Taxis | Experienced taxi entrepreneur: Asema-aukiu’s competition rains down on Uber and Bolt

Station square competition for taxi traffic will inevitably be seen in the wallets of consumers who need a taxi ride.

This is what someone who has worked as a taxi driver for 17 years thinks Juhani Reinilehto. Reinilehto says that he has been working as an independent taxi entrepreneur since 2018. Before that, he was in Taksi Helsingin leiv. He believes that the reform will primarily benefit platform economy ride services like Uber and Bolt.

The city of Helsinki announced on Friday that it is preparing a tender for taxi services in Asema-aukio. At the end of the competition, the city of Helsinki makes contracts with the two taxi companies that received the most comparison points in the competition. Only the companies that signed the agreement could operate at the Asema-aukio taxi stand in the future.

The goal is that the change to the operation of the Asema-aukio taxi station would be made already this year. Similar tenders have previously been held at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Helsinki’s passenger ports.

Town’s According to the Taxi companies selected based on the competition, pay the city of Helsinki a user allowance for the use of the area. Currently, for example, taxis driving to the taxi areas of Länsisatama and Katajanokka terminals are charged a driving license fee of 3.20 euros.

The payments will inevitably be transferred to consumer prices, says Reinilehto.

“This will inevitably have a slightly more expensive price level. Does the customer want to take a taxi anymore or will they walk a little further and take an Uber or Bolt ride, whose price is already lower from the start?”

“The platform economy will continue to win. It’s a matter of course.”

HS interviewed on Friday afternoon in Asema square, several taxi drivers who considered the reform unfair and even discriminatory. However, they did not want to be photographed or comment on the matter by name.

The interviewees found it problematic that drivers who have nevertheless been granted a taxi license are denied the opportunity to operate in a certain public place. According to them, the reform favors large taxi companies, which narrows the opportunities for independent entrepreneurs to engage in taxi operations.

“You probably know Valintatalo? Do you hear about it anymore these days? You don’t, because the big players eat the small ones and keep them out [markkinoilta]”, one driver interviewed by HS said, referring to the Finnish grocery market.

Valintalo was a Finnish retail chain that Kesko bought in 2016.

City justifies tendering by improving the quality, reliability and safety of Asema-aukio’s taxi service. For a long time, there has been a situation at the large taxi stand in Asema-auki next to Helsinki Central Station where the customer could have been unsure of the price of their taxi ride. Or about which company’s car one is sitting in. The drivers have even quarreled with each other.

One reason behind the problems is the explosive growth in the number of taxi drivers after the taxi reform. There is more supply than demand, which results in the “aggressive marketing” of rides, Juhani Reinilehto describes.

“In a way, the city is tired of this because of its own image, and when nothing else has been found, let’s try this way [kilpailuttamalla] contain the situation,” he says.

Reinilehto agrees with the other taxi drivers interviewed by HS that the reform creates a disproportionate situation between taxi companies and independent entrepreneurs. The winners of the competition get a significant advantage over the others.

“The market situation will undoubtedly lead to the fact that not everyone will be able to continue at some point in time.”