The majority of Moscow's unlicensed taxis will vanish from the capital by 2011, the head of Moscow's Transport and Communication Department said on Thursday.
"The situation will change the next year when lots [of unlicensed taxies] will withdraw from the market," transport head Vitaly Kitchedzhi said.
He did not provide exact details on how this would be achieved, saying only that the transport system in the capital would "improve."
Only 4,000 taxi drivers of the 30,000 who work in Moscow have official licenses and provide legal services, Deputy Mayor Nikolai Lyamov earlier said.
However analysts say that it will be hard to rid the city of unlicensed cabs. It is a common practice in Moscow to hail a passing car, agree a price, and head off to your destination.
The situation is related to the poorly-developed legislation in the sphere, Vladimir Fedosov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Economic Policy, Business and Ownership said.
"We have a gap in our legislation as we abandoned licensing," he said.
In a speech prior to his inauguration, new Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin identified solving the city's transport problems as a key issue on his agenda.
He put forward three strategies for solving Moscow's traffic problems: increasing the number of parking places, developing public transport, and road construction.
MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti)
