The Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories expects the registration of a taxi market reform project in the Verkhovna Rada in the coming weeks and hopes to launch the corresponding initiative by the end of 2026, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration and Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Oleksiy Kuleba has said.
"Next, we will work actively with people’s deputies to get it adopted. We very much hope to launch the reform by the end of this year, although it may cause a lot of discussions and manipulations," he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
According to him, in the context of the taxi reform, the ministry stands for the ability to ensure key issues for citizens. In particular, this concerns safety, control, taxation, and other components that this reform is intended to resolve.
"On the positive side, we see support from people’s deputies and core committees in that we really need to resolve this," Kuleba said.
The ministry notes that currently 200,000 people in the taxi sector work in the shadows, thus not fully showing their income, or the corresponding digital platform makes payments for them.
"We are in no way talking about overregulation of the market. However, we are saying that safeguards must work, in particular taking into account new technologies and tools," the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration explained, adding that it is necessary to install more cameras for preventive response.
Earlier, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Serhiy Derkach expressed the opinion that the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada on June 9 of the law on automatic exchange of information on income on digital platforms will allow for the future adoption of a bill on reforming the taxi market in Ukraine.
Leading online taxi services Uklon and Bolt stated in comments to the agency that the adoption of the law on taxation on digital platforms creates good conditions for further reform of the taxi market, believing that it is desirable to conduct it on time and without introducing excessive regulations that would create unreasonable barriers to market access.
At the beginning of March, the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration reported on the development of a bill and a concept of changes regarding taxi reform with the aim of bringing the market out of the shadows.
The main idea of the reform involves the introduction of a new status – an automobile self-employed carrier, which will allow drivers to work without complex reporting and bureaucracy.
The bill also regulates the role of digital carrier platforms, which "will act as tax agents, check drivers’ documents, and bear responsibility for admitting illegal carriers," Kuleba said.
