Reducing taxi demand: prices are growing slower

Warm winter this year influenced the taxi market. At the beginning of 2025, the number of transportation in this type of transport in Russian regions decreased by 2% year by the year, in Moscow and St. Petersburg-it increased by 5% and 3%, respectively. But you should not count on a decrease in the cost of services due to increasing prices for cars and their maintenance, as well as a shortage of drivers.

In January – March 2025, the number of taxi trips throughout Russia decreased by 2% of the year by the year, calculated the operator of the Fiscal Data Platform of the OFD on the request of Kommersant. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the indicator, on the contrary, grew by 5% and 3%, respectively. In these cities, the number of taxis orders increased due to high business activity, analysts clarify. The Maxim taxi service also noted a decrease in the number of trips. Yandex Taxi, on the contrary, argue that the number of trips through the platform increased, but the operator did not provide specific data.

A small decrease in demand was followed by a slowdown in the increase in prices for taxi services. The average check in Russia as a whole in January -March 2025 increased by 7% year by year, to 616 rubles. For a trip, in Moscow-by 8%, up to 825 rubles, in St. Petersburg-by 9%, up to 630 rubles, they specify in the Platform of the OFD. In 2024, the growth of the average check was 12–13%, added there. According to Rosstat, in February 2025, the average price of a trip in Russia as a whole was 45.28 rubles. за 1 км пути, что на 10,9% больше год к году. A year earlier, growth rates were 29.9%. In Moscow, tariff growth rates decreased from 72.8% to 9.4%, in St. Petersburg-from 11.3% to 10.4%.

Last year, a significant increase in prices was due to the “perestroika” of the business after the adoption of the taxi law, says Vasily Baranov, deputy chairman of the relevant committee of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This year, prices were restrained due to the desire of part of the population to save and choose in favor of public transport, especially since the soft winter allowed to use a taxi less often, according to the Maxim service. The Russians moved to the savings model of behavior, about a quarter of 1.7 thousand surveyed in February 2025 called one of the ways to save a taxi trip, confirms the founder of Anderida Financial Group Alexei Tarapovsky.

This winter, due to warm weather, the Russians more often used personal cars, caused a taxi for launching their machines (smoking service), explained to the Platform of the OF. Due to the small winter there were fewer traffic jams, the trips passed faster, there were enough free drivers, as a result of which the system was more likely to be in the balance sheet of supply and supply, and the price coefficient of the cost of the service was less likely to be added to Yandex Taxi.

Prices for transportation cannot increase at a faster pace in conditions where the solvent demand for the service is reduced, Maxim is noted in a taxi. But about stopping prices and even more so, they have no speech reduction. The cost of trips will continue to grow due to increasing the costs of carriers in connection with a significant increase in utilization fee when buying cars and a high key rate of the Central Bank, said Irina Zaripova, chairman of the Public Council for the Development of Taxi. This complicated the purchase of new cars, including through car loans and leasing, which now have become noticeably more expensive, she clarifies.

The demand for cars has decreased. According to the results of March 2025, according to preliminary forecasts of Avtostat, the volume of sales of new cars throughout the country will be reduced by 40%, to 80 thousand units (See “Kommersant” from March 20). Fuel costs, spare parts and maintenance of cars also continue to grow, which negatively affects the price of taxi services for passengers, says Irina Zaripova. Even if the increase in travel prices slow down, transportation services can become less in demand due to the economic situation in the country, they do not exclude Maxim taxi.

Other negative factors continue to influence the industry. Despite the balanced demand, the situation with a taxi deficit has not improved: about 77% of the taxioplanes in almost all regions of the country declare the lack of drivers, says Irina Zaripova. Earlier, Yandex Taxi predicted that by the end of 2024, 130 thousand drivers would lack a year in the Russian taxi market. Now the outflow of drivers from the industry is not as fast as last year, but in general this trend is preserved, summarized in the Maxim service.

Daria Andrianova