New quality standards will soon apply to the Viennese taxi industry. A working group of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce (WKW), Chamber of Labor (AK) and the City of Vienna has been meeting since 2021. This was accompanied by experts from the business, mobility and taxi sectors and a scientific study with the aim of making the taxi industry fit for the future. The results are now available, leading to a number of changes: a new feature is a QR code in all taxis, which enables passengers to obtain information on the most important duties of the taxi trade. For example, about the obligation of taxi companies to allow payment by bank card or a reference to the obligation to transport in Vienna. The rights and obligations that can be called up via the QR code are intended to raise awareness among drivers and passengers. In addition, suggestions and complaints can be submitted directly to WKW via the QR code. However, the central element of the new rules is the decarbonisation of the Vienna taxi fleet. For this purpose, the City of Vienna, together with WKW, has set up a funding pot of 7 million euros to facilitate the operation of e-taxis in the future. The funding is handled by WKW.
Wage and social dumping: the federal government is required
From the point of view of the working group, the issue of wage and social dumping as well as fairness among all market participants is one of the biggest challenges for the taxi industry. In this area, however, legal adjustments are required at federal level. A mandatory fiscal taximeter for street hail trips – trips that are made by being fetched on the street or from the taxi rank – as well as a driver card linked to it and automatic data transfer to the tax office and social security can help here. The working group will ask the competent federal ministries to hold talks on this. Above all, the AK has campaigned for an improvement in the situation of the employees and for a more comprehensible and fair price for the passengers. From the point of view of the AK, the decarbonization of the taxi fleet is very welcome and an essential part of the agreement and will help to make Vienna more climate-friendly.
Economic situation also difficult for the taxi industry
In contrast to many other sectors, the taxi industry cannot set its own prices. From WKW’s point of view, an adjustment of the taxi tariff was urgently needed. The last valorization took place two years ago. Since then, the taxi industry has also been confronted with multiple crises, high inflation rates and rising fuel costs. In the past two years, the consumer price index (CPI) has increased by 16.6 percent. Due to this challenging overall economic situation, the WKW taxi specialist group has requested an increase in the taxi tariff. At the request of WKW, the City of Vienna then invited the social partners to rounds of negotiations. After intensive negotiations, the taxi tariff will be increased by an average of 15.2 percent. The corresponding ordinance of the City of Vienna is now being examined and provides for the new tariff to come into force on June 1, 2023 at the earliest.
2023-05-03 16:23:24
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