The legislator discouraged taxi drivers. We are waiting longer and longer for a car
Since June, the waiting time for a ride provided by taxis and cars accepting orders via apps has increased by as much as 60 percent, and prices have jumped by one fifth – we read in Wednesday’s edition of “Rzeczpospolita”. All because of changes in regulations.
Already in November 2023, we wrote that over the past dozen or so years, the number of taxi drivers has decreased by one third and if this continues, there will be no one to transport passengers.
The first downturn occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, as many as 1,953 drivers suspended their business. The situation was similar in 2021, when 1,928 people resigned from working behind the wheel in this industry. The situation did not improve in the following years. Last year, over 2.3 thousand drivers suspended their business. And in the first three quarters of 2023, over 3 thousand drivers gave up driving a taxi in favor of other professions. However, this is not the end of the taxi industry’s problems.
Polish driving license has become mandatory
This year brought further changes: since June 17 this year, amended provisions of the Transport Act have been in force. Taxi drivers must have a Polish driving license and have been in Poland for at least six months. As a result, about 30 percent of drivers left Uber’s Polish platform. Some obtained the necessary documents, but some taxi drivers – mainly those using orders from the app – decided that this was a sign to start looking for a new profession and do not intend to return to the wheel.
Tomasz Starzyk, an expert from the business intelligence agency Dun & Bradstreet (DNB), told “Rzeczpospolita” that from the beginning of June to August 14, more than 200 taxis disappeared from the registers.
Higher prices, longer waiting times
– This bodes huge shortages on the supply side. More than 3,000 taxi companies, mainly sole proprietorships, are having smaller and bigger problems this year – Starzyk noted.
He added that this could be the tip of the iceberg. “Many taxi drivers, especially those using the Uber, Bolt or FreeNow applications, do not have their own business and work on various contracts. The scale of departures from the industry may therefore be much greater than the DNB data shows. Companies from this sector estimate that the change in the law has eliminated 30% of drivers,” he emphasized in an interview with “Rz”.
Fewer cars accepting calls via the app have translated into higher prices for rides. “Rz” reports that ride prices have jumped by 1/5, but anyone who regularly drives on specific routes may have encountered a situation where the price of a ride in recent weeks has been more than half as expensive as a year ago. The newspaper adds that the waiting time for a ride has increased by as much as 60 percent.
