Why will capital taxis become more expensive in the spring?
The capital's taxis have four days left to live under the same conditions. From March 1, the number of drivers in Moscow and the Moscow region may decrease, and transportation prices may skyrocket. All because of the upcoming certification. "NI" found out what it is and how it will affect passengers.
Taxi drivers can receive a special certificate from 2023, but until now such knowledge testing was voluntary. However, from March 1, 2025, new rules will come into force in Russia that make certification mandatory.
Taxi drivers must know the rules of transportation, safety precautions and navigate Moscow and the Moscow region without a navigator to be certified. Photo: Corporate University of Moscow Transport.
The head of the Competence Center of the International Eurasian Forum "Taxi", the chairman of the public movement "Taxi Forum" Oleg Amosov believes that such an innovation could raise prices for transportation during rush hours by three or more times due to the looming shortage of drivers.
— If they (taxi drivers — editor's note) are turned off, a shortage of drivers is guaranteed. Add to the tens of thousands of uncertified ones who do not go out on the line every day, and the traditional increase in demand for trips in the run-up to the March 8 holiday.
"NI" found out what driver certification is, how necessary it is, and how all this will affect people.
The cost of a taxi ride in Moscow could triple from March 1, 2025. Photo: 1MI
Taxi driver certification is a kind of exam that checks the knowledge and skills required to work in this field. First of all, drivers must demonstrate knowledge of the city, including the location of key streets, transport infrastructure facilities, cultural and social institutions.
From March 1, 2025, taxi drivers will have to know by heart the routes even to unpopular attractions. Photo: Corporate University of Moscow Transport.
Drivers should also know the rules for transporting passengers and luggage, and what to do in emergency situations. Well, that sounds logical. Knowing the city is especially important in conditions where GPS navigators are successfully jammed and go crazy.
There are no questions about the rules for transporting passengers and behavior in emergency situations. It is useful to know that a passenger has the right to travel with a dog if it is muzzled, how to put out a car fire with improvised means, or what to do if a suspicious object is found in the car.
But the course on knowing the location of objects in Moscow and the region sometimes looks strange. It is good that taxi drivers will have to learn dozens of hospitals by heart - this can save someone's life. But drivers should also know the location of the buildings of the prefectures of the capital's districts, universities scattered throughout the region.
There is also a whole section dedicated to Moscow libraries. To put it mildly, this is not the most popular place in the modern digital world. It immediately brings to mind Operation Y, where Shurik was asked how to get to the library at three in the morning.
The list of monuments that taxi drivers should know is also very specific. It is impossible to know all the monuments in Moscow and the Moscow region — the training course included only 27 objects, including parks, a monument to the Singer sewing machine in Podolsk, anti-tank hedgehogs in Khimki, a monument to Ole Lukkoye in Mytishchi, and a monument to a street cleaner with a dog in Balashikha.
You can check for yourself how much the knowledge of certified taxi drivers will match the places of your trips - the training course is available to everyone if you register on the platform.
The third attempt to obtain a certificate must be in person only. Photo: 1MI
As early as March 1, 2025, as soon as certification of taxi drivers becomes mandatory, aggregators will have to simply disconnect truants from receiving orders. If a driver fails the online exam twice, then the third and subsequent times he will have to go to the Corporate University of Moscow Transport.
From March 1, 2025, taxi drivers who fail certification will be cut off from orders. Photo: 1MI
It is precisely this kind of punishment that could lead to a quick and inevitable shortage of workers. Time is running out, but there are still a lot of uncertified drivers on the roads: by the beginning of February, only 16% of taxi drivers in the Moscow region had passed the exam, according to the regional Ministry of Transport.
If an uncertified taxi driver still managed to go to work without cooperating with aggregators, then soon he will face a fine of up to 5 thousand rubles. This applies to both Moscow and Moscow region drivers, said Evgeniya Karetnikova , head of the regional administrative and transport control department of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region.
The fine for not having a certificate for a taxi driver will be 5,000 rubles. Photo: 1MI
Fines and bans can easily remove uncertified drivers from city streets. Perhaps this will make trips safer, but you will have to pay for it in the literal sense of the word - tariffs are unlikely to remain the same.
And even the FAS is not much help in the fight against taxi aggregator tariffs. At the end of January 2025, antimonopoly authorities were unable to verify the validity of Yandex.Taxi tariffs simply due to a lack of staff.
But you will be absolutely sure that any driver will take you to the monument to the janitor, to any library or university in Orekhovo-Zuyevo... even without a navigator.
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