Taxi Services Should Be Used by Wealthy People - Baku Transport Agency’s Spokesman

Baku / 02.09.20 / Turan: “The prices for taxi services are almost equal to the prices for the bus. Taxi services, as in the past, should be used by wealthy people."

Representative of the Baku Transport Agency Hikmet Babayev said this on the air of ARB TV channel.

He believes it is wrong to turn a taxi into a daily used vehicle. Babayev said that there is regular passenger transportation for this.

The words of the BTA representative provoked indignation of users of social networks. In a short time, a large number of comments were published on this speech, in which it was noted that BTA, as a state company, should work to improve the welfare of citizens, and not worsen it.

Political expert Arastun Orujlu, commenting on Babayev’s speech on his Facebook page, said that the current leaders of the transport system are worse than the "bandits" of the transport inspection of the former Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov.

“These are even crueler and more arrogant. They call their gangster intentions a "concept" and try to take the last money from the poor. People wearing branded suits, exclusive shoes, living in expensive houses, having expensive cars not only do not understand people who need a piece of bread, but do not even want to hear them, as they are just "rabble" for them,” he wrote.

In his opinion, the BTA concept will doom thousands of people, who out of despair began to engage in taxi services, to unemployment, and also rob people using taxi services.

Economist Samir Aliyev, in an interview with Turan, noted that Babayev’s words are social discrimination.

"Babayev believes that taxis should be used by rich people, and people with modest opportunities should only travel in buses."

The economist stressed that BTA should work to create a competitive atmosphere in this area, establish acceptable prices for citizens, and improve quality.

“Everyone is happy with the prices. Even drivers who work for low fares earn on the volume of passenger traffic. BTA should work only on quality improvement”.

According to Samir Aliyev, BTA pursues such initiatives with only one goal, namely, to strengthen the position of the state-owned company Bakitaksixidmeti LLC in the market.

“BTA must ensure that there is no monopoly and that prices are not unreasonably high. At the moment, BTA is acting exactly the opposite,” he said.

In his opinion, if a BTA representative says that a cheap price violates competition, then the agency's goals are clear.

"On the other hand, it seems that BTA also wants to raise fares for buses and is afraid that the prices for travel on a bus will be more expensive than in a taxi."

 He noted that BTA representatives do not understand that taxis are unloading buses and this is important during the pandemic.

"If you disable taxis, the buses will be overcrowded, which could spread the coronavirus," he said.

Despite repeated attempts, BTA failed to give a comment. Our questions about whether the words of Babayev were the official position of BTA or his personal position, and whether BTA's intentions to regulate taxi services correspond with the recent statement of President Ilham Aliyev on the need to liberalize the economy remained open.      –71B-