Taxi drivers are taken off the market in favour of ride sharing (COTAR)

The Confederation of Authorized Operators and Carriers of Romania (COTAR) draws attention to the non-compliance of the legislation in force, at the level of the local authorities, by decreasing the number of authorizations for taxiing and increasing the number of transporters of persons under the "ride sharing" regime, the organisation announced on Monday. In this context, COTAR representatives charge the authorities with not taking into account the serious consequences of this behavior directed against Romanian companies that bring money to the state budget. "In Romania there are already more compliant copies for alternative transport than taxi licenses. There are currently more than 30,000 cars in ride sharing in Bucharest alone, and their number is increasing. There are companies that are using the new alternative transport law, which came into force in 2019, so that they can juggle profits freely so that they don't pay taxes. The law allows them to close and reopen whenever they want, which a taxi company can't do, because it would lose its license. These tax games only bankrupt companies that pay taxes to the Romanian state, removing them from the market to leave room for alternative transport firms," it said. COTAR representatives claim that, in a tourist city such as southeastern Black Sea coast's Constanta, we observe how the local administration "makes room on the market" for alternative transport companies, intending to decrease the number of taxi licences. The COTAR chairman, Vasile Stefanescu, claims that the authorities of the Romanian state encourage alternative transport and support these companies, to the detriment of those who are tax and dues payers. According to him, the development of applications that have also entered the area of dispatches, although they are regulated, as is taxiing, are also encouraged.AGERPRES/(AS - author: Nicoleta Benciulea, editor: Andreea Marinescu)