Taxi in Azerbaijan
New taxi and bus regulations take effect in Azerbaijan from July 1st, including criteria such as color and age of vehicles. The rules, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, outline these requirements.
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According to the new requirements:
- Taxis over eight years old won’t receive a special permit necessary for passenger transportation if the owner intends to start operating them as taxis.
- Taxis currently in use must not exceed 15 years in age.
- Taxi cars must have interior surveillance cameras with memory cards capable of storing footage for at least one month.
- Taxis must be equipped with seat belts for all passengers and the driver.
- Taxis must comply with Euro-5 environmental standards.
- Passenger cars used as taxis will be fitted with POS terminals for cashless payments.
- Taxis must display yellow-black or black-white “checker” patterns and have a rooftop sign illuminated with the word “Taxi” in black letters.
- Inter-district transportation vehicles must be white, while intra-city (intra-district) vehicles must be red.
- Electric vehicles used for transportation will be green.
- Passenger taxis must be either white or red.
It was later clarified that taxis already working can be of any color if they meet the remaining requirements. However, if a car arrives in the country after July 1, 2024, in different colors, it will not be issued a taxi operating license.
The number of Toyota Prius car listings for sale has tripled
According to the Trend news agency, the number of Toyota Prius car listings for sale has sharply increased after a recent change in regulations.
Transport expert Elnur Sardarly noted that taxi drivers primarily favor Toyota Prius cars with hybrid engines due to their low fuel consumption.
“After the recent changes, the number of Toyota Prius car listings for sale on advertisement websites sharply increased. If yesterday there were 443 Prius cars listed for sale, as of now, there are already 1,200 cars available for purchase. About 95 percent of the Prius cars listed for sale were manufactured before 2008.
Overall, 60 percent of Prius cars used as taxis are over 15 years old, totaling approximately 30,000 cars. Previously, a Prius that was sold for 12,500 manats [around $7,350] can now be bought for 10,000 manats [around $5,880]. Further price reductions are expected,” said the expert.
However, another transportation expert, Eldeniz Jafar, is confident that prices for Prius cars older than 15 years, although likely to decrease, will not plummet.
“If the number of taxis decreases sharply, the use of personal transportation will increase. Additionally, our capital city will lean towards motorization if the public transportation segment—such as buses and metro—is not strengthened. Therefore, the demand for cars will rise again. It is also important to consider that not everyone can afford to buy a new car,” the expert stated.