Economy
It will be difficult to hail a cab in Budapest
City Taxi Vice-President Miklós Tamás warned that during the 2017 FINA World Aquatic Championships between July 14 and 30, customers will probably need to be more patient when waiting for their ordered taxi to arrive due to the likely congestion in Budapest. Zoltán Metál, President of the National Taxi Alliance, estimated that the waiting time will be around 10 to 15 minutes.
Taxi drivers are currently negotiating with the organiser how the venues could be approached by car. Such huge events always have an effect on the given city’s transportation, Tamás added.
While cabs will have access to restricted areas, they will still need to use the lanes just like any other motorist. Public transport could be a better choice during the world championships. Although the management of City Taxi has no right to oblige the company’s drivers to work in peak hours, but it is asking them to do so, which is also the best choice financially in any case.
What cannot be solved, though, is to add 30,000 taxis to the existing fleet, so by the middle of July motorists can expect to spend longer minutes or hours on the roads of the capital city.
Given that it’s the middle of the summer, a lot of taxi drivers are on vacation. The situation is made more difficult by the fact that the number of taxis in traffic has recently dropped to about 5,300 from around 6,000, while in the high tourist season the demand for taxis has risen.
This means the supply market has turned into a demand market within a relatively short period. There are fewer and fewer young drivers too, because getting the necessary permits is a demanding procedure.
Taxi drivers are currently negotiating with the organiser how the venues could be approached by car. Such huge events always have an effect on the given city’s transportation, Tamás added.
While cabs will have access to restricted areas, they will still need to use the lanes just like any other motorist. Public transport could be a better choice during the world championships. Although the management of City Taxi has no right to oblige the company’s drivers to work in peak hours, but it is asking them to do so, which is also the best choice financially in any case.
What cannot be solved, though, is to add 30,000 taxis to the existing fleet, so by the middle of July motorists can expect to spend longer minutes or hours on the roads of the capital city.
Given that it’s the middle of the summer, a lot of taxi drivers are on vacation. The situation is made more difficult by the fact that the number of taxis in traffic has recently dropped to about 5,300 from around 6,000, while in the high tourist season the demand for taxis has risen.
This means the supply market has turned into a demand market within a relatively short period. There are fewer and fewer young drivers too, because getting the necessary permits is a demanding procedure.
