Taxi fare increase not related to rising fuel prices

Taxicab service unions say that the increase in fuel prices was not the main reason behind the increase of the trip fare, but the high fines and the number of illegal taxi drivers, who prejudice taxi companies, reports Info-Prim Neo. “30% of the taxi services are provided by drivers who operate illegally. It is an acute problem, that leads to sizeable losses for the legal operators. On the other hand, the sanctions for the carrires are too radical. The fine for not printing the receipt up to three times is 50,000 lei, a fine which is nowhere to be found in the world, only in Moldova”, stated, at a press conference, Sergiu Dodon, head of the Union of Taxi Transportation of Passengers and Luggage. The current legislation stipulates that the fine budren falls on the business, i.e. the taxicab company, and not only on the driver who did not print the receipt. The unions proposed the State bodies some modifications of the legislation, to include harsh sanctions for taxi drivers who operate illegally, outside of taxicab companies. “The sanction for proving such illegal services is from 700 to 2,000 lei. We are in the situation in which it is more convenient to provide illegal service than to work legally; even though we don’t want to do it, but all these factors involuntarily lead to the increase in the price of providing these services”, said Sergiu Dodon. According to him, while illegal taxi drivers occupy the market, legal transporters are increasingly suffocated by controls from the State Tax Inspectorate, Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, or from the Ministry of Interior, both with and without a reason. In the last 8 months, most taxi enterprises have undergone 5-6 inspections by different state institutions. The representative of the union said that it would be a good idea to establish a salary for taxi drivers, such that they’d be interested in working legally, especially that this services faces an acute lack of skilled drivers. Recently, several taxi agencies increased their trip fares by 5 lei.