Devastation or destruction: the Moscow taxi services are on the verge of liquidation

The threat of bankruptcy or a complete ruin of the Moscow taxi drivers is becoming increasingly apparent. The owners of the companies, involved in the transportation of the citizens and guests of Moscow, appealed to the mayor of the city with a request for the immediate subsidies. The obligations under the finance lease agreements are to blame here. The leasing conditions amid falling demand for the services might cause the ruin of the majority of taxi companies.

The reasons why the heads of numerous enterprises (about 40 in total) in Moscow turned specifically to Sergei Sobyanin are understandable. Since mid-April, the special restrictions have been introduced in the capital on travel in public transport and taxis. Now, the drivers will need the special digital passes to work in a special (not remote) regime until the end of the month. However, as the owners of the enterprises themselves note, the problem is not in the passes, but in a failed demand. According to the experts, more than half of the cars are not being used now.

The regime introduced in Moscow to tighten control over the movement of the citizens hit demand for taxi services and reduced it by 90%.

The authors of the letter note that many companies run the risk of being liquidated in the current situation. Contractual obligations allow the companies to seize the cars in case they do not get paid. Thus, a significant number of drivers might become unemployed. Some leasing companies, according to the information from the market analysts, have successfully negotiated with the owners of taxi companies, offering to postpone the payments. However, the majority continues to demand the payments, regardless of the conditions of the transportation market.

Another problem for the carriers is the currently unbearable rates of service aggregators. Traditionally, they ranged from 10 to 23%. In the letter, addressed to the mayor, the entrepreneurs ask to issue the certificates of the force majeure and help to reduce rates to 5%.

Earlier, the capital's department of transport has already recommended the aggregators to reduce the payments, but in fact, there was no reduction, only rental rates for the taxi companies were reduced.

The representatives of aggregator companies in turn, point out that in some cases, a reduction of rates is simply impossible, because in this case the activity will fall below the profitability threshold, and the program for supporting the demand for the trips would be called into question. At the same time, the experts doubt that the profits of aggregators can seriously correct the situation. In fact, we are talking about the fact that many companies cannot exist with minimal revenue and must cease operations. Many predict a substantial redistribution of property in the taxi market. And almost everyone is waiting for the end of the period of restrictive measures, introduced by the authorities of Moscow, after which someone will begin to regain strength, and someone will face the final ruin and liquidation.