The taxi driver’s car runs on propane, a liter costs 19 rubles. For a twelve-hour shift, he travels about 300 km, about 600 rubles are spent on fuel. The wife treats Mikhail’s new job normally: during the day, the husband is at home, which is especially important now, when both children are on vacation.
– When I worked in the office, it happened that I left for work, the children were still sleeping, and when I returned, they were already sleeping. Yes, there are more weekends. In general, I like my work. I am self-employed with my own car, I go to work when I want to,” he says.
Among the minuses, the taxi driver names not the highest prestige of the profession, the lack of paid leave, uncertainty with pensions and high risks.
— I pay a tax of 4%. The seniority goes, but the funded part of the pension does not increase. Accident risk: a shift is about 12 hours, that is, ten times more than the average driver. Accordingly, the chance of getting into an accident is ten times higher, says the taxi driver.
An above average income is inevitably associated with a high degree of wear and tear on the car. Over the past year, Mikhail drove about 80 thousand km: the hodovka was “tired”, there were a lot of small chips and dents on the body, worn glass and headlights. The article of expenses inevitably includes fines for violation of traffic rules. Our interlocutor drives carefully: over the past year, he paid for one fact of speeding and for one race for a stop line.