The Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) confirmed in response to the municipal councilor from "Save Sofia" attorney Hristo Koparanov that minimum taxi fares limit price competition and protect existing market participants from competition.
In its opinion of October 20, 2026, the CPC recalls its previous decisions, according to which most taxi companies offer almost the same prices, equal to or close to the minimum ones. The Commission defines this as an indication of a lack of price competition and emphasizes that minimum fares do not guarantee quality and security of the service.
„Once again, it is confirmed that the taxi industry benefits from legally established protection from price competition, which other industries do not have. In practice, the legal regulation creates conditions for the unification of prices, instead of encouraging competition. This raises serious questions about the compliance of the current provisions of the Road Transport Act with the principles of competition law“, commented attorney Hristo Koparanov.
"Save Sofia" recalls that despite these problems, the Sofia Municipal Council recently adopted an increase in minimum taxi fares.
“It is unacceptable for a private sector to use the Municipal Council as a front for its own pricing. Taxi companies have so far had the opportunity to increase their prices themselves within the permitted maximum fares, but instead they preferred the Municipal Council to make the decision for them. Thus, the political responsibility for the price increase is transferred to the municipality, and the citizens pay the bill“, said the municipal councilor from “Save Sofia“ Gergin Borisov.
“The problem is that instead of companies competing with each other through prices, they can refer to an administratively determined minimum. Thus, the Municipal Council becomes an instrument for increasing prices, without the need for individual economic justification from each carrier. At the same time, all other businesses in the country are obliged to justify their price increases in accordance with the requirements of consumer protection legislation. The taxi industry is in practice given the opportunity to circumvent this mechanism through a decision of the Municipal Council“, adds Koparanov.
"Save Sofia" continues to await the opinion of the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), which has also been asked whether the use of the Municipal Council's decisions to increase taxi fares, without individual economic justification from carriers, constitutes circumvention of the requirements of the Consumer Protection Act.