"London taxis" appear in Baku streets

One of the novelties of this summer in the capital of Azerbaijan was the appearance of cabs, the so-called "London taxis", which was differently treated by townspeople – both drivers and passengers.

Last winter a 27-million-US-dollar contract was signed between the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Baki Taxi Company" and the British "Manganese Bronze Holdings PLC", which assumed delivery – until the end of 2011 – of 1000 TX4 cars – same model as taxis in London. The first 100 taxis appeared in Baku in early summer; the rest of them are expected by the end of the year.

A specificity of the model is that driver is separated from passengers by a glass wall and communicates with them through a microphone. The car also has a special entrance ramp, allowing wheelchair invalids and baby buggies to get in. The taxi may house 5 passengers and pretty plenty of luggage.

To ensure high level of service, cab drivers were trained in etiquette rules and were special uniform.

The fee at trips of up to 10 km makes 0.7 manats (8.5 US cents) per kilometre; at trips of 10-20 km – 0.4 manats (5 US cents) and at trips over 20 km – 0.2 manats (2.5 US cents) per kilometre; the fee for boarding is 1 manat (1.22 US dollars).

Moreover, all cab passengers are insured to the sum of 10,000 manats (12,200 US dollars); in case of a road accident, the money will be paid for a client's treatment.

The appearance of new taxis caused anger in other taxi drivers, who believe that their market is overcrowded, and new cars will aggravate the current tough competition.

Ilyas Mamedov, a private taxi driver, has noted: "After these cars (cabs) arrived in the market, they began intercepting our clients; new taxi drivers appeared. We're standing here for hours just to earn our living."

In their turn, drivers of the new taxis are happy: "Working is comfortable; and we have all the conveniences – air conditioning and a travel distance counter. Our salary is 320 manats (about 390 US dollars) per month," said Vyacheslav Duplikhin, a driver of a new taxi.