AUTONEWS

Dictatorial regime in Russia bans Russian taxi drivers from using all foreign vehicles

All imported taxis will be banned in Russia, a decision that has been met with harsh criticism from drivers who will soon be forced to drive exclusively domestic cars.

– For drivers, 10-12 hours behind the wheel of a domestic car is simply too hard – says Dmitry Kovalenko, CEO of several Russian taxi companies.

The Russian taxi industry is being shaken by a new law that will ban foreign cars from taxi service from March 2026, reports the Russian newspaper Gazeta. According to the new law, adopted by the Russian parliament Duma, only cars manufactured in Russia or manufactured under special conditions can be used as taxis.

According to the HAK Review, the rule is aimed at encouraging sales of domestic car models such as the Lada and the revived Moskvich. Today, the majority of the Russian taxi fleet is made up of imported cars, and the new rule has stunned many. Natalia Lozinskaya, executive director of the Russian National Taxi Council, believes that legal taxi rides will decrease significantly and that taxi rides in Russia will become more expensive.

According to one analysis, the new taxi law could force over half a million taxi drivers to quit their jobs. Dmitry Kovalenko, the CEO of many taxi companies, claims that Russian taxi drivers are reluctant to switch to domestic cars because they do not meet the comfort requirements for either the driver or the customer. Andrei Popkov, deputy chairman of the taxi department of the Russian Union of Public Transport, also warns that many cars will not meet safety requirements.

“These (domestic) cars are neither reliable nor comfortable. It is incomprehensible why passengers are not protesting,” Popkov says.

As mentioned, the law will come into force next year in most regions, but in Kaliningrad and Siberia the law will not come into force until 2028. In Primorsky Krai in eastern Siberia the law will not come into force until 2031.

Meanwhile, the Public Council for the Development of Taxi Industry presented the results of a survey in which owners and managers of 276 taxi companies took part. It turned out that 51% of them own Lada cars, 11% — other domestic models, and 38% use foreign cars. At the same time, the share of Russian cars in taxis is by no means predominant: in 40% of the surveyed fleets it reaches 20%, in 60% — from 10 to 18%. 

The survey also showed that more than 70% of participants would prefer to replace a Russian car with a foreign car. In addition, data from the Maxim taxi ordering service were published: in the central part of Russia, the taxi fleet of partner carriers consists of 20-40% of domestic cars, in the Urals and Siberia — about 30%, and in the east of the country their number, on average, does not exceed 5%.

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