The number of new companies in the taxi industry decreased by 20% during the year

From January to mid-December last year, only 12 thousand new companies and individual entrepreneurs appeared in Russia, the main activity of which was the taxi industry. This is 20% less than in the same period in 2023.

In total, in mid-December last year, 77.8 thousand companies and individual entrepreneurs operated in the taxi sector in Russia, their number decreased by 0.53%; According to Kontur.Focus economic security expert Anton Yakovlev, this indicates that the taxi market is entering a phase of decline.

The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Control Committee, Dmitry Gusev, in conversation with Kommersant, suggested that businessmen are postponing entry into the taxi market due to the new law, which came into force in September 2023. Increases requirements for companies, in particular establishing mandatory daily medical examinations for drivers and vehicle inspections.

The law also allows taxi drivers to be self-employed, making this format popular among businessmen, the Public Council for Taxi Development told the newspaper. According to the president of the Association of Self-Employed Workers of Russia, Igor Zhmakin, the number of self-employed taxi drivers has reached 650,000, of which only 21,000 have permission to transport passengers.

According to the taxi ordering service Maxim, the company is losing income due to the increase in the market entry threshold, associated with the increase in the price of cars and the increase in the key rate of the Central Bank. The average price of a new car in November 2024 was 3.7 million rubles, Avto.ru Rating analysts found.

In October 2024, Yandex Taxi Corporate and Government Relations Director Anton Petrakov warned that by the end of the year the shortage of taxi drivers would grow to 130,000 people, causing the cost of trips to increase “by tens of percent.” ”. He explained the shortage of personnel due to the tightening of immigration policy and the regulation of taxi activity, which is why drivers move towards other professions.