Taxi drivers are not yet ready to switch to exclusively Russian-made cars, according to a letter from the Digital World Union of Digital Platforms to the government and automakers. As noted in the appeal, there are no domestic cars in the country that fully meet the requirements of the industry, and this means, at least, reliability — guaranteed mileage before major repairs of at least 300 thousand kilometers. Therefore, the union requests the creation of a commission consisting of representatives of the government, manufacturers and the industry to draw up a specification for a range of special vehicles together. The interviewed taxi companies, aggregators and industry associations supported the appeal. What kind of cars taxi drivers need is in the Izvestia article.
What kind of cars do taxi drivers want to drive?
The adoption of a law on the localization of vehicles in passenger transport is possible only after comfortable and reliable cars appear on the assembly lines of Russian car factories, the Digital World Digital Platform Users Union says in a letter. It has been sent to the government and domestic automakers (Izvestia has it).
The draft law providing for the introduction of requirements for the localization of taxi cars was approved in the first reading on January 18, 2024. According to it, starting from October 1 of this year, cars for passenger transportation are allowed to be purchased only by domestic companies — they must be produced by Russian concerns and the degree of localization of car elements must be high, and the bill proposes a special points system for evaluating it.
"By itself, the proposal to prioritize the use of Russian-made cars in taxis is understandable and meets the requirements for the country to achieve technological sovereignty. But it is acceptable only if the vehicles offered by our industry meet the industry's requirements," the letter from the Digital World says.
It notes that taxi companies, leasing companies and industry economists do not consider the car models produced in the country to be suitable for taxis. The authors of the letter also mention the parameters that the car used to work in a taxi should meet. These are, in particular, ergonomic requirements — they must take into account the conditions of the driver's many hours of work: the car must have a spacious interior, built-in child seats, air conditioning, an enlarged trunk, and airbags.
The reliability criterion is also important — the car must meet the conditions of round-the-clock intensive operation and have a guaranteed mileage of at least 300 thousand km before major repairs, the appeal says.
For comparison, Moskvich has a quality guarantee period of 100,000 km (or three years).
"At the same time, cars must meet the economic conditions for use in taxis, and taxi companies and leasing companies must be supplied at special wholesale prices under long—term guaranteed contracts," the letter says.
Valery Korneev, chairman of the Digital World, noted that Russian cars still "primarily lack reliability, which does not allow them to operate taxis in a continuous mode, which is required for their payback."
"According to taxi companies, such products spend up to 30% of their time in repair, which is extremely high and significantly exceeds the performance of Korean, Japanese and European cars, which previously formed the basis of taxi companies," he said.
Therefore, the authors of the appeal propose to create a conciliation commission consisting of representatives of the taxi industry, the government and car manufacturers and to draw up a specification of the necessary line of cars for taxi needs.
Izvestia sent a request to the government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to comment on the proposal to create a commission. In response, the government recommended contacting the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended contacting the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Transport did not respond at the time of the release of the material.
But even before the introduction, in 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in response to a request from Izvestia, reported that the agency supports the use of highly localized cars in taxis and carsharing. "Such a regulatory mechanism can help stimulate demand for domestically produced cars," the agency's press service said.
Izvestia has also sent inquiries to all Russian automakers.
What do taxi drivers think
All requested passenger car companies, industry associations and taxi aggregators responded to the publication's request, supporting the proposal to create such a commission.
"We consider the concerns and risks expressed by carriers under the draft law on the forced localization of cars in taxis to be justified," Yandex Taxi said. — A dialogue between taxi companies and car manufacturers is necessary to develop a balanced solution. We are ready to create a platform for discussion and work out together how to ensure the development of taxis, taking into account the tasks of supporting the domestic automotive industry."
The National Taxi Council said it supports the creation of a commission, stressing that "all parties should be involved in the dialogue on a key regulatory issue for the industry."
"Taxi companies are currently in an extremely difficult economic situation — prices for the purchase, maintenance and maintenance of cars have increased, the level of creditworthiness of companies and the amount of insurance payments have increased," the NST stressed. "Companies need a wide range of models and price ranges, affordable and favorable conditions in terms of the total cost of owning a car."
The NGO noted that, according to surveys, more than a third of fleets are not ready to purchase cars of domestic production.
"As a result of downtime, such a car brings a loss to the carrier," the NST explained. — And the problems of carriers should be voiced, heard and taken into account. Only in this case, it is possible to bring the draft law on the localization of taxi cars to a type that will not kill the taxi industry."
And the Public Council for Taxi Development called the bill "redundant."
— AvtoVAZ products already occupy the second place in popularity among cars used in taxis, which is confirmed by the data of FGIS Taxi, — said Irina Zaripova, chairman of the organization.
Also, according to her, the mechanism of assigning "localization points" raises questions, which is difficult for most market participants.
— Many carriers do not have sufficient knowledge about production processes, which makes the system opaque and makes it difficult to understand its work, — Irina Zaripova noted. — Another important aspect is the dependence of the automotive industry on foreign components. In case of supply disruptions, localized vehicles may become scarce, which will seriously affect the renewal of fleets.
She cited the example of Primorsky Krai, where carriers are waiting for deliveries in up to four months due to a shortage of domestic cars from local dealers.
— This creates difficulties with updating taxi companies, and stricter requirements will only worsen the situation, — the expert emphasized.
Dmitry Kovalenko, managing director of Citymobil and Taxovichkof taxis, told Izvestia that the adoption of the bill in its current form would negatively affect carriers, but not immediately, but over a period of six months or a year.
—Such a law will create additional barriers and, most likely, they will further increase the outflow of drivers from the market, which, in turn, may affect the cost to customers and the quality of the service in terms of the time of delivery of cars to order," he said.
He also noted that in large cities, passengers are accustomed to a certain level of comfort, which is currently not fully achievable in domestic-made cars.
— And in the current market conditions, it is impossible to upgrade the park at the moment for a number of reasons: a high key rate, high overhead costs for park maintenance and infrastructure maintenance, — said Dmitry Kovalenko. — The purchase of new cars for taxi companies can be profitable only if they participate in procurement support programs, so the amount of costs will depend on the implementation of additional programs.
And Maxim taxi said that prices for Russian cars have now increased.
"Since the beginning of 2020, AvtoVAZ's products have increased in price 3 times," the company's press service said. — Five years ago, the Grant cost a little more than 400 thousand rubles. For example, Vesta was sold for a little more than 600 thousand rubles."
They also provided statistics on the use of domestic cars in taxis. So, according to the company, in the central part of the country, this is an average of 20% to 40% of all vehicles on which orders are fulfilled. In the Urals and Siberia — about 30%. In the eastern part of the country, the share of the domestic automotive industry is much smaller and on average does not exceed 5%. For example, in Primorsky Krai — only 0.3%, mainly Japanese brands are used.
At the same time, the average travel bill in the regions is 5-6 times lower than in Moscow. Accordingly, the financial capabilities of regional carriers, which have almost no fleet updates, are much smaller.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
