An investigation has been launched in Uzbekistan into the justification for the significant increase in taxi service prices. The rise in trip costs during peak hours by several aggregators occurred following technical issues with major services.
The Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection initiated this inspection. It aims to study the legality of the tariff increases and identify potential violations of antitrust legislation.
The reason for starting the investigation was numerous complaints from users regarding the sharp increase in travel costs, as well as problems related to payments to drivers.
According to the committee, during the outages, major services found that other aggregators had significantly raised prices during peak hours. The agency plans to determine how justified such an increase was and whether the companies complied with competition law requirements, specifically checking for signs of unfair competition.
The committee proposed to the aggregators the necessity of adjusting the trip cost calculation algorithms to prevent sudden and unjustified price jumps. Furthermore, the companies were instructed to resolve issues with transferring earnings to drivers, restore access to accounts blocked without valid reasons, and recalculate bonuses and pay due amounts.
A special requirement was also placed on technical support: aggregators must guarantee its continuous operation 24/7 for both drivers and passengers. The committee emphasized the importance of ensuring pricing transparency and protecting consumer rights; if violations are found, the agency will apply measures provided for by law.
Previously, reports of service failures in Yandex Go were received in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The company confirmed the malfunctions and apologized to clients, drivers, and couriers. The presumed cause of these problems is linked to attacks on Yandex data centers in Russia, although official confirmation of this information is absent.