In some Russian regions where there is a shortage of gasoline, taxi drivers are becoming less likely to stand on the line, Kommersant newspaper reported, citing market participants.
The article does not specify which areas we are talking about.
Sergey Privalov, a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Taxi Companies, said that drivers have begun to take the line more often, and try not to follow long routes and orders to the city center, since there is a high risk of remaining without fuel. Representatives of taxi companies cite various data on the outflow of drivers from the industry in recent years – from 5-10% to 20%.
The taxi-hailing service has confirmed that in a number of areas there are fewer active drivers on the line. Yandex Taxi (the largest taxi aggregator in the Russian Federation) declined to comment.
Kommersant notes that the outflow of drivers abroad is also noticeable in the dynamics of spending by Russians. According to calculations of the “Spear Index” service, in the week from June 22 to 28, Russians’ spending on taxis, car sharing and car rentals decreased by 3%, with an overall increase in spending on all categories of goods and services by 7.9%.
The fuel crisis in Russia has been going on for more than a month. More and more Russian regions are imposing various restrictions on the sale of gasoline.