ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The large number of taxis driving on the streets of the Kurdistan Region has caused immense road traffic and polluted the environment, which is why their work should be regulated, a high level official from the Region’s transportation department said.
According to figures produced by the directorate general of transportation in the Kurdistan Region, there are 92,207 vehicles for rent. Of which, nearly 82,000 are taxis. The rest are bus and mini bus vehicles. There are 42,321 vehicles for rent in Erbil, 31,156 in Sulaimani province, and 18,317 in the province of Duhok.
“There are a large number of taxis in the Kurdistan Region. Their constant drive for work, although they don’t find much work, has caused intense road traffic and environmental pollution,” Colonel Assad Mala Karim, spokesperson and director of planning at the directorate general of transportation in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw.
“That is why we think it is important for relevant parties to regulate the work of taxis.”
“Taxi drivers will benefit more if their work is regulated in the Kurdistan Region. Having a system will save them from wandering on streets and wasting fuel. As public transport, we too will benefit from this because road traffic will drop, car accidents will decrease and the environment will be cleaner too,” he added.
In most countries, taxi work is regulated and managed by companies. People can get a taxi for a specific fare and at their nearest location.
This way, taxi drivers don’t have to consume much fuel and their vehicles last longer. But taxi drivers constantly wander the streets in the Kurdistan Region hoping they can find passengers and spend half of their income on fuel due to high petrol prices.
“The large number of taxis and the financial crisis has had much impact on taxi work. There are fewer passengers. Fares have dropped too. That is why we make very little income,” Sangar Yahya, a taxi driver, said.
“Some days, we make only 7,000 Iraqi dinars, some between 30,000 and 40,000. Overall, I make 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqi dinars. But we spend half of what we make on petrol. My car consumes 15 to 20 liters of fuel daily,” he added.
There are some phone-taxi companies in the Kurdistan Region, but few taxis are registered with them. Most taxi drivers are currently working independently.
South Kurdistan is a taxi company established in 2014 in Sulaimani. The company has turned Sulaimani neighborhoods into 14 zones and has contracts with 600 taxis in the city of Sulaimani.
The company provides training and special clothing to taxi drivers, and equips their vehicles with special labels, GPS, radios and counters. The company finds work for the taxis via phone, and the taxi drivers pay the company 50,000 Iraqi dinars monthly.
“If there is someone asking for a taxi in any neighborhood, we will send him the closest taxi so that it reaches him as soon as possible,” Twana Nuri, manager of South Kurdistan, said.
“For example, we have drivers who say their monthly income was 400,000 Iraqi dinars in the past. Their income has now increased to 1 million Iraqi dinars. This way, 250,000 Iraqi dinars will return to them monthly, which they would have otherwise spent on petrol,” he added.
A transportation official has said that one-third of the taxis in the Kurdistan Region are not needed.
“We have reviewed taxi figures for Istanbul and Tehran as examples. The population of Istanbul is nearly 15 million, yet there are 18,000 taxis. And Tehran, where the population is 10 million, has 17,000 taxis. Yet, the province of Erbil has a population of nearly 2 million people, and has 40,000 taxis. This is a large number and should be decreased,” Salah Jawhar, director general of land transportation and railway at the ministry of transportation and communications said.
Jawhar said that if taxi work is properly regulated in the Kurdistan Region, Kurdistan needs nearly 20,000 taxis. That is, 62,000 taxi vehicles are superfluous.
“If each taxi consumes 15 liters of petrol daily, they will all in total be consuming 1.230 million liters of petrol daily,” he added.
Jawhar also said that they have a project to make different taxi logos for different cities and then call for the establishment of phone taxi companies.
“We are currently preparing tenders for phone taxi companies, but there are too many taxis, which is why the companies might not be able to hire them all,” Jawhar detailed.
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