A few days ago, taxi drivers gathered in protest in front of Terminal 2 at Sofia Airport against the new traffic organization, which came into effect on January 9. The drivers blocked the entrance and exit of the Terminal, but this will not be their only manifestation. What is expected... Krasimir Tsvetkov, chairman of the National Taxi Union, spoke to FACTI.
- Mr. Tsvetkov, a new organization was introduced at Sofia Airport for welcoming and sending off passengers. 10 minutes are free, but how do taxis cope?
- The drama of taxi drivers bringing customers to Terminal 2 is primarily due to the restriction by the concessionaire “SOF Connect“ AD of re-entry within 60 minutes. With the new access control system, the operator of “Sofia“ Airport forces taxi drivers to pay 10 leva for this re-entry. This measure does not apply only to the taxi company to which the concessionaire has provided a separate taxi stand at the airport. In essence, this action puts the other participants in the taxi services market at a disadvantage, by giving a privileged position to one specific taxi company on the market. The remaining taxi drivers are faced with one of three options: to be forced to generate losses on their trips to and from Sofia Airport, to leave their customers far from Terminal 2 at the entrance barrier, thereby deteriorating the quality of their service, or to charge their customers a fee for leaving the paid area, thereby practically transferring an additional financial burden to the users of the service. In the medium term, this means to lose their customers forcibly at the expense of another operator. Such a practice violates our national legislation regarding free competition and abuse of a dominant position. In our case, the new access system resembles a concerted practice between the concessionaire and the taxi company, which is provided with unlimited access to the airport, with the aim or effect of restricting competition. This practice is strictly prohibited by the Law on Protection of Competition and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
- In general, is 10 minutes enough to drop off or pick up someone?
- In many cases, these 10 minutes are not enough to wait for the customer. During peak times in the arrivals area when ordering a taxi, 10 minutes is not enough for the user to get to the taxi with their luggage, load it and leave the paid access area. In these cases, right at the beginning of the course, we start either with a loss of 10 leva for the taxi driver, or with a forced additional payment.
And here I want to add that their system, which they launched on January 9, did not work until January 29, and only now do we see what we are facing.
At the same time, we again touch on the fact that one specific taxi company does not tolerate such a time limit.
- What problems do you face?
- The worst thing is that the concessionaire company refuses to dialogue with the industry to resolve the specific cases that harm taxi drivers and lead to a loss of customers for them. Since the beginning of January, we have made several attempts to talk to the management of “SOF Connect“ AD. After exhausting the possibilities for dialogue, a blockade of Terminal 2 with taxis was reached on January 31. We expect urgent intervention from the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) to resolve this crisis and end the illegal practices of the concessionaire. We remind you that the concession agreement was signed by Rosen Zhelyazkov precisely in his capacity as Minister of Transport. We requested immediate assistance from MTC to resolve the crisis caused by the illegal actions of the concessionaire of Sofia Airport. In the absence of action, we will resume our protest. We will refer the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) with a request to initiate proceedings due to a violation by SOF Connect AD of the Law on Competition and the TFEU. We are also sending a signal to the European Commission – Directorate “Competition“.
- Do you expect that taxi parking will be regulated?
- Taxi transportation is part of the public transportation to and from the airport and as such, users of the service must have normal access to it. It is in the interest of users that they have access to their taxis, not discriminatory treatment caused by concessionaires and the inaction of the relevant ministry. The job of the Ministry of Transport is to regulate the normal functioning of taxi transportation, including at the airport, if necessary even through an annex to the concession contract. The current regulation generates tension, inequality, damage to the interests of both those working in the sector and users of the service. In this sense, an immediate change to this
restrictive regime is necessary.
- Taxis are often seen parked in spaces for people with disabilities. Why and how does this happen?
- This is undoubtedly a violation of the Road Traffic Act (RTA) and should be sanctioned. The same applies to private cars parked at taxi stands and waiting areas for customers. In the National Taxi Union, we believe that it is necessary to significantly increase the sanctions for both violations. The current fines for them and the fees for forced repatriation in these cases do not achieve the desired educational effect.
- How far has the dialogue with insurers reached on the Civil Liability policy for taxis?
- There has been no dialogue with insurers on this issue so far. There were statements made on national air by the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) about the damage caused by taxis, but for 4 months now they have not shown official statistics to justify the increase in premiums for “Civil Liability“. They hid from ABZ even when drivers from all over Bulgaria went on foot in front of their office on December 20, 2024. We still do not have clarity about the investigation into a cartel agreement for insurance and violation of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which began in the Commission for the Protection of Competition. At the same time, we received a written refusal from the Financial Supervision Commission to fulfill its obligations as a regulator of the insurance market and to oblige insurers to terminate the illegal formation of premiums based on risk groups of drivers, as regulated by Art. 490, para. 5 of the Insurance Code (IC). A draft resolution has been "stuck" in the National Assembly for over a month, which should solve the problem until adequate changes are adopted in the Insurance Code and the introduction of a "bonus-malus" based on the individual behavior and damage of the driver. The draft was prepared and submitted by a group of deputies from "Vazrazhdane", but despite loud promises of understanding the problem and support for the industry from all political groups, there is a lack of any follow-up action by our national representatives. We sent signals to the EC and EIOPA - the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, due to the inaction of our national regulator FSC. EIOPA has already "raised its sights" on the Bulgarian FSC due to poor supervisory control over one of our insurance companies. We hope that the pressure from European institutions will finally “stimulate” the Bulgarian competent authorities to take concrete actions to end the insurance racketeering against our industry.