Carrying out the reform of the taxi market in Ukraine in a five-year perspective can create 100,000 jobs, according to the Uber taxi service.
“I believe that the adoption of a civilized reform will lead, firstly, to an increase in passenger safety, and secondly, to an inflow of foreign investments into Ukraine, and as a result to the creation of jobs. We estimate that the taxi reform may create 100,000 jobs in Ukraine over a five-year perspective,” Uber’s Development Director in Central and Eastern Europe Georgii Sokolianskyi said during an online discussion on the taxi market on Thursday.
According to him, the main obstacle to the development of the taxi market in Ukraine is the lack of sufficiently high-quality cars for those who are ready to work in this sector, since cars and loans in Ukraine are very expensive, especially in comparison with the EU countries.
Sokolianskyi also said that platforms such as Uber often reach agreements with car manufacturers on special terms of purchase, with leasing companies on cheaper loans, potentially secured by companies. At the same time, there is a model on the market for working with private drivers, when the platform gives money for the first payment for a car, and in return the driver agrees to brand the car for a certain period.
“At the same time, neither we, nor private investors in vehicle fleets can invest in an illegal market, where investments may be lost tomorrow if the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety (Ukrtransbezpeka) or the head of the National Police changes,” Sokolianskyi said.
He said that due to problems with regulation in the taxi sector, Ukraine often loses competition for investment to other countries.
“For an investor, the rule of law, fair courts and transparent regulation are always important. And, perhaps, today we cannot change the quality of Ukrainian legal proceedings, but we can change the transparency of taxi regulation,” Uber’s Development Director in Central and Eastern Europe said.
Bolt taxi service (formerly Taxify) launches a new service for animal transportation.
According to the press service, to order the service, you need to select the category of trip Pets in the Bolt application.
Bolt notes that during transportation of the animal in order to avoid pollution of the passenger compartment, special means must be used: bedding for the animal, a cage, a pet carrier and wet wipes.
A prerequisite for the transportation of large dogs is the availability of a muzzle and a short leash. Small animals can be transported on hand, but this issue should preferably be agreed with the driver.
“Practice shows that animal transportation is very popular in different countries. Over the years of work in Ukraine, we also had many requests, so we are happy to launch the new Pets service,” Taras Potichny, the regional manager of Bolt in Ukraine, said.
As reported, Bolt is launching an electric scooter rental service in Ukraine, until the spring of 2020 the service will be available in a test mode in the Unit.City innovative park.
For the first time, Taxify was launched in Kyiv in 2016 under a franchising agreement. In June 2018, the company restarted the project in the capital with its own local team, promising to enter other major cities of the country.
In early March 2019, Taxify rebranded, changing its name to Bolt.
