Taxi prices in Moscow have increased sharply over the last year, according to calculations published by the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia on Wednesday, citing sources in several large taxi companies.
Izvestia estimates that prices for some routes in June rose by up to 70% compared with the same month last year.
According to the state statistics bureau (Rosstat), the price per kilometer for a taxi ride in Moscow rose 30.8% from May of last year to May 2025, and by 35% in the broader Moscow region.
The most significant price increases occurred at the end of 2024. A government analysis assessed the annual growth of taxi fares in the capital at 25.2% for that year.
Yandex Taxi, which is owned by Russian tech giant Yandex, reported that the average cost per minute for a taxi in June for the Moscow region was 16% higher than last year.
Sources in several major taxi fleets told Izvestia that a shortage of available drivers is accelerating the increase in prices.
According to data from the Moscow Transportation Department, only 150,000 of the 422,000 registered drivers in the capital were actively working as of May 2025.
According to Andrey Kapitan, a member of the Public Council for Taxi Development, the workforce is shrinking due to “difficulties in obtaining licenses and low earnings for workers.”
“Requirements include obtaining a carrier ID, registration in the integrated taxi information system, mandatory certification, a certificate of no criminal record, which can take up to 30 days to secure and self-employment or sole proprietorship status,” he clarified.
According to Shokolad Taxi, many drivers are unable to keep up with all of their orders, and when a single car receives multiple requests, aggregators automatically raise prices.
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