In Moscow, authorities have further tightened the rules for taxi drivers. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin signed a law imposing fines of 5,000 rubles for taxi drivers who have not passed the mandatory certification on the rules of operation. The new fines were adopted based on amendments to the law. It is reported that on May […]
In Moscow, authorities have further tightened the rules for taxi drivers.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin signed a law imposing fines of 5,000 rubles for taxi drivers who have not passed the mandatory certification on the rules of operation.
The new fines were adopted based on amendments to the law. It is reported that on May 21, the Moscow City Duma introduced these fines, approving changes to the Administrative Code of Moscow.
“Driving a taxi by a driver who has not passed the certification on the knowledge of taxi driving rules in the manner established by the regulatory legal act of the city of Moscow entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of five thousand rubles,” the document states.
The mandatory certification on the knowledge of taxi driver rules is a test that lasts up to 20 minutes, and candidates must correctly answer at least 8 out of 9 questions.
Drivers must be familiar with the transport infrastructure of Moscow, cultural heritage sites, medical organizations, educational institutions, sports facilities, administrative buildings, as well as access routes to them, actions in emergency situations, and rules for transporting passengers and luggage.
It is noted that the certification is free and is conducted once every two years. According to the Moscow city hall, over 160,000 drivers have already passed the certification.
Statistics show that among taxi drivers in the city of Moscow, there are many migrants from Central Asia. In 2023 alone, out of 332,000 drivers, 79,000 were citizens of Kyrgyzstan, 7,000 from Tajikistan, and 5,000 from Uzbekistan.
In 2024, Nikolai Kodolov, chairman of the Moscow taxi drivers’ union “Dobro,” stated that migrants from the region make up almost half of the workforce in the capital’s taxi services. According to him, “the outflow of migrants will lead to higher prices and longer wait times for cars. There will also be problems for taxi fleets because they have cars, but there will simply be no one to drive them.”