During our visit to Sochi, we were guests of Messrs Dmitriy in Transportation Service Ltd. where we were received very warmly in his office with the photo of Vladimir Putin in the background. The company is one of the major operators of Yandex. No secrets in answering our questions for the proud gentlemen Makarov and Levin, but great surprise with us when we go through the entire process of a day shift together.
medical check-up before and after each shift
The Russian Federation may be the only place in the world where every driver undergoes a medical check at the start of his shift and the same check again at the end of the shift. A medical team of at least an official doctor and an assistant are available 24 × 7 to supervise the services.
In addition to the medical examination for the drivers, a daily check is also important for the cars of his company. At the start of each shift, the car undergoes a full inspection in a specially equipped garage. The average age of the Sochi fleet is up to five years old. We put the latter through a bit, because that also happens to be the number of years since the Olympic Games took place in Sochi. Of course, the entire fleet was then renewed to be able to supply the Olympic organization.
hospitality gives us the opportunity to interrogate
Both gentlemen have no secrets for us over lunch with local specialties that they offered us after visiting their company. Our interpreter Anna does her utmost to translate our 'difficult' questions into Russian. After all, entrepreneurs are not always inclined to explain their earnings model and what drivers earn under Yandex's 'regime' as an 'aggrigator'.
We want to find out who will cover all these costs for the daily medical examination and inspection of the car, the entrepreneur, Yandex or whether the customer will be charged for this in his fare. The first appears to be the case.
“The medical examination is laid down by law and federally, but our cars are our property and we also want to keep them in perfect condition. We do not wait until something breaks, but want to prevent this by checking the fleet on many points every day. That saves us a lot of money and headaches, ”says Dmitriy.
During our questionnaire, the men regularly look at each other, but it soon turns out that they still provide openness. After lunch, the Dmitriy family invited us to a traditional vodka on their boat and we saw an amazing sunset sailing on the Black Sea.
differences remain large despite a worldwide learning experience
However, it is once again clear that the distance between federal and regional policy is great. It cannot be that taxi policies made in Moscow work for the entire Russian Federation. The differences between countries and the regulations made for mobility and especially taxi transport remain quite large.
In itself strange because in a world that is all about presenting everything as beautifully as possible, it can not really be difficult to learn from each other and carry out these improvement processes faster. But what we may think is old-fashioned is the most normal thing in the world for them.
medipoint 24 × 7 may be a solution
Later during my visit I had a conversation with Irina Zaripova, the chairman of the public council for the development of taxi services, and asked the same question why these medical checks remain so necessary.
“To delete these checks would raise too many questions from the customer about the citizens' safety policy. The controls apply to everyone in transport and were introduced during Soviet times when the government took full responsibility for the welfare of every citizen. Nevertheless, we are thinking of experimenting in the long term with solutions such as Medipoint 24 × 7 ”Zaripova said.
These cabinets can be compared to our photo kiosk where the driver can perform the breath test and blood test himself under the watchful eye of the camera. Perhaps an intermediate step towards better solutions for the elimination of an expensive procedure.
