Taxi
No catch
Time is 10 a.m. "Taxi-and … taxi-and …" - several voices mock near the huge shopping center near the Schukinskaya metro station.
Here is one of 246 official parking lots allocated for legal taxi drivers. It is 50 percent filled with dubious-looking cars with "checkers" crookedly stuck on the roof, and half with ordinary cars. By 10.30 a Gazelle arrives at the traffic police. I was waiting for her. From this moment, the picture in the parking lot begins to change dramatically. Literally in two minutes all cars with "checkers" disappear from sight. And after 10 minutes a tow truck arrives and takes away cars parked in taxi cabs. Poor car owners will have to pay a fine of 3, 000 rubles for improper parking, and at the same time for the evacuation of 5, 000. The question is: for what? There are still no taxi drivers in the parking lot, so as a result, the parking lots, which are worth their weight in gold in the capital, are hopelessly empty.
A representative of the traffic police crawls out of the Gazelle to meet me. “Boykov Mikhail Viktorovich” - I read on the badge. I am in anticipation of action - now we will see how illegal immigrants get around the neck! But my fervor is immediately cooled:
“How long has your raid been going through?”
- Two weeks.
- And how many illegal immigrants were caught?
- Not a single one.
Perplexity on my face replaces the following question.
“It's almost impossible to catch them,” Mikhail explains, as if apologizing. - We can check only those with checkers, but they have licenses. In fact, they are the same "bombers", but in fact - taxi drivers. It’s easy to get a license - it’s free. And for those who tax without "checkers", in general, nothing can be presented. Even if you see that someone is sitting down at him, he will say that he brings up acquaintances. And the passenger will never agree to testify against the “illegal” - he does not need these problems. In order to catch such people, we need dummy passengers, this is what UBEP should do, not us.
20, 000 for the head of the "bomb"
Around the same time, when I tried in vain with representatives of the law to catch and fix at least one “bomb”, in St. Petersburg representatives of the authorities and taxi business from all over the country gathered for the second All-Russian congress of taxi drivers. Exactly a year ago, at the first congress, the main question was one: why get a license? Representatives of the Department of Transport excitedly talked about what bonuses promises the status of "official". At the second congress, the same “officials” gathered with a new question: how to get rid of the “illegal immigrants” that legal taxi drivers cannot yet compete with?
Taxi
According to Dmitry Pronin, head of the organization and control of taxi services of the Department of Transport, to ensure that "bombs" do not get in place for taxi drivers, from September there will be video recording complexes and parkons. In his opinion, the problem of inactive use of allocated parking by legal taxi drivers is that they are occupied by people who are simply dangerous to get in touch with. And the installation of cameras will lead to the fact that the "bombers" simply move ten meters to the side and will still take most of the customers due to lower prices.
State Duma deputy and head of the Freedom of Choice movement of motorists, Vyacheslav Lysakov, said he would insist on raising fines for violators of taxi rules to 20, 000 rubles. But you can put a fine of 100, 000, but what is the point if it is almost impossible to catch the "bomb"?
Businessmen
Walking around the district, the traffic police find a lone car with "checkers", parked a little distance from the subway. Michael comes up to him and asks the driver for a driver's license. The documents are normal, and the policeman is forced to retire with a sigh of disappointment: “All the best …”
We are returning to the place of deployment in the taxi stand, and the taxi driver who has become emboldened after the check-up and drove off after the appearance of the traffic police car, returns and is proudly parked next to the frightening Gazelle. Gradually, the rest of the licensed "draftsmen" are also pulling up, for some reason they were frightened at first. Now they are already standing next to us and are asking with interest which edition I am from. Taxi driver Andrei, who has just been checked for legality, says that he received a license a year ago, when they just started to distribute them. It’s not difficult - you’ve walked around with paperwork for two days and you are already an “official”.
- And minya they’ll make two waiters wait, - Andrei Rafael interrupts in clumsy Russian. - But I will be this … an indyyuvudualny pyridopriyemnik - in!
Taxi development concept in Moscow
The Last Mile
Taxi
An increase in the number of short trips “from the curb” making taxis an alternative to public transport.
Unified Tariffs
Taxi
The establishment for all official taxi drivers of the same prices for boarding a taxi (about 150-200 rubles) and for each kilometer or hour of travel.
Yellow numbers
Taxi
A draft has been submitted to the Moscow Government providing for permission to issue taxi drivers special yellow license plates to distinguish them from “illegal immigrants”.
Access to train stations
Taxi
Allocation of special parking spaces at stations to eliminate illegal refusals of access to parking lots.
Tax benefits
The introduction of a special tax system for official carriers.
Verdict
Sergey Nastin, editor:
