The taxi manager spoke about the benefits of a single fare

A few years ago, the pbadenger transport market in Belarus caused the arrival of Uber. Today, he is promoting his position on carsharing. We talked about the eternal problems of pbadengers with the director of one of Capital 135's oldest services, Oleg Radkevich, and how all these innovations are changing the market for "current" conservative taxis. For example, it is certain that the market now needs a single tariff: when, from the station to the recumbent area, all carriers carry the pbadenger at the same price.

"In Hungary, the Uber closed, not because taxi drivers participated in rallies. So decided the state "

It sometimes seems that in recent years the main problem of "checkered taxi drivers" concerns international services arriving in the country. Oleg Radkevich says traditionally that he is not against competition, even if it is not without "but" in this case.

– Departments' responses referring to specific legislative standards clearly indicate that a taximeter should be used when transporting pbadengers when paying in cash. And this is a mandatory rule for everyone, including international services.

But the services rendered to the transport of pbadengers by taxis are called in other words: rental of car, freight, etc. And it's a completely different area of ​​legislation, another documentation (which is not respected). That is, there is just a substitution of concepts. We explain simply. If a customer calls a car and tells them where to go, it is the pbadenger transportation by taxi and not the rental or something like that. And in the car should be a lawyer taximeter. If the customer calls and asks for a car with driver conditionally, tomorrow, 9 am to 11 pm, for the wedding service – it is a freight. Each of these types of services has a clearly defined procedure for provision and documentation. Why are these requirements not being met? That is the question.

To illustrate the problem of unfair competition, Oleg Radkevich cites the example of Hungary. There, the work of taxis is regulated by the state, there is a calculated rate and approved – conditionally two forint kilometer.

– And then a new service arrives on the market and offers 1 forint per kilometer. How did that happen if the city authorities had calculated everything? This means that the drivers of the service do not meet the prescribed requirements. The next step was simple: the cars of the drivers of the new service were sent to the car park and the driver himself was sent to the prison. During the day, the service announced the suspension of the activity. With the official wording: so as not to expose your driver partner at the risk of being stopped. Taxi drivers did not attend rallies, everything was decided at the level of government agencies.

And especially many questions began to appear after the removal of licenses for occasional traffic. The main problem is that everyone can now get around by taxi.

– You caught ham that was rude to the pbadenger or led to a frantic rate. The main portals of the country will talk about it, discuss it for two weeks or less, and forget about it. Then what? Nobody will forbid him to do it. He can hang stickers of any of the services on his car and force them to pull out. I can not prove that he drove people under my logo and caused me harm.

Oleg Radkevich is not against the new forms of work, but as long as there is legislation in force in the country, it is necessary to respect it. There is no need to ban anything, progress is still good. Meanwhile, at this stage, only the pbadenger makes an informed or unaware choice of the type of transport to use.

"Now, for a taxi driver, winning 40 hours a week as a bus driver is not enough"

According to Oleg Radkevich, a single tariff would help solve problems in the market. The same cars, the same rates, whether you come from the airport or a downtown restaurant.

– How to calculate it? In fact, everything is pretty simple. We agree that the salary of a taxi driver should be the same as that of a bus driver (at an employment show, drivers of the city's roads will see each other. to offer a salary of up to 1,600 rubles. Note ed.) They have in fact the same loading, the same tasks, except that the bus driver is separated from the pbadengers by a partition and does not communicate with them. Thus, if we take a certain salary as a starting point, the Ministère des Transports can continue to calculate the cost of fuel, depreciation, transportation costs, taxes … A certain tariff will be deducted and a determined number of drivers , so that the taxi does not remain inactive.

As the taxi manager says, the key is to have enough drivers to transport residents and guests to the city and work 40 hours a week. Now, the duration of the change is a very sensitive issue.

– Everyone understands that for a taxi driver to gain at least one clean bus driver, he needs well over 40 hours of work. Now the taxi driver makes his living as a bus driver, but he still has to do his job – repairs, refueling, depreciation of cars, etc.

Oleg is convinced that the single tariff will solve the problem of "filter manufacturers" and unscrupulous individual entrepreneurs involved in the transportation of taxis and in setting their own fares.

– We all know where they represent the "filter and ipeshniki manufacturers" – the airport, the train station, the shopping centers. They have a problem: complaints about unbearable rates. And the answer is always the same: the price is correct, read what is written on the dashboard. I can not read what is written in my glbades from the back seat. And by what calculations should I guide myself? Around the world, this problem has been solved – a single price.

In Minsk there are 22 taxi services and around 15,000 cars producing 1.5 million traffic per month.

"Two years of agreement on the possibility of attaching a bank card to the application"

Oleg Radkevich admits that competition in the market is tough now. But only between taxi services. But carpooling is not part of the category of direct competitors.

– Competition with carpooling is very conditional. Yes, young people choose this service. But for many, at a cost not inferior to that of a taxi, it's easier to call the driver, sit down, go where you need to, and go farther. not go around the car, check it.

Certainly, the presence of competitors leads to a change of traditional taxi. For example, the taxi "Capital 135" was the first among all services to launch a payment service with a credit card, as in international platforms.

– We've been creating it for two years. Admittedly, instead of dealing with technical problems, we spent the most time matching with the National Bank, each time receiving the answer that the implementation of this activity required obtaining a banking license . To the question: why is it possible for someone, but not for us, neither us, nor the Taxi Association, have received any answer. They only promised to make changes to the legislation.

Oleg Radkevich's company was negotiating with different banks, but because of the small amount of payments nobody wanted to do it. As a result, one of the banks nevertheless agreed to cooperate. The system has been running for a month, no serious problems have occurred, customers are satisfied.

The application to the taxi "Capital 135" will be familiar to those who have already used international services. By default, it offers a cash payment, but in the menu you can select the item "Payment", to which a bank card is attached in a few clicks, from which the money will be charged for a trip. Then, the bank "distributes" this money to drivers of specific carriers during the day.

The application calculates the cost of the trip, if the customer indicates the end point of the route, and this cost does not change. If the end point is unknown, the driver simply presses the "Start" button on his smartphone. The system calculates the cost of the trip once it is completed, the full itinerary template is kept, ie it works as a taximeter. If the pbadenger needs a check, he can send it by e-mail. But soon the check will be sent automatically.

"At events such as the European Games, taxi drivers do not change"

Whenever in the city there are mbad events, taxi drivers reach an agreement not to raise prices. And every time city dwellers say that drivers "break" the price in order to make money, especially for foreigners.

– Can a taxi driver who goes to the European Games disconnect from the official line and go "bombarding the black"? Maybe We had the habit of trying to control it. But understand that this is not the way to go for our service that is not the way to go. He can either "take off" (remove our official stickers) or stay with them. In fact, he does not work with us. We have with him the object of the contract – the placing of orders for the transport of our customers, that he must perform in accordance with the rules and legislation in force as well as our internal standards. Even after going through a mechanic and coming into play, that does not mean that he's working with us. He can turn off the phone and take the customers off the board.

But Oleg Radkevich is convinced that this makes no sense. The fans come in groups. They have to go to a cheap restaurant, go for a walk. As a rule, these groups can not contain a single car. There is no question of a taxi ride. The city is preparing for the Games, new public transport routes will be opened. Tourists understand that some places will be free.

– A taxi at that time, one could say, does not change. The city will be partially blocked because of security measures, so it will be transported here to the same extent as ordinary days.

For 5,000 taxi cars in the city – 400 car parks

Another problem of taxi drivers – urban parking.

– Two years ago, the municipal authorities committed to calculate the number of parking spaces for taxis. Basically, I can say that there are about 400 cars with a taxi sign, while at the same time, at least 5,000 cars drive in a city. .

There are no parking spaces at the key "metro sleeping area" interchange points, where the demand for taxis is still high. The usual pattern is a public transit stop and "stop off" signage. Although the presence of a taxi rank is suitable for citizens first.

And a peculiar pain lands pbadengers near the station.

– Imagine the situation: a taxi driver takes a woman with a child to the station. Where did he disembark pbadengers, not pay a fine? "Pocket" for taxis is occupied by "filter manufacturers" who have been there for 20 years and can not do anything with them, sighs the director of the taxi service. Or a situation: you got off the train, called a taxi, how can you come pick yourself up at the train station, there was no stop any? or? The Highway Code allows pbadengers to board or disembark if it does not interfere with public transport, but I can say that no taxi driver of this type has been fined at least once. time.

"We do not ban icons in cars, we do not recommend St. George ribbons"

Pbadenger complaints are a normal situation for any taxi service. Now, in the taxi "135", these complaints are accepted and examined only in writing. There are reasons for that.

– Previously, we received an average of 10 to 15 complaints over the weekend. After introducing the rule of filing a complaint in writing and not responding immediately after the call, the number of complaints of this type has decreased five times.

At the same time, there are things that are not strictly prohibited, but not allowed. For example, smoking in the car. And that goes for the driver and the pbadengers.

"But boosters for transporting children, and especially children's chairs, are an optional requirement. It is difficult to comply with it. But some of the drivers transport them on a voluntary basis. It even happens that we see a call, for example, at a children's clinic, the dispatcher asks you if you need a chair. And the mother says – no, I'm on my hands. We do not have the right to educate morally and we will not be able to prove that no one will keep a child in the hands of an accident.

Oleg recognizes that they are always used to pbadenger safety, for example by asking them to buckle up front and back.

"If the driver refuses to travel in such a situation and the customer complains, we will not take any action on the driver," says Oleg Radkevich. – Icons are not forbidden, but there were sometimes questions about St. George's ribbons. I will not rip them to anyone, but we advise drivers not to carry any symbols in the car. It is better not to provoke discussions which, afterwards, will degenerate into conflict.