Taxi drivers are having hard times. For financial reasons, fewer people travel by taxi than before and the construction works also set taxi transport back.
About 350 people in Debrecen travel by taxi regularly which counts as a decrease as compared to previous years. According to some statistics about 20 % of the taxi passengers are students; without them, taxi companies would be in trouble. Taxi drivers say that some of the foreign students can afford the luxury of traveling only a few hundred meters but even these “short rides” are scarce now. It’s not easy to make a living by taxi driving. A driver needs to work 14-16 hours a day to earn a good amount of money. The construction of the tram rails also makes things difficult for the taxi drivers in Debrecen: it increases the travel time, making the fees higher, resulting in displeased passengers. No wonder that some of the taxi drivers suspended their activities because of the traffic barriers and the high prices.
