Taxi Driver Online

Moscow cabbies protest new laws


Taxi drivers on both sides of the law converged upon 1905 Goda Ploshchad Tuesday to raise hell over planned taxi legislation.

In a bid to crack down on the anarchic system of “gypsy cabs” that delights passengers but deprives the government of tax revenue, city mayor Sergei Sobyanin is ushering in new and draconian legislation.

Drivers are unhappy over clauses demanding that only the owner of a vehicle can use it as a taxi, that the taxi license goes to the vehicle and not the person and that a driver can only operate in the region where they live, RIA Novosti reported.



Unrealistic

“We are protesting against the demands of the new law,” Yaroslav Sherbinin, president of the taxi drivers’ trade union and leader of the demo, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “What are you supposed to do if you have two cars or a person uses a car by power of attorney?

“If it’s like that then I wouldn’t be able to get a license because my car is in my wife’s name. We bought it on credit, you see they wouldn’t give me the loan. Does this mean I will have to work illegally?” he said.

And small taxi firm owner Oleg Amosov was no more impressed, “Now, in order to cross the region’s borders you would have to have an inter-regional agreement. It means that my people and I will simply be left without work. And what about taxi meters? Where am I to get 30,000 rubles ($1,020)?



Noise about nothing

But the pundits’ sympathy is limited, “A lot of the taxi drivers’ claims are reasonable,” Alexander Strelnikov of the transport infrastructure department at the Central Scientific and Research Project Institute told KP. “Why, for example do you need to paint all the cars one color?”

But he didn’t agree on everything, “As for the taxi meters, without doubt they must be there,” he said.

“It is mainly gypsy cab drivers who are unhappy. Everything is going badly for them, taxes are higher, regular MOT… And so they are demonstrating. But legal taxi drivers like the law. More than 3,000 of them have already gone and happily completed certification to go and work. This figure speaks for itself,” Yury Sveshnikov, executive director of the Moscow Transport Union, told KP.



Not enough

The current official taxi fleet does not meet demand, with a mere 9,000 for an official population of 10 million and a more likely figure of twice that. An estimated 40,000 “gypsy cabs” have sprung up, dividing opinion between those who praise their convenience and economy and those who see them as dangerous.

There have been attempts to legislate before, and the wait is on to see if September’s laws will finally bring some order to the roads.

http://themoscownews.com/local/20110810/188914960.html

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

That will do for me.

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IDFIMH

What a novel idea, the same should apply over here nationwide
What a way to keep numbers down

So what happens to the people who cant afford to buy their own taxi?

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

If the owner requires a driver,
That owner employees them, no more self employed

They go work at ASDA.

_________________
IDFIMH

My wife recently applied to ASDA and was told there's no jobs going.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

What a good way to make sure only genuine cabbies come into the trade.

It will more than do for me.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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