According to the City of Belgrade’s official decision, published in the Official Gazette, the number of registered taxi drivers in Belgrade will be reduced by a third as of 1st January next year to 4,149.
There will be no lists, no sudden revoking of licences and those taxi drivers that work in line with the relevant law will remain in business. The decrease in the number of taxi drivers will be gradual.
The increase in the number of taxi drivers will depend mainly on the success in fighting off the shadow economy and the use of various taxi apps.
The city government’s intention is to really regulate this service, and one way is for the State to subsidise the purchase of new vehicles.
“We want to have a uniform taxi service on which all citizens, as well as guests of this city, can count and thus recognize who is and who is not a taxi driver,” said Aleksandar Bjelic, president of the Taxi Association of Serbia.
“A taxi driver must be satisfied with their salary, that is, charge the realistic price of transport, which is always based on supply and demand; it is important that a taxi driver is financially able to a new vehicle or use electric vehicles once they become available,” said professor Milomir Veselinovic.
According to him, one call centre should have been set up a long time ago to collect realistic daily data on travel and driving requirements in order to have a clear picture of the fluctuations of transport needs and in which times of the day there is an increased need for taxis.
A study will be carried out by the year-end to ascertain how many taxi vehicles are there in Belgrade.
(BizLife, 05.12.2019)
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