Insurers complain about taxi drivers: cars with checkered flags get into accidents 6-7 times more often than regular drivers. Experts believe that the reason is low tariffs for services. But not everything is so clear
Taxis in Moscow have become more likely to get into accidents - drivers are overworking themselves in pursuit of earnings. The problem is that the services themselves do not control the drivers’ working hours, but the situation may soon change for the better.
A recent incident on Ilyinka is indicative, when a taxi driver who fell asleep after two days of continuous work hit pedestrians. At the same time, the Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation dated August 20, 2004 N 15, Moscow On the approval of the Regulations on the peculiarities of the working time and rest time of car drivers, stipulates the maximum working time for drivers - no more than 40 hours per week.
“It is impossible to forcibly control the work and rest schedule of drivers. Most work simultaneously with different services. A disconnection in one will result in the driver taking orders in another service. “Everything should be within reason,” explained Pavel Stennikov, head of the public relations department of the Maxim service.
The Vezet company, one of the largest taxi aggregators in Russia, said that the companies are currently discussing the prospect of data exchange so that drivers who are disconnected for incorrect actions cannot connect to other services.
“The same applies to the rest regime. Now applications are built into a shutdown function after a certain period of driving - however, it is clear that nothing prevents the driver, after finishing work with one application, from taking orders in another or simply working from the curb,” said Alexander, director of corporate relations at the Vezet group of companies. Kostikov.
Low prices are harmful to health
The fact that using taxi services is sometimes dangerous is evidenced by data from major players in the insurance market. Thus, according to statistics from SPJSC RESO-Garantia, in Moscow the frequency of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance when a taxi driver is at fault is 42.9%. The same figure for ordinary drivers is 5.8%. In cases where the taxi driver is the victim, the frequency of payments for auto insurance is 25.7%, while for ordinary drivers it is 4.0%.
“In other regions the proportions are the same. That is, the frequency of accidents among taxi drivers is 7 times higher than among ordinary drivers,” explained Elena Zlygoreva, Deputy General Director, Head of the Retail Insurance Department of RESO-Garantiya.
Similar figures were reported by the Renaissance Insurance company. They noted that the frequency of insurance cases for taxi compulsory motor liability insurance (72%) is 6 times higher than the frequency for passenger vehicles for personal or commercial use.
“This is due to the increased intensity of operation of passenger vehicles used as taxis, as well as the taxi driver’s agreement with his fault without litigation to reduce the downtime of the vehicle at the time of an accident,” suggested Dmitry, director of the corporate auto insurance department of the Renaissance Insurance Group. Usanov.
According to IC AlfaStrakhovanie, the frequency of losses for insured taxi cars reaches 40-45%. “That is, at least one accident per two insured taxi cars. And this is from what we know as taxis. The loss ratio (that is, the ratio of payments to fees - editor's note) for this category varies from region to region, but in general exceeds 155-165%,” explained Yuri Nekhaichuk, official representative of AlfaStrakhovanie JSC.
“We need to cut off drivers. Worked for eight hours - that’s it.”
At the end of June, deputy Ivan Sukharev prepared a request to the Ministry of Transport with a proposal to mandatory equip all taxi cars with tachographs. According to the parliamentarian, the device will reduce the risk of accidents by identifying the driver and monitoring his work and rest time. A year ago, the head of the department for organizing control over the transportation of passengers and cargo of the technical supervision department of the Main Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Roman Samsonov, came up with the same initiative.
The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Vyacheslav Lysakov, thinks differently. According to him, in the case of taxis, everything needs to be regulated, and not make a simple decision to equip everyone with tachographs.
“We need to cut off drivers. He worked his eight hours - that's all, he should not have the right to receive an order from another aggregator. A single database is needed where the work of a particular person will be noted. This needs to be solved technologically and programmatically. A taxi is not a shuttle bus, but a chaotically moving car. Therefore, there is a working day, there is a waybill, and, ultimately, there is an order system that should block processing,” Lysakov suggested.
According to a survey conducted by VTsIOM, with the advent of taxi aggregators, every second user (51%) began to turn to the services of the taxi industry more often. At the same time, respondents named the cost of the trip and the waiting time for the car as the main criteria for choosing a taxi.
However, it was the low tariffs for taxi services that the coordinator of the Blue Buckets movement, Petr Shkumatov, named as the main reason for the high accident rate: “The main reason that taxi drivers fall asleep at the wheel is overwork. They are forced to work 16-18 hours a day to earn at least something. It is obvious that such a driver poses a threat to others.”
If the taxi driver is not an individual entrepreneur, he will have to pay a commission not only to the aggregator, but also to the taxi company in which he works. For example, in Moscow, for the Economy tariff, the fee for the popular online service Yandex.Taxi is 18%.
Thus, from an order worth 350 rubles. Including VAT, you will have to pay 80.83 rubles. or 23.09%. A commission for the vehicle fleet is also added there, on average another 5-8%. At the same time, according to Dmitry Usanov, director of the corporate auto insurance department of the Renaissance Insurance Group, the cost of an MTPL policy for a taxi is approximately twice as high as for a similar passenger car used for personal purposes.
Current legislation does not impose liability on aggregator companies for the quality of services provided. They are not recognized by transport companies and officially provide information services only. In fact, these are just platforms that broadcast information about the carrier on the Internet.
In June 2016, individual entrepreneur Elena Grashchenkova called a taxi through the Yandex.Taxi application. On the way, the car got into an accident, as a result of which the woman received multiple injuries. Today she continues treatment for a complex joint injury and has been waiting for two months for the reasons for the decision of the Tushinsky court. The trial court was lost.
“We set off, but around the fifteenth minute the driver began to behave inappropriately. At a speed of 70 km/h the car began to press against the right curb. The driver looked into the distance with wide open, glazed eyes and did not take any action,” Elena recalls.
According to her, representatives of the contractor company, whom Yandex calls the proper defendants, did not appear in court. And after the accident, the same driver freely got into the Vezet taxi, and already there on the flight he was arrested with a large quantity of amphetamine.
Why do professionals leave taxis?
“Professionals have left this market or moved to comfort plus and business class, where they can still somehow earn money. And in the economy class, which represents the majority of the taxi market, there are people who, for the most part, cannot be considered professional drivers,” explained Petr Shkumatov.
According to him, low wages have led to the washing out of professionals in the taxi industry. Already in some regions, every second driver is a migrant. All this, according to Shkumatov, leads to a sharp decline in the quality of services and, above all, safety.
Professional qualification requirements for taxi drivers are contained in Federal Law (FZ) N 69-FZ “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation.” This is the first thing that transport companies and taxi aggregators are required to check when hiring a driver.
“There are a number of requirements for the driver provided for by law, namely: age over 21 years, driving experience in category B for more than 3 years, driver’s license issued in Russia, Belarus or Kyrgyzstan. The vehicle must be issued a permit to transport passengers and luggage by passenger taxi,” said Alexander Kostikov, director of corporate relations at the Vezet group of companies.
According to the first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee, Vyacheslav Lysakov, aggregators often transfer orders to drivers who do not have permission to operate. A new bill, which deputies have already submitted to the State Duma, is intended to impose punishment for this and solve a number of other problems. According to Lysakov, last year's bill had to be rejected - the document prepared for the second reading came into conflict with the concept adopted in the first reading.
“Every day people fall asleep at the wheel, but they only write about incidents that happened to taxi drivers. But this does not mean that the industry is regulated; there are significant gaps there,” says Vyacheslav Lysakov.
The deputy said that it was proposed to solve these problems within the framework of the bill on regulation of taxi activities, which was submitted to the State Duma. It covers all issues - control, admission, determines the punishment for illegal drivers and the punishment for aggregators for transferring orders to persons who do not have permission to operate.
An integration system between online services could make a significant contribution to increasing the level of safety for passenger taxis. How soon aggregators will be able to exchange data is still unknown. But work in this direction, according to Natalya Rozhkova, head of Yandex.Taxi PR projects, has already begun.
“In order to monitor how much total time a driver spent behind the wheel, large online services and dispatch services must begin exchanging data on completed orders. We initiated such an exchange in June. By comparing data from all major market participants, we can say exactly how long the driver was driving, fulfilling orders from all aggregators, and how long he was resting,” Rozhkova promised.
According to her, Yandex.Taxi, for its part, is ready to open data and participate in the exchange of such information.
I'm driving all day long
I hold it in my palms,
Ice all around, blizzard,
But I am not discouraged.
Taxi driver by profession,
And to know this is fate,
I delivered it, and you pay,
Moscow is big after all.
How did the taxi driver profession begin?
Back in the 18th century in France, a certain entrepreneur opened an inn for horse-drawn carriages. It was located near the chapel of St. Fiacre, the patron saint of amateur gardeners. Each carriage was decorated with a bas-relief of this saint and the hired transport was called a “fiacre”. They became the first hired crew. Fiacres were intended for transporting people, when, like carriages, they belonged to high-ranking nobles.
But already in 1896, the Automobile Club of France proposed motorizing fiacres, previously they were harnessed by horses. All the harness was removed from the fiacre, a gasoline engine was installed in the back, and a steering column and control levers were installed in front. But then disputes arose regarding wages. It was only in 1905 that the taximeter was invented. He resolved all the disputes, and the crew began to be called a taxi or taxi.
Taxis differ from personal transport in color; taxis in most cases are yellow and have a mandatory attribute - checkered. Where did these checkers come from? According to one version, they appeared on American taxis of the Checker Taxi of Chicago company. The word “Checker” in translation means “checker pattern”.
The profession of a taxi driver is on the list of the most dangerous professions in the world. They themselves call it not a profession, but a calling. And that you have to be born a taxi driver.
Today, the profession of a taxi driver is very popular not only among the male population, but also among the fairer sex. There are entire taxi companies where only women work. The secret is that they only serve women. Very convenient, isn't it, if you are a fragile young woman who needs to go somewhere late at night. You call a female taxi and eat calmly. Comfortable transport is provided at your service, filled with the aroma of perfume, pleasant music and even a companion in the person of the driver. During the trip, you can fix your hair, touch up your lips, and it won’t bother you at all. The external distinctive feature of this service is the pink cars.
There are quite a few taxi drivers who combine taxi work with their main job. This is not a bad extra income. Here is one very interesting example. In the city of Vinnitsa, in Ukraine, one young priest combines his job as a taxi driver with serving in several churches. He started working as a taxi driver after he was involved in an accident. Of course, he came to the bishop and asked permission. The Bishop said that every work, every labor makes a person beautiful if it is work for the benefit of a person.
There are many interesting, and in some cases funny, strange facts about taxis in different countries.
For example, in Australia, every taxi driver must have a bale of hay in his trunk. Once upon a time, when transportation was carried out in horse-drawn carriages, this law was adopted. Since then, the law has not been repealed, and modern taxi drivers adhere to it.
In Chile, taxis are stylized as cows; they honk with the voice of cows, mooing, and the seats are made in the shape of a cow's udder. True, there are only 10 of these cars.
In Vietnam, taxis are elephants. They transport their clients anywhere.
There are also rules for communication between taxi drivers and clients. They are different in different countries.
England
In London, the driver always sits behind a partition, and the luggage is next to him in the front seat.
Israel
Only snow-white taxis drive in the promised land. Everyone knows that Israelis do not work from Friday evening to Saturday evening, but there is an exception for taxi drivers. During this time an additional fee will apply. But only tourists can use taxi services, because at this time Jews are not allowed to touch money.
China
Chinese taxi drivers charge the lowest fares in the world. For ten dollars you can travel a huge distance. This is probably because taxis in China do not always smell good - drivers often neglect personal hygiene and the car smells unpleasant.
Mexico
Taxi drivers in Mexico often act as tour guides. But you need to be careful. Due to the very high crime situation, a taxi driver may take you to back streets where you could simply be robbed.
The profession of a taxi driver has both positive and negative aspects.
The positive ones are a constant good income, they are always up to date with all the latest news and events (it’s not for nothing that there is a so-called taxi driver’s mail), a huge opportunity to communicate with different people during the trip. Admit it, a taxi driver can very easily take on the role of a psychologist. All sorts of situations provide him with such an opportunity.
But there are also negative ones, and, unfortunately, there are many more of them. First of all, this is a very dangerous profession, especially at night. There are many cases of robbery and even murder of drivers in order to seize vehicles and proceeds. A taxi driver must be able to fight back against criminal elements. Also, during the trip, he is responsible for your safety, and this is a very big responsibility. This work is sedentary, diet and sleep patterns are disrupted. Which leads to various chronic diseases.
I'm eating checkers on the roof,
I run into traffic jams
And let my Lada breathe.
I get out everywhere...
Taxi drivers often violate traffic rules. But look at our roads and traffic jams. Constant chassis repairs and replacement of worn tires. It is true that they say that in Russia there are two problems - fools and roads. But this, of course, is not an excuse for them, but a consequence of nervous breakdowns.
So who exactly are these taxi drivers?
Each taxi driver has his own interesting and eventful life. Not everyone works as a taxi driver all their life. Some were workers, some were teachers, engineers, but in the end, they all had one word in common - “TAXI”. For them, work has become the meaning of life, their way of existence. There is even a holiday on the calendar - Taxi Driver Day (March 22). Some countries have taxi museums. They were created with funds from the association. Moscow has the largest museum in the world.
There are many roles of taxi driver played by great artists in cinema. Anatoly Papanov in the film “The Diamond Arm”, Arkady Raikin in the trilogy “People and Mannequins”. Why do you think taxi drivers receive so much attention in art? Yes, because taxi drivers are the most romantic profession.
Imagine how many passengers it carries per day, how many destinies it meets. Involuntarily you have to pass through each of them. Isn't it true, any of them could write more than one story or feuilleton.
There is also a special category of “linguists” among taxi drivers. Such drivers are extremely popular in capitals and large cities, especially in resorts. Many visiting foreigners want to be served by such taxis. . Learn languages as future taxi drivers, and your success is guaranteed!
And one more very important point. A taxi driver must know thoroughly all the streets and nooks and crannies of the city. Names of companies and factories, offices and shopping centers. Without this it will simply be impossible to work. Of course, in the world of modern technology there are navigators, but they are not perfect and often make mistakes in choosing the right route. Therefore, rely on the navigator, but don’t make a mistake yourself!
I would really like to wish our dear taxi drivers a green traffic light on the road, a profitable business, a lot of grateful passengers and a huge cash register. And as a passenger, say thank you! - for hard work, for fast and safe driving on our bad roads and endless traffic jams.
Story illegal taxi driver about how to earn three thousand euros, what cars you can’t get into, and whether used condoms really are left in the back seat.
How to become bombers
Personally I became bombed more than ten years ago. Everything is very simple. He graduated from the university in 1991 and worked as an engineer in an architectural bureau. In 1998 the bureau closed and I was left without a job. Three months later, without any money, I got into my Volga and went to work as a taxi driver. In general, there are two ways to become a taxi driver: “I tried it - I earned a hundred dollars in a night - I liked it” and “I was without work for two months - I thought about getting by for a week, - I didn’t find a job - I became bombed" The second option is mine. Well, there are also, of course, visitors from provincial cities or Tajiks. But that's a different story.
Types
I think there are few professions where there is such a range. For example, I know a restorer of medieval Venetian frescoes, who now works in Moscow. On the other hand, there are private owners from Lipetsk or, even worse, Karaganda in the style of “Will you show me the way, right?” There are slightly crazy taxi drivers who are always driving. They live on chips and cigarettes and often sleep in their cars. By the way, now there are already women working as bodyguards, in special forces, God knows where, in the government, but there are very few women taxi drivers. This is hard work: constant psychological pressure, and sometimes simply life-threatening. Not to mention Road accident, fights with drunks and competition in fishing spots. In addition, you sit all day practically motionless among the exhaust fumes, and then sleep for fifteen hours. This is all, of course, very harmful.
Earnings
Moscow private owners generally earn decent money. If you work hard and don’t do anything stupid, you can earn up to 3 thousand euros a month and even more. Another thing is that a significant part is spent on gasoline, and you constantly have to eat and drink coffee on the street or in cafes; in Moscow this is not cheap. Plus bribes to the police, plus any minor car repairs. As a result, you have between 20 (if you don’t try very hard) and 80 thousand rubles to live on. In addition, the car wears out much faster than if you just drive it to work every day.
Competition
Of course, there are separate groups like the mafia. Usually along ethnic lines. In the South-West, for example, the Azerbaijani mafia controls everything, you won’t get through there. But the Moscow Tajiks and Uzbeks are quiet and don’t interfere with their dad. On the other hand, individual private traders who do not belong to any company can agree on some rules of the game, for example, about who stands where near clubs or at airports and whose turn it is to drive. This is similar to how cars that do not have the right of way are allowed to pass on the streets: every driver understands that he himself may find himself in the same situation and stand for an hour with the turn signals on. Experienced taxi drivers know each other, they know the club security guards and traffic cops. But it’s not so difficult for a beginner to break through if he has the desire. Every now and then people from the Moscow region or from the region come, pay a tax for a week and leave. We, of course, don’t like them and try not to let them into the best places. There are no fights, but the conversations are often tough.
Pricing
Everyone thinks that the price depends on the outfit and degree of sobriety of the passenger. It seems like a trip for a well-dressed and drunk person will cost much more than for a sober, but obviously poor person. It's a bullshit. By and large, the price depends on whether there are competitors or not. At four o'clock in the morning, a trip from Lyublino to the center will cost a thousand rubles, because there are few cars and there is nothing to choose from. On the other hand, a trip from the center to Lyublino at the same time will be even more expensive: obviously, you won’t be able to pick up a passenger on the way back, you’ll have to go empty, which is why the price is higher. And, of course, what matters is your phone (and not your jacket at all), the presence of a girl and the place from which you leave. A trip from TSUM to Bolshaya Gruzinskaya can cost the same as from Kruzhka on Kurskaya to Pechatniki, although it is three times further.
Passengers
The wildest trip was when I was carrying two large families - four adults and seven children. One child sat on the lap of an adult in the front seat, six sat on the lap of an adult in the back seat. Of course, I would never have taken this company, but it was early in the morning, I felt sorry for them, and they needed money. Then there were two drunk students who jumped out right away so as not to pay. There was some bald guy who paid $100 for me to go buy him a bouquet of flowers. This is one of those unusual ones that happened recently. In general, it’s not even the strangest ones that are remembered, but the most interesting ones, those with whom it was a pleasure to communicate. For example, I was carrying an emigrant who returned to Russia after 20 years. He had a very strange accent: this probably only happens to Russians who have lived abroad for a long time. I also saw in broad daylight how, on Nizhnyaya Maslovka, three hooded people fired at a minibus with the sign “Iceberry” and ran away. I don't know what it was. And once I found a used condom in the back seat. I hate it when people litter in the car.
Service
I always smoke out the window and make sure to turn off the music if a passenger asks. I try to tidy up my car and wash it more often. I rather need this myself in order to maintain some kind of order within myself. Passengers don’t expect anything good from a car caught on the street; in general, they don’t care. Many people take photos of the license plates or my face before the trip, I don’t bother them. They are very afraid of us, but we are also often afraid. Especially if you are driving somewhere in Medvedkovo at night and three men in black down jackets stop you. I was attacked twice, once stabbed in the back.
Dangerous cars
A simple old rule: don't get into tinted cars. Especially if it's a Lada car. Another good rule: don't drive Tajiks. Maybe everything will be fine, I myself know many good taxi drivers from Georgians and Armenians, but it’s better not to experiment with any southerners, especially if you are a girl and you have to go to the outskirts. Probably, taking a photo of the numbers on your phone and sending the photo to your computer is also a good way to avoid problems, although it is inconvenient to do it every time. It never hurts to look before you sit down. Firstly, make sure that the car is not from Chechnya or Dagestan (if it was bombed from the Caucasus, under no circumstances should you go - this is strictly speaking). Secondly, if a taxi driver pesters or threatens, the best answer is: “Your number is such and such.” Well, if you see that something is wrong (the driver does not take the shortest route, chooses dark alleys, some strange music is playing, the car smells strange), then the best thing is to ask to stop somewhere in a crowded place and pay and catch another car.
Taxi companies
Until recently I thought that there were no licensed taxi drivers at all. Why the hell is it needed? It is not clear what benefits it gives to the passenger, nor what is the point of receiving it for the taxi driver. If, for example, all legal taxis were the same color, as in New York, this would still be understandable: when getting into a yellow taxi, the passenger is sure that at least his throat will not be cut. What is the meaning of Moscow licenses is not clear. As for taxi companies and taxi call services, I can’t even say that they have any competition with them. We just serve different clients. Drunk youth in Solyanka will not call a taxi by phone, and when going to the airport, you are unlikely to go out onto the street with a suitcase and catch a private taxi driver.
Licenses
No thirty thousand fines bombed can't win. All these repressive measures only lead to the fact that the most adequate part of private owners leaves the business, and those who have nothing to lose or who are not going to pay fines remain in any case. And so every year it gets worse. The cars are not looked after, the interior is a dump, prices are raised shamelessly. I recently caught a taxi - only troughs on wheels stop. This didn’t happen before; the bombers were almost important people. The only way to clean up the Moscow taxi industry is to make buying a license and complying with the rules more profitable for taxi drivers than doing menial work. If, for example, those who have a license will be able to install some kind of special badge or something else on the roof, and the passenger will see that he is getting into an official taxi. He will know that it may be more expensive, but at least it is convenient and non-gangster. If there are a lot of such taxis, no one will simply get into broken nines, and bombed will disappear by themselves. For example, I would be happy to undergo some kind of qualification and work legally. It’s uncomfortable to work outside the law for years. But for now it’s easier for me to negotiate with the traffic police than to bother with a license.
Anton Serdyukov writes: I am a freelancer. There is a lot of free time between orders. So I decided to find a part-time job with a flexible schedule. An advertisement caught my eye: they were looking for taxi drivers. It seemed like an ideal option: you can work whenever it’s convenient, plus they give you a car to rent.
At first I only worked as a taxi driver when I had free time, but then I decided to take it seriously and worked 4 full days. It became clear that combining two jobs was difficult, and I left. I’ll tell you how to get a job as a taxi driver, what your salary depends on and what the pitfalls are.
Choosing an aggregator
An aggregator is an online intermediary between the driver and the passenger. The client orders a car through a mobile application, and the system sends the order to the driver. The most popular aggregators in Russia are Yandex Taxi, Uber and Gett.
If you have your own car, you can work with the aggregator directly. If you don’t have a car, you can rent it from a taxi company. The driver pays a fixed amount for using the car, plus the aggregator takes a commission from each trip.
I chose between Yandex Taxi and Uber. I settled on Yandex: other taxi drivers said that it had better navigation and lower commission.
Some taxi drivers work with two aggregators at once so as not to stand idle without orders, but I abandoned this idea. Firstly, the notification sounds in the application already distract you from the road - but here there will be twice as many of them. Secondly, if orders for a trip arrive at the same time to both Uber and Yandex Taxi, one will have to be refused, and this will reduce the driver’s rating - I will talk about it below.
Having decided on the aggregator, I left a request on the Yandex Taxi website, and they called me back in a few minutes. Having learned that I didn’t have my own car, the Yandex representative gave me a list of taxi companies in St. Petersburg where I could rent a car.
If I had a personal car, I would not bother with a taxi company. Firstly, I would save on taxes and instead of 13% personal income tax I would pay 6% under a simplified system - to work with Yandex Taxi you need to be an individual entrepreneur. Secondly, as it turned out later, the taxi company sometimes delays payments, and to my colleagues who worked directly, Yandex transferred money daily.
Agreement with a taxi company
After a call from Yandex Taxi, I went to the taxi company’s website and left a request. They called me back immediately and scheduled me for an interview. They asked me to take my passport and driver's license with me.
In the office, I filled out a form, the manager told me about the working conditions. Two hours after the interview they called me back and said that they were ready to cooperate.
An agency agreement was concluded with me for the provision of services for connecting to taxi services and a car rental agreement. Moreover, the fact that I was renting a car to work as a taxi was not indicated in the documents. No one formalized any employment relationship with me - the taxi driver pays for his vacation and sick leave himself. As well as income tax of 13%.
According to the car rental agreement, technical inspection, repairs and insurance are the responsibility of the taxi company. But if something happens to the car due to the driver’s fault, you will have to pay for repairs at your own expense. In addition, the taxi driver must use his own money to refuel the car, pay for parking and washing, and also pay fines.
Before handing over the car, the taxi company employee examined it with me and recorded all the damage in the acceptance certificate. I advise you to treat this carefully: if later dents or scratches are found on the car that are not indicated in the report, the cost of repairs will be deducted from you.
The rental fee can be fixed, or it can depend on the period for which you rent the car: the longer it is, the cheaper it will be. On average in St. Petersburg, prices range from 1600 to 1800 RUR per day.
The car is with the driver all the time; there is no need to return it to the taxi depot every day. When the rental period ends, the car needs to be washed: a dirty one will not be accepted back.
Agency agreement for connection to the aggregator. The taxi company creates a free account for the driver in the Yandex Taxi system and undertakes to pay him the money earned once a week
Working conditions
I managed to work in two different taxi companies - let's call them “Orion” and “Saturn”. The conditions there were very different. For example, Orion issued a fuel card to a large network of gas stations and obliged you to refuel only there. In the Saturn you could refuel anywhere. “Orion” withheld a deposit of 2,000 RUR from the driver every week, which was given after returning the car, provided that everything was in order with it. There were no collaterals at Saturn.
2000 R held one of the taxi companies as collateral
In general, Saturn took a formal approach to many things. For example, a taxi company is required by law to issue waybills to drivers. If a taxi with a passenger is stopped by a traffic police officer and the driver does not have a waybill, the driver can receive a fine of 3,000 RUR. At Orion, at the beginning of the week, drivers received exactly as many waybills as they were going to work, and once a week the documents were taken from them by the head of the convoy . At Saturn, they simply gave me a stack of waybills “with a reserve”; no one monitored their completion.
Every day, before going on line, the driver is required to come to the taxi depot and undergo a pre-trip medical examination. At Orion, I was fined 300 rubles for going on line without a medical examination. At Saturn they said that I could undergo a medical examination wherever I wanted.
Despite the fact that Orion worked strictly according to the law, I liked it better in Saturn. Primarily due to the lack of medical examinations: going to the taxi depot every day is expensive both in time and money. In addition, there was no red tape with waybills. Yes, and I refueled where I wanted. But this is my opinion as a driver - a taxi passenger may have a different opinion.
How did the working conditions differ at Orion and Saturn?
| Condition | "Orion" | "Saturn" |
|---|---|---|
| Car rental | 1600 R per day | 1800 R per day - daily 1700 R per day - from 10 days 1600 R per day - from 20 days |
| First day of rental | Free until 10am the next day | Free until 00:00 the next day |
| Taxi commission | 5% of the order value | No |
| How do they collect rent? | Debited from the personal account in the Yandex Taximeter application | By transfer to a bank card or in cash at the taxi office |
| Payment for fuel | Using a fuel card from a specific gas station network. The money is debited the next day from the driver’s account in the Yandex Taximeter application. | Cash payment at any gas station |
| Pledge | 2000 R per week | No |
| Waybills | Issued strictly according to the number of shifts, carefully checked | A blank waybill will be issued; you can fill it out if you wish. |
| Medical examinations | Conducted every day, fine for going to work without a medical examination - 300 RUR | You can undergo it yourself at any medical institution. There are no sanctions from the taxi company |
| Car branding | “Yandex Taxi” stickers, branded checkers on the roof | Regular car without any taxi signs |
| Taxi inspection | Two times a week | No |
| Vehicle and transmission | Skoda Rapid, automatic | Hyundai Solaris, manual |
Yandex taximeter
Before taxiing, you need to install the Yandex Taximeter application. It only works on Android. The application will ask you to enter a phone number. If the taxi company has correctly connected you to the system, you will receive an SMS with a password.
The main purpose of the Taximeter is to transmit information about orders. In addition, the application shows how much the driver earned, where he traveled, etc.
To start accepting orders, you need to move the slider in the upper right part of the screen from the “Busy” position to the “On line” position. When an order comes in, the driver has a few seconds to agree.
At this moment, the driver sees only the place where the passenger is waiting and the time it takes to get there. Information about the final destination and cost of the trip will appear only after the client gets into the car. This is done to prevent drivers from choosing only those orders on which they can earn a lot. If you agree and then reject the offer, this will affect the driver’s rating.
Home page of the Yandex Taximeter application
Rating. This is the average rating given by passengers to the driver in the Yandex Taxi application. For example, if 30 passengers gave a four, and 20 gave a five, then its rating will be 4.4. Only ratings from the last 60 days are taken into account.
The rating affects the distribution of orders. If at the time of ordering there are several taxis at approximately the same distance from the client, Taximeter will give the order to the driver who has a higher rating. As a result, the lower the rating, the less frequently orders arrive. If it drops below 4, orders will stop coming in completely.
If you want passengers to give you high fives and your rating to rise, I recommend being polite, driving carefully and helping with luggage. It’s worth keeping up a conversation during the trip only if the client is in the mood to communicate: some passengers are annoyed by the intrusiveness.
Information about my rating, percentage of accepted and completed orders in Taxometer
Having arrived at the place of order, you need to click the “On location” button in the application. If you arrived faster than the navigator calculated, you will have to wait until the allotted time for traveling to the place has expired. Only after this the countdown of the passenger's waiting time begins - the first five minutes the taxi waits for the client for free. If the driver is late, the passenger will still receive his free five minutes of waiting.
Most of the time, orders came to me smoothly, but there were also periods of calm. If there are no clients, then it is better to rush to where there are not enough cars. On the map in the application, such areas are highlighted in color: the darker the zone, the more necessary a taxi is there. The area of high demand is painted in the darkest color - purple. There are not enough cars here and double tariffs apply - you can earn more.
This is a demand map on a weekday morning. On the outskirts of the city there is increased demand: everyone goes to work. In the evening - vice versa
If you want to take a break or it’s time to finish work, the driver must move the slider to the “Busy” position. “Taximeter” will offer to search for orders on the way home: the home address is pre-specified in the settings. But it depends on your luck: I got a passing order only once.
Quality control
Yandex Taxi checks the quality of service not only using passenger ratings, but also in other ways. They look to see if the car is clean and if it has any serious damage. If you are transporting children, there must be a child seat in the cabin. They also check whether the car model, color and number match those entered during registration with the aggregator. The driver must always have his license, PTS, MTPL policy and waybill with him.
To check all this, Yandex Taxi uses mobile and photo control. Once every three days, the application reminds you that it is time to undergo photo inspection: right in the application, you must take a photo of the car from all sides, as well as the open trunk, interior and all documents. If you ignore the message, access to new orders will be blocked in an hour.
I recommend taking pictures in a quiet place, such as a parking lot or, in extreme cases, on a street where there is no heavy traffic. Otherwise, you won’t be able to take a good photo of the left side of the car and you’ll have to run out onto the roadway, risking getting run over by the wheels.
During mobile control, the same thing is checked. The difference is that the inspection is carried out in person and without warning. You receive a regular order, but after you accept it, the system asks you to arrive at a certain control point, where Yandex Taxi employees are already waiting. In my case, it was usually a parking lot at a large shopping center. The inspectors themselves take photographs of the car and check that all documents are in place.
I went through mobile control twice and had no problems. Interestingly, for passing mobile control the driver receives a reward - as if he had completed a regular order. Moreover, the aggregator does not take a commission. The last time I earned 64 R in 10 minutes: I spent 5 minutes to get to the inspection site, and the same amount for the procedure itself.
Personal account
A personal account is opened for each driver at Yandex Taxi. Its status can be monitored in the “Taximeter” in the “Balance” tab. All payments between the aggregator, taxi company and driver are carried out through this account. From here, Yandex writes off its commission, and the taxi company writes off money for renting a car.
When a passenger pays for a taxi using a card, the money is automatically credited to your account. Sometimes there are shifts when most clients pay in cash and there is nothing to deduct from the account. In this case, you can top up the balance yourself: in Orion I did this through a special terminal, in Saturn I simply gave the money to the taxi driver. If you go negative, the aggregator will disconnect the driver from orders. Therefore, it is better to top up your account with a reserve.
In addition to the balance, Taximeter automatically calculates your earnings. This is the driver’s revenue minus the aggregator and taxi fleet commissions. Tips and aggregator bonuses, including so-called subsidies, are included in the revenue. The client can leave tips in the Yandex Taxi mobile application, and they will be debited from their bank card. The aggregator does not take a commission from tips.
Subsidies are awarded for fulfilling orders that cost less than 100 RUR. In fact, Yandex Taxi pays extra money for trips that are not profitable for the driver. For example, for an order that costs the client 79 RUR, the driver will be paid an additional 21 RUR. This is done so that taxi drivers do not refuse small orders, and clients use the service even for short trips.
Expenses
The driver's main expenses, in addition to rent, are gasoline, aggregator commission and car washing.
For gasoline for four days of work, I spent 3330 RUR. Of this, only 2112 RUR - 13% of the proceeds - came from the fuel that I burned while fulfilling orders. The remaining 1218 R was wasted: I went to the taxi depot and back, drove around the city looking for orders, etc. If you work in high-demand areas and do not move aimlessly around the city, the idle mileage can be reduced.
Commission Yandex Taxi depends on the cost of the trip: the more expensive it is, the less the aggregator charges the driver. My commission never dropped below 15%. The maximum that had to be paid was 28%. On average, for four days of work, I paid the aggregator 18% of the revenue - 2754 RUR.
Washing It cost 300 RUR. During the entire time that I worked, there was no rain and the car did not get dirty. At the beginning of each shift, I myself wiped the windows, shook out the floor mats and cleaned the interior: a passenger would not give a high rating to a driver driving a dirty car. I took the car to the car wash only once - before returning the car. Moreover, I managed to save money: the drivers of the taxi company with whom I collaborated were given a 50% discount.
How much can you earn
I transferred data on completed orders from Taxometer to Excel and analyzed my income and expenses. The result was a large table. I calculated that if I subtract the costs of rent, car wash, gas, and idling around town, my break-even point—that is, the amount of time I need to drive to recoup the cost—is 10 hours a day. In other words, for the first 10 hours of my shift I seemed to be working for Yandex Taxi, a taxi company, a gas station and a car wash. And only at the eleventh hour did I start earning money.
I also included in my income the money I was able to save by having a rental car on hand at all times. For example, once I took my wife and children to the suburbs of St. Petersburg - a taxi would have cost 863 RUR. However, we must take into account that the first half of the rental day was free for me - this is a taxi fleet bonus for new drivers. Otherwise, the real profit would be 900 R less.
How much did I earn in four days?
How to earn more
If you put in the effort, you can actually earn two to three times more. Here are my lifehacks for more efficient work.
Calculate working days. If you go out to work, it’s better not to interrupt. Each trip on your own business is an extra fuel consumption. I also advise you not to split your shifts, because the less often you take and return the car to the taxi depot, the more profitable it is. For example, it is better to rent a car once and work for six days in a row than twice for three days with a break.
A trip to a taxi company costs gasoline. In addition, they only accept the car back clean, so you will have to spend money on washing. And these trips also take a lot of time. It is also unprofitable to leave the car between shifts, since the rental fee is high.
Work in a high demand area. Experienced drivers constantly look at the map in the “Taximeter” in order to move on time to places where there are not enough taxis and, as a result, they can work at an increased rate.
It is also worth considering the time of day: on weekdays in the morning people travel from the suburbs to the center to work, and in the evening back. On Saturday evenings there are more orders in the center. At night, demand is lower, but people travel longer distances and the cost of travel increases. In addition, it is faster to transport people in the evenings, since there are no traffic jams.
Accept all incoming orders. Then the rating will grow, and this will immediately affect the number of orders. If you need to take a break, it is better to stop the Taximeter so as not to reject orders.
Connect to the second aggregator. This way, orders arrive more often, the car is idle less, and gasoline is not wasted.
Save fuel. I spent almost a fifth of my earnings on gasoline. If you have a choice, it is better to rent a car that consumes less fuel. When there are no orders, it is better to stop and wait. It took more than 1000 RUR just for such an idle drive in four days.
You can take ride-sharing orders not only when returning home, but also on the way to the taxi depot - to do this, in the “Taximeter” settings you need to change your home address to the address of the taxi depot.
Pay for a long-term car rental. If I paid rent for 20 days in advance, then one day would cost me 200 rubles less. By my calculations, this would reduce the break-even point by almost one hour. An hour a day is 20-25 hours a month!
Find a partner. While one driver is working, the other is resting. This will cut your rental costs in half. If two people work on one machine for 10-12 hours, the break-even point will be not 10, but 5 hours. And then in 12 hours of work you can get the same income as working alone, but for 14-15 hours.
Do not break traffic rules. A fine for speeding can leave you without a day's wages.
Recently, using mobile applications for ordering a taxi has become even more profitable than buying your own car.
Here are various driver rules and tricks that all taxi passengers should know in order to avoid controversial situations.
10. A traffic light is a friend, and a traffic jam is a mother
The slogan of many taxi companies is the phrase “What is important to us is not the speed of the driver, but the safety of the passenger”. But many unscrupulous taxi drivers, in order to make a profit, interpret these rules as: “Drive along the longest road. Remember that the traffic light is your friend, and the traffic jam is your mother.” Therefore, it is better for you to inform the driver of the convenient route yourself.
9. The driver should not start the conversation first
According to unspoken etiquette, the driver should not force a conversation on the passenger. If the passenger speaks himself, then yes, the conversation should be maintained. But if you feel awkward at the unexpected outpouring of the taxi driver’s soul, you have the right to politely refuse the conversation.
Well, in general, most people really like to talk with taxi drivers, especially, as the latter say, on the topic of money issues, new purchases and personal problems. But politics, oddly enough, is not interesting to them.
8. Drivers are fired for their ratings.
4.6 is an almost perfect rating on a 5-point scale. But the figure is ideal everywhere except for taxi applications. A driver with a rating lower than 4.6 will be deactivated by the system. Therefore, before you give a bad grade, ask yourself the question: does the person really deserve it? And take grades seriously - this is not a social network, but human work.
7. You also have a rating
It may come as a surprise to many, but passengers also have their own rating (we are talking about Uber). You can view it in the settings or ask the driver. If suddenly you, being a particularly violent passenger, now feel a surge of shame and suspicion, do not worry: this rating does not particularly affect anything, except that picky drivers (and there are almost none) will not accept your orders.
6. The taxi driver doesn't know your final address.
In mobile applications, the client’s final destination is requested immediately, but the driver sees this information only upon arrival at the passenger. There was a case when in the USA a person ordered a car from Uber to another state. By the way, the trip took him 6 hours and $583. Therefore, if your driver is dissatisfied with the final stop, do not be surprised, and in the case of an unusual route, It's better to notify him in advance.
5. Your phone number is also unknown.
Despite the fact that mobile app drivers can contact you without any problems, they do not have your phone number as such. Communication is carried out only using a common application system.
4. Minimum distances are the norm
Have you ever gotten anywhere for 50 rubles? It would seem that the taxi driver works at a loss with such routes, but in fact in modern companies there is a certain minimum for the trip, which the driver will receive in any case: for example, a delivery for 50, but will receive 100. There is one thing: some taxi drivers love reduce the rating of a passenger when they believe that he could cover the same distance on his own two feet.
3. Passengers are paxes
Pax (from English persons approximately) is an international documentation designation for a passenger on board an aircraft. Used mainly in pilot jargon and - attention! - avid taxi drivers. So, among themselves they discuss not passengers, but paxes.
2. You are not the driver's trap, but the driver is the system's trap.
The trick of taxi apps is that the system manipulates employees. For example, when you exit the application, a notification pops up from the series “You are only $15 left to $300. Are you sure you want to exit?” Such messages exploit people's behavioral characteristics, forcing them to work as hard as possible to achieve an invisible goal.
Another feature is that managers sign with women’s names and send rather informal messages, like: “Hi, the match will end soon in this place. Will you come?" What can I say - men have a subconscious need to satisfy a woman’s request.
1. Taxi drivers can set the meter in advance
Some drivers deceive passengers: upon arrival at their destination, the first thing they do is turn on the meter (which is against the rules) and only then call the client, from which the client pays for the waiting time, which should not be counted in the first 10 minutes.
Therefore, in any case, be kind, get to the taxi on time: for the sake of etiquette and saving your own and other people’s time. Good luck!
