During a press briefing, Irina Zaripova, who leads the Public Council for Taxi Development, described a concrete plan aimed at easing the driver shortage issue. The council has forwarded a proposal to the Federation Council, seeking a way to address the persistent gap between demand for taxi services and the number of qualified drivers. This update was shared by RBC in coverage of the event.
Zaripova noted that the core idea is to temporarily permit immigrants to operate taxis under strict supervision. The proposal has been sent to Alexei Sinitsyn, who serves as the first deputy chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the Federation Council, for consideration. The aim is to create a controlled pathway that could help stabilize taxi availability while ensuring safety and regulatory compliance.
According to Zaripova, the plan would rely on a robust monitoring system, leveraging Insurance Telematics technology to maintain real-time oversight of drivers, routes, and vehicle performance. This approach would allow for swift responses to anomalies and ensure that safety standards are met. The emphasis is on a temporary measure that could be tightened or rescoped as the market stabilizes and more long-term workforce strategies are developed.
In the same press conference, Elvira Nabiullina, the president of the Central Bank, commented on broader workforce dynamics, noting notable shortages in personnel within the IT sector. The remarks underscore a wider pattern of talent migration and demand between sectors that can influence the pace of digital innovation and regulatory implementation, including in the transportation industry.
Earlier, reports from Telegram channels highlighted a visible bottleneck in the capital, with a notable traffic build-up of taxi vehicles at the perimeter of the Moscow City business district. The incident serves as a real-world illustration of the pressures facing urban taxi fleets and the urgency of scalable staffing solutions, whether through traditional recruitment, retraining programs, or policy adjustments that ensure service levels meet rider demand.
Looking at the broader picture, researchers and analysts from top universities have observed a fragile staffing environment across the entire taxi and ride-hailing ecosystem in the country. The takeaway is clear: the sector faces elevated turnover, skill gaps, and coverage challenges that can affect service reliability and consumer experience. Stakeholders are weighing a mix of regulatory, technological, and workforce strategies to build resilience, including enhanced training, cross-border mobility opportunities, and the integration of new safety and compliance technologies into fleet operations. This evolving scenario mirrors trends seen in many major urban markets where workforce planning and innovation go hand in hand to sustain mobility services during times of transition.