mean for both drivers and passengers?
Taxi drivers are now prohibited from soliciting services not only at terminal exits but also within a 30-meter radius of any airport building. Violators face fines ranging from 5,000 rubles for individuals to 50,000 rubles for legal entities. Travelers report that persistent offers for rides to the subway for 500 rubles still occur occasionally, but their number has significantly decreased. Taxi driver Igor Pchelkin, who works through aggregators, has not encountered such solicitations:
— Are there still private, informal taxis operating?
— No, they`ve been gone for a long time. They`ve probably all been caught.
— Is there any control over this?
— Yes, of course, MADI (Moscow Administrative Road Inspectorate) controls it.
— And how does that work in practice?
— They stop you and fine you. It`s about 12,000 rubles, and the car goes to the impound lot. You pick it up after court. Friends of mine got caught about two years ago.
— How does your work look? Are there any time limits for how long you can stay at the airport?
— Ten minutes, that`s it. Otherwise, there`s a 6000 ruble fine if you don`t manage to leave.
Industry participants highlight that even licensed taxi drivers and transport companies are now forbidden from actively offering their services at airports. Taxi bookings are exclusively permitted through mobile aggregators or official service desks within the terminals. Sheremetyevo`s website suggests booking via Yandex, while Domodedovo lists Yandex Taxi and Domtrans as partners. Almost all experts interviewed by Business FM raised concerns about market monopolization. Oleg Amosov, Chairman of the public movement «Taxi Forum,» comments:
«At Vnukovo, for example, there used to be one specific company that provided cars for rent. For an extra fee, you`d get a pass to enter and meet passengers within the airport territory, where a regular taxi driver could only stay for ten minutes, but you could stay for an hour. That company was removed a long time ago. Well, it doesn`t matter. The fact is how it all worked. It worked exactly the same way at Domodedovo. There were one or two affiliated companies that paid the airport for a special parking area and special access to the airport. Now, Yandex Taxi occupies that parking, everything is branded Yandex Taxi, and the booking stand belongs to Yandex. The primary app that works there is Yandex. It absolutely doesn`t need these people walking around offering their services.»
Since January, a similar campaign against touts has been ongoing at St. Petersburg`s Pulkovo Airport. Andrey Belov, development director for «Petersburg Taxi 068,» explains how taxi drivers operate there now:
«Only Yandex is allowed to operate there; no other transport company, of which there are many, no self-employed individual, no sole proprietor can work at Pulkovo. Entry to Pulkovo is limited to 15 minutes; exceeding that incurs a 2000 ruble fine. There`s also a small nuance that has become more acute in recent months, especially due to UAV attacks – internet outages. In Yandex, by the most conservative unofficial estimates, over 50% are migrants. When the internet goes out and navigators don`t work, these migrants cannot operate without a navigator. They simply go home until the internet returns. We`ve had situations where at Pulkovo, the transport committee sent urgent SMS messages at one in the morning to taxi company directors: `Please send cars to Pulkovo, there`s no one to work there.`»
For passengers arriving in Moscow, the absence of aggressive taxi touts at airport exits is undoubtedly a benefit, especially given numerous past instances of passenger deception. However, on the other hand, some admit that occasionally among these touts, there were individuals who offered legitimate services at significantly lower prices than official aggregators.
