There is one topic being discussed by taxi drivers in Yerevan for a long time. They are all talking about the National Assembly deputy and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan’s company importing more than 300 “Volga” brand name cars to Armenia. According to the drivers, 150 of the cars have already been imported and they are waiting for the other 150. The drivers are also talking about the fact that G. Tsarukayn’s chief bodyguard has his own taxi service and the name of the service is “Neptune”; he has 20 cars at the present and the 300 cars that will arrive are going to be part of the “Neptune” taxi service. Small taxi services are seriously worried about this since that can hurt their business. Some drivers, however, told us that they could care less who would import the cars or which service they would work for. This refers to the drivers that don’t have their own cars and drive the cars belonging to the service. As for the drivers that have their own cars and who pay a small percentage to the service giving them the taxi orders, are pretty worried. They are going to be offered to either work by giving a small percentage or work based on a monthly salary.
According to the taxi drivers, the imported “Volga” cars can “enter the services” just as we enter the New Year and it is expected to see a rise in the number of those cars in the near future. At first sight, it seems as if this is better for the passenger-the more the cars, the more the competition, high quality service and low prices. However, starting a large service may leave the other services out of the market. If we take into consideration the fact that many of the taxi services have their car gas tanks filled up at G. Tsarukyan’s gas stations, then can’t there be a monopoly in this field of economy? After all, won’t the price of sitting in a taxi be more expensive, especially if we take into account the rise in prices of taxis. We asked the news agency of the “Multi Group” company in regard to the “Volga” cars and the correspondents denied any news about G. Tsarukyan’s company importing more than 300 cars for taxi services. They also denied the rumors that G. Tsarukyan’s chief bodyguard has his own taxi service. However, they did affirm that “Neptune” taxi service is part of the “Multi Group” company.