Taxis | The situation at the Asema-auki taxi stand frustrates small entrepreneurs – “They are trying to deny me my rights and push me out of the industry”

The City of Helsinki is the mayor Juhana Vartiainen initiated by urgently prepare Calming down the taxi situation in Helsinki Station Square. The city plans to tender the taxi service providers and aims to resolve the situation already during spring and winter.

The city's number one terminal could henceforth function like at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. At the airport, the customer will be the first to encounter taxis from companies that have won their place in the queue in a competition. By competing, an effort has been made to ensure that taxi services remain high-quality.

All taxi drivers should be included in decision-making and invited to meetings, because it affects everyone, says the taxi driver Olusola Olusegun Ogunluy From a taxi company called God's Blessings.

The area reserved for taxis at the station square is almost full of taxis on a Friday afternoon, and Ogunluy is one of the drivers waiting for customers.

He describes the ongoing discussion about the situation in Asema-aukio as stigmatizing, and says that the situation frustrates many small taxi companies.

“We pay taxes and VAT, and we pay pensions. We pay more than big companies,” says Ogunluy.

He states that he finds it unfair that all smaller taxi companies are condemned as bad because of a few bad experiences. In his opinion, the market should be fair for everyone.

“I do everything according to the law, and I act exactly as a good citizen should act. Now they are trying to deny me my rights and push me out of the industry,” says Ogunluy.

Station square about the situation at the taxi stand reported many times in December. In the setting, traditional organizations and “wild taxis” are facing each other, which refers to smaller operators that have entered the industry after the reform of the taxi legislation.

Several city politicians have called for curbing “wild taxis”, the chairman of the Helsinki Sdp council group Eveliina Heinäluoman through the initiative taken by

Owning a company called Bacaad Taxi Abdifatah Said says that after the changes planned by the city, small taxi companies may no longer have a place to go.

“We only have this Asema square. This is a big space, and I always do the work from here. At the moment, this is a free place for all companies, where everyone can act fairly in their own turn. But if it is decided that only certain companies are allowed to be here, it is not fair to us.”

Abdifatah Said considers the Asema-aukio taxi stand to be a fair space at the moment, where all companies queue for customers in turn. Picture: Juha Salminen / HS

Station square You won't find a single Lähitaksi or Taksi Helsingin taxi at the taxi stand or anywhere else in its vicinity, but there is one Taksi Helsingin car in Park in front of Sokos Hotel President on Eteläinen Rautatiekatu. It sits at the wheel Timo Tanskanen.

“I am not aware of the city's announcement today. But since no taxi company owns taxi poles, is this kind of competition a bit wrong if we are talking about equality”, Tanskanen thinks.

However, he states that it would be good if there were reliable and safe taxis available.

“The taxi stand in the station square is like a Turkish bazaar at the moment. It would certainly be a good thing to check whether everyone's papers are in order.”

According to Timo Tanskanen, tendering the taxi pole may lead to an unequal situation. He also criticized the fact that electric taxis now get privileges at the airport. Picture: Juha Salminen / HS