FAS will check how reasonable Yandex.Taxi and Uber set prices for trips in Moscow - after price increases during snowfall

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has launched an investigation to assess how the Yandex.Taxi and Uber joint venture affects taxi prices and commissions in Moscow and the Moscow region. This, according to RIA Novosti, was announced by the head of the department for regulating communications and information technologies of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Elena Zayeva:

The share of Yandex.Taxi + Uber in Moscow and the Moscow Region exceeds 50%. The Federal Antimonopoly Service is conducting an investigation to assess the impact of the activities of taxi aggregators on the taxi passenger transportation market in terms of the reasonableness and validity of pricing and commissions.”

The representative of the FAS noted that antimonopoly laws do not prohibit the fact of dominance in the commodity market, but prohibit the abuse of a dominant position.

Elena Zayeva added that the Federal Antimonopoly Service has received several requests to raise prices for taxi services. She did not specify what appeals are in question. Whether the investigation against Yandex.Taxi and Uber is connected with these appeals is unknown.

Due to the increase in prices of taxi aggregators during the snowfall that took place in Moscow over the weekend, the All-Russian Association of Passengers and the deputy head of the Moscow Yabloko Kirill Goncharov earlier turned to the FAS .

“Note that prices in the taxi market are not regulated by the state. Dynamic pricing is used here, that is, the higher the demand and / or worse working conditions, for example, bad weather conditions, significant difficulties on the roads, the higher the cost of the service,” added Zaeva.

RIA Novosti

• Last weekend, February 13 and 14, as the Moscow Department of Transport reported , due to heavy snowfall, the demand for taxi services increased, and the aggregators Yandex.Taxi, Citymobil and Gett raised the cost two to three times.
• Representatives of Yandex.Taxi and Citymobil, commenting on the claims of the Moscow City Hall, said that the record demand arose due to poor road conditions, heavy traffic jams and the fact that many drivers could not go to work. The companies noted that the prices for trips are formed by algorithms that take into account many factors.