Checkers — and go: taxi drivers switch to a "car rental service with a driver"
Taxi aggregators began to abandon the name of the same name in favor of a "car rental service with a driver." This business model does not involve expensive CTP and carrier insurance, medical and technical examinations, and waybills, as in taxi companies in large cities. But at the same time, you can not draw "checkers" in symbols. This scheme allows private traders in private cars to stand out in a new segment of transportation, which is not regulated as much as taxis.
A private driver in a private car is not a taxi
Taxi services, where many drivers work in their cars, began to abandon the name of the same name and switch to other types of transportation. One of the largest aggregators, Maxim, which accumulates up to 70% of the legal passenger transportation market in the regions, announced the transition to a car rental scheme with drivers, which does not fall under the law on taxis. The triggers of this were the tightening of control in the regions over the medical examination of taxi drivers, additional insurance for carriers of OSGOP, as well as the law on the localization of cars.
The current taxi law was written mainly for taxi companies in large cities, but it does not sufficiently take into account the interests of private drivers who occasionally pick up passengers in private cars, Maxim Shusharin, director of the service, told Izvestia. These are different business models, and it was a mistake to combine them into one law.
He believes that the requirements of the law are objectively impossible for a private citizen in a private car. There is no infrastructure for medical and technical examinations in the country. The cost of insurance for a taxi fare often exceeds the annual revenue of such a driver.
We calculated how much money would be needed to create the infrastructure for medical examinations in the Kurgan region, Sergey Lisovsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition, told Izvestia. Each vandal-proof terminal for remote medical examination costs about 700 thousand, and 196 of these are needed per region. Plus the rental of seats at gas stations or shopping malls, maintenance at least once a week. As a result, the amount of one-time investments in infrastructure reaches 200 million rubles.
It is difficult for the regional budget to overpower such expenses. And private traders in private cars are a key transport for the region, as the population density is low and bus routes in many directions are unprofitable, the deputy notes.
According to the Maxim service, if a private citizen with a taxi driver's permit is caught without a medical examination, the fine will amount to 30-50 thousand rubles. And if the driver refuses the permit, then the penalty for the same violation is from 500 to 2 thousand rubles. It is not surprising that many people rip off the "checkers" from the sides, revoke official permits in the taxi registry and work through Telegram chats in earnest, said the head of the service. At the moment, about 30-40% of private owners in the regions have refused permits, the aggregator reported.
— In order to keep part-time drivers in the legal field, we switched to the "rent a car with a driver" scheme. Abroad, this business model is called "rideshaling," said Maxim Shusharin.
It involves the short-term use of personal transport to earn extra money on the roads without using the expensive infrastructure of taxi companies.
In the regions, almost 95% of passenger transportation is carried out by the self-employed in personal cars. But they cannot be considered a classic taxi, Ivan Litvinov, head of the Association of the Self-Employed in Russia, told Izvestia.
The Taxi Law does not prohibit other types of passenger passenger transportation, including rental vehicles with a driver. They are provided for in Articles 632, 633 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and they are not subject to the provisions of the law (FZ-580).
Private drivers, of which there are about 2.5 million in the country, need separate regulation, the expert believes.
According to Sergey Lisovsky, a working group has been formed in the State Duma to develop new amendments to FZ-580. There are two ways to solve the problem. First, you need to simplify the medical control procedure and make an annual medical check-up a prerequisite for connecting to the aggregator (passenger taxi ordering service). The second way is to prepare a separate bill regulating passenger transportation under a car rental agreement with a driver (self—employed in their own car). This may take up to two years, the deputy believes.
As the Ministry of Transport told Izvestia, additional permits are not required for passenger car transportation through the conclusion of a chartering agreement in writing. However, if there is exhaustive evidence of transportation as a passenger taxi under the guise of registered transportation, the violator will be fined under Part 2 of Article 14.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, the department noted. According to the code, the fine for such a violation is 2-2.5 thousand rubles.
Izvestia sent requests to other aggregators of passenger transportation. Yandex.Taxi declined to comment.
Replacement of foreign cars with domestic cars
Experts confirm that taxi services are mastering the business model of "renting cars with a driver."
— The draft law on passenger car transportation in the form of "rent with a driver" is needed in order not to classify them as taxis, — Ivan Litvinov believes. — The services of private drivers in private cars need additional regulation in terms of industry standards, tax payment procedures, guarantees and professional protection.
An initiative to regulate this segment within the framework of the draft law on the platform economy is currently being discussed, the expert noted.
According to him, the rules should be simple and understandable. Registration of self—employment and payment of professional income tax are the main conditions for admission to orders. Additionally, certificates of absence of criminal convictions for serious crimes, absence of alcohol and drug addiction are required. There should be no requirements for the color of the car, daily inspections, travel documents and additional insurance, but access to orders should be only through the aggregator, the expert believes.
At least 97% of taxi drivers in the regions do not undergo daily medical and technical examinations, as there is no place to do it physically, and there is no point in them, Valery Korneev, chairman of the Digital World Union of Users of Digital Platforms, told Izvestia. Three quarters of transportation is carried out by drivers who are in the gray zone due to the clearly excessive regulation introduced by the law "On Taxis". They not only do not pay taxes, but also breed corruption on the roads, he believes.
Experts note that private drivers cannot meet the requirement of the law on localization of taxi cars. According to Ivan Litvinov, leasing is not available to individuals, and the self-employed are not included in any subsidy program.
— Now car purchases even in Moscow taxi companies have fallen many times, — Spartak Zabolotsky, an investor in Chocolate taxi, told Izvestia.
According to him, no one can pay a 30% lease rate and carriers extend the service life of old cars.
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