Road promotion: 50% of cabs are proposed to be obliged to have child seats
For 50% of cabs in Russia, they want to introduce the obligation to have child seats and also to introduce restrictions on fare increases. Such a bill will soon be submitted to the State Duma by members of the LDPR faction. In their opinion, this will increase the availability of transportation for families with children, as well as significantly reduce the price. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a similar instruction. Business representatives were skeptical about the initiative, but experts believe that it is realistic to implement it, but with additional financial investment.
Why cabs for families with children are more expensive
It is proposed to oblige 50% of cabs in Russia to have child seats, as well as to introduce restrictions on the increase of the fare if the driver has such an option. The bill has been prepared for submission to the State Duma by deputies of the LDPR faction headed by Leonid Slutsky. The document was familiarized with "Izvestia". It stipulates that it is designed to increase the availability of cab rides for families with children.
"According to Rosstat data, since the beginning of 2024, the cost of transportation in cabs has increased at once by 13.8%. Statistics from the Public Council for Taxi Development, which unites carriers from more than 70 subjects of the country, shows that the cost has increased by 30% on average. Especially acute price growth concerns "children's" fares , providing that vehicles must be provided with child restraints", - says the explanatory note to the bill.
It also notes that the issues of determining the size of cab fares are regulated by the law "On the organization of passenger and luggage transportation by passenger cab in the Russian Federation". It also establishes that the carrier is obliged to provide additional requirements for the service of passenger cabs for families with children. However, the document indicates that currently, if a passenger indicates the need for a child seat, there is an increase in the cost of cab transportation up to 50% of the price of the trip itself.
According to the deputies, this leads to a decrease in the availability of cab services, as most vehicles are not equipped with such devices, and worsens the situation of parents with children compared to other categories of passengers.
In this regard, the Parliament proposes to oblige cab carriers to provide at least 50% of cab cars with child restraint devices, as well as to introduce restrictions on increasing the tariff for transportation by passenger cab by more than 5% of its cost in case the passenger requires a child restraint device, thatis, so that the price of a trip for him does not increase because of such a need.
Earlier, the problem with cab availability was brought to the attention of the Russian President. He instructed the Government of the Russian Federation together with the executive bodies of the subjects to work out the establishment of preferential cost of cab transportation for families with many children. This instruction was given by the head of state following a meeting of the State Council in December, it is published on the Kremlin website.
"To analyze and submit proposals to improve the quality and availability of transportation in passenger cabs for families with children, including families with many children, providing, among other things, for the availability in transportation companies of a fleet of vehicles equipped with child restraint systems (devices), corresponding to the weight and height of the child, as well as the establishment of a preferential cost of transportation (fares) for families with many children," - stated in the message.
"Izvestia" sent a request to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Transport to comment on the prospects of supporting the initiative.
- We receive many complaints from citizens asking us to influence the situation with overcharging for child fares in cabs. People are outraged that they have to pay one and a half times more for a trip with a child than when a cab is called for adults. It's absurd. We want big families, we want to increase demographics, but there are no conditions. Try to go with a child to the clinic or entertainment center, the cost is horrifying," Leonid Slutsky explained to Izvestia the reason for the development of the bill.
Will the new law solve the problem of cab availability?
Business representatives were skeptical about the initiative. Thus, in the cab service "Maxim" told "Izvestia" that it can not be implemented.
- We do not charge additional fees for the transportation of children. For parents, these are normal priced trips. Earlier, as part of the "Child Safety" program, the service provided 3,000 child car seats free of charge to the best partner drivers in 51 Russian cities, including Moscow. However, the share of orders for trips with children is less than 6% of the total volume. Cabs are designed to transport mainly adult passengers. If more cars are equipped with child car seats or a set of several child restraints, there will be complaints that there is not enough space for passengers and luggage," the company's press service explained.
It also noted that the passenger cab is not capable of solving complex social problems.
- As a legal type of transportation, passenger cabs cease to exist in the country due to the requirements of Law No. 580. More than 95% of transportation outside the Moscow agglomeration and St. Petersburg is performed by private drivers in personal cars, mostly part-time workers. And these are not cabs. Regional ministries of transport continue to cancel permits for the activity of passenger cabs because of the lack of OSGOP contracts. There is no one to apply the requirements for the presence of child car seats, - emphasized the company.
They also noted that on February 7, "Maxim" appealed to the Chairman of the Government Mikhail Mishustin with proposals for the implementation of the order of President Vladimir Putin.
- In our opinion, the task can be solved by connecting the social cab service to the digital platforms of aggregators. This is a regional service. Transportation for it is purchased with budget funds, but it is not enough to improve the quality and accessibility of transportation for families with children. Development of this direction together with aggregators will allow to attract private owners of minivans, passenger minibuses in a short period of time, without unnecessary bureaucratic barriers and ensure their compliance with regional requirements for social cab service, - the company noted.
The all-Russian public organization "Association of Self-Employed of Russia", which unites more than 180 thousand cab drivers, was also skeptical of the bill.
- In the country, 80 thousand drivers in the status of self-employed have received official authorization to operate. These are mostly park self-employed, who in this status work on a taxi park car, renting it. Therefore, they can not themselves dispose of a set of rented vehicles with child car seats, - explained to "Izvestia" the head of the association Igor Zhmakin.
The editorial board also sent requests to the largest cab aggregators and car fleets with a request to comment on their attitude to the bill.
On the contrary, Georgi Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Conjunctural Studies of the Institute of Economic Research of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, believes that the initiative is quite feasible. In the entire civilized world there are no problems with transporting children in cabs in child seats, but for some reason we have it here. Of course, business will not like this idea, as it is an additional cost for them, the expert said. He believes that Russia could adopt the experience of organizing such transportation from one of the foreign countries.
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