Yandex Taxi Introduces Kids’ Service in Tbilisi

Yandex Taxi, an on-demand taxi app, has introduced a special kids’ service. When ordering a taxi through the app, customers will have the opportunity to select a “kids” option, which will call a driver in a Toyota Prius equipped with a Moni brand car seat. The car seats comply with European safety standards and are appropriate for children 1-7 years old.

Drivers whose cars are available for the kids’ service have undergone special training to install and adjust the car seats and provide customer service to families.

Teimuraz Khmelidze, the Regional Director of Yandex.Taxi in Georgia said, “Georgia being part of Europe must establish European transport safety standards, especially when it comes to the safety of children. People often take a taxi for the whole family. Sometimes, parents send their children by taxi to a kindergarten or school. For the 'Kids' tariff we have equipped the cars with comfortable child safety seats so that little passengers get reliable protection.”

The minimum ride cost for Yandex taxi kids’ will be GEL 2.60 (USD 1.06), which is the equivalent of 2 km and 5 minutes. If the ride is shorter than that, the price is rounded up to the minimum. For the regular service, the minimum price is GEL 2 (USD 0.81).

Yandex Taxi is a service of Yandex, a multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products based in Russia, similar to Google. Yandex Taxi’s primary competitor in the on-demand taxi app market in Georgia is Taxify, an Estonian-based company that operates on the same model, but has a minimum price for its standard service of GEL 4 (USD 1.63) and has higher standards for its cars and drivers that Yandex. Taxify does not offer a service with car seats for children. Both app-based companies compete with local independent taxi drivers and other companies such as Taxi Maxim.

When Yandex Taxi first entered the Georgian market in 2016, many Georgians called for boycotts of the service owing to the fact that Yandex maps show the Georgian occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent of Georgia.

In Georgia, Yandex Taxi operates in Tbilisi, Batumi, and Rustavi, but the kids’ service is so far available only in Tbilisi.

By Samantha Guthrie

Photos: Yandex Taxi

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