Taxi drivers in St. Petersburg appealed to Governor George Poltavchenko petition to ban the services of Uber, GetTaxi and Yandex. Taxi.

"We ask you to take urgent action to ban the activity of IT companies (Uber and similar) within St. Petersburg, to Express support for the legitimate carriers and to act as the initiator of the legitimacy of the activities of such organizations in our city ", - reported in a letter to the non-profit partnership "St. Petersburg Taxi" signed by its Director Alexander Kholodov.

The taxi drivers called the situation on the market of the city is critical, noting that the St. Petersburg " has become a marketing battleground for the reduction of tariffs between the three global Internet applications for call Taxi. It is noted that the minimum rates laid down this " Troika ", comparable to the price of travel by public transport: 49-50 rubles. The fee for service services eventually may reach 30%, but competition of the St. Petersburg professional taxi drivers are just the owners of cars that also have the ability to get service orders. The author of the document warn that the inaction of the authorities will lead to the inevitable bankruptcy of the taxi companies and the disappearance of legitimate Petersburg Taxi as a certain kind of road transport for economic reasons ".

Over the past week across France were initiated numerous manifestations, and demonstrations of disagreement - the taxi drivers are on strike against illegal cabs and American online service Uber allows you to order private Taxi. In parts of the cities of the country between the official taxi drivers and owners broke out fighting, official Taxi drivers smashed the cars of their competitors. Certain clashes demanded the intervention of police officer special assignment, several people were detained. This is not the first strike of drivers against the VTC system, which involves a rental car with driver. And at the same time, for the right to be a taxi driver (special markings and equipment on a car in Paris is required to pay from 50 to 250 thousand Euros, register VTC much easier and cheaper. Review of Taxi drivers, these circumstances contribute to the growth of competition in which they initially lose.
sections: Economics