Lithuanian cabbies, the welcome card, still conjure up a shady image of the country

KLAIPEDA - If you are in NYC, the Big Apple, you cannot miss those thousands of yellow cabs zipping back and forth, a true hallmark of the city’s hustle and bustle. If you are in London, there comes the black London taxi car that has changed little over the last 50 years, and that has been known ever since for its courteous driver.
But if you are in Lithuania, an EU country for over seven years, if to judge from the sign on the top, you will stumble across so many purported taxi cars of different colors, shapes and wear and tear that you may get puzzled whether the yellowish sign refers to that being a cab, or it means something else.

Considering that the cab and the cabbie are the most important city introducers, Lithuanian cabs and cabbies still represent their country poorly. Particularly at the gates of Lithuania, in the country’s airports, where local cab drivers often set rip-off meter-off tariffs, especially for foreigners.
Do you want a 12-kilometer cab ride from Palanga airport, in the west, to the town’s center? Think twice before getting into a cab, as you likely will not get away without a 50 litas’ (nearly 15 euros) fare, which leaves many foreigners astounded, making them exclaim: “This is the rate I pay in Brussels and Hamburg!”

A survey by the Finnish market research company Otantatutkimus Oy, on behalf of the Lithuanian Tourism Information Center in Finland, has revealed that though generally nearly 90 percent of Finns and Swedes found their stay in Lithuania to be “pleasurable,” among 8 percent of the disappointed pointed to poor service, robbery and cheating cab drivers in Lithuania.
“Obviously, higher demands ought to be put for our cabbies, as they are the business and the greeting card of Lithuania for many picky foreign tourists. Disappointingly, however, our cabbies and their cabs are the weak link of the city’s introduction. A few years ago, Vilnius Municipality was determined to bring some more order in the business in the city, but with the cabbies’ fury over the planned strict measures pouring out, the city has withdrawn from its good intentions. The new city mayor, Zuokas, who cherished hopes for Vilnius City Airlines before the municipal elections last April, has done nothing yet in bringing more order to Vilnius’ taxi services,” Justinas Miliauskas, member of the Vilnius City Chamber of Commerce, said to The Baltic Times.

“Certainly, there is much to work on in improving taxi services in Lithuania,” agrees Vincas Martinkus, owner of a cab company in Siauliai, a city in the northwest. Perfect sense, he says, would be if all cabs in Lithuania were painted in the same distinguishing color, and setting a certain cab registration age for all cars.
“Unfortunately, we still have a lot of cabs out there that, according to Western standards, are clunkers that need to be chainsawed into metal scraps. Alas, particularly in the provinces, there is a vivid image that a taxi must be a shabby second-hand car, driven by a pensioner gasping for breath, however, savvy of a local 24-hour spot for smuggled vodka or of a local hooker. Even these cabbies, however, are very good at sorting out who is who - a local resident or a new comer - setting their rates and offering their services accordingly. All this plagues the whole business and smears the country’s image,” Martinkus maintained to The Baltic Times.

He stresses that the changes should take place over a certain time period; however, he says he does not see it happening any time soon. “Cabbies, particularly in the provinces, are like hives of male hornets. Once touched, they will rise into such humming that is powerful enough to unseat big shots in a local municipality’s administration. Sure, local authorities are aware of that and, acknowledging the necessity to tackle the issue, tend to put off their decision indefinitely. Even in Vilnius, where the issue stands especially painfully, the municipality has not braved up yet for the decisions regarding the taxi services. They tried to take on Vilnius cabbies several years ago, but with the resistance mounting, the authorities gave up,” Martinkus said.
He says he does not know another business where so many people work off the books, filling the coffers of the shadow economy. “Because of the abundance of clandestine cabbies, lawfully operating and taxpaying cab companies cannot stand up against the illegal scoundrels, losing the competition ultimately,” says the cab company owner.
In Vilnius, where local tax revenue, the labor inspectorate and municipal authorities heed the problem, the clandestine cab market thrives.

The Lithuanian Taxi Driver Association recently released a report, acknowledging the gravity of the problem and insufficient measures to tackle it. “As a rule, many illegal cabbies in Vilnius use a cab company’s car; however, [the company] often turns out to be non-existent. Or if it is, the drivers are not employed by it, though the cabbie possesses a cab driver’s license, i.e. the cabbies settle all sales with ‘black money,’ boosting the shadow economy to an immense size. The only way to address the issue is to reorganize the whole system,” says Robertas Brazys, president of Lithuania’s Taxi Service Provider Association.

In light of the situation, last summer the State Tax Inspectorate (STI), having scrutinized the activities of Lithuanian taxi companies over the last two years, concluded by including the taxi business sector, shadow economy-wise, onto a list of the “riskiest businesses,” pledging to pay the industry “special attention.”
The checks by the tax watchdog have revealed an astounding scope of fraudulent activities in the sector. Thus, in the capital’s shuttle buses, only every second passenger at best receives a ticket. That caused the inspectorate to speculate that Vilnius shuttle service companies conceal up to 80 percent of their revenues, while in Kaunas the number was put “from 20 to 60 percent.”

Apart from the wrongdoings, in Klaipeda, the STI pointed out in its report other infringements in the city’s cab and shuttle bus sector – operating meter-off cabs, employing illegal taxi drivers and violating labor laws.

Is there any way out of this plight?
“To improve the quality of the services, licensing, which is used in the world’s largest cities, like New York, would be very helpful. For example, in New York, before rolling onto a street, a would-be cabbie must take and pass a very serious several-part exam in order to obtain the cabbie badge, the equivalent of a license. As far as I know from my NYC relatives’ relations, there is a separate NYC Municipality department that focuses on issuing such badges, addressing city residents’ and city guests’ complaints about the city cabbies. As the number of licenses is limited and the cabbies are very service-prone, they turn heads over heels to satisfy the cab rider. A similar practice would definitely improve the quality of the services in Lithuania, especially in Vilnius,” Martinkus noted.

Last weekend, an incident in Klaipeda involving a savage cab driver and his demanding passenger, gained headlines in the Lithuanian media. After requesting the cabbie to switch on the meter, the driver went furious, pulling the passenger out of the car, kicking him several times and brandishing his shotgun, while threatening to shoot the young man. Fortunately, the mad driver was apprehended by the police later and taken into custody as an investigation into his actions was started.
“It is absolutely horrible to know that these kinds of things are happening in Lithuania,” the Siauliai-based cab company owner said, utterly disgusted.

“The worst thing here is that the driver will be able to return to the streets and provide his services further. Even if he is sentenced, he will be able to resume his work, which is something unimaginable in the United States or in Western Europe,” Martinkus noted.
However, cabbies’ good manners, cabs’ technical characteristics and, most importantly, passenger safety seem to be of a little concern to Lithuanian policy-makers. Thus, half of the cabs do not pass their technical inspection on the first try, an illustration of the deplorable situation of most cabs.
“To be exact, 40 percent of all cabs do not meet technical requirements. The statistics show that the situation is not improving, and has not changed a lot in many years. Our policy-makers still do not have the guts to take on the issue,” Gintautas Slederis, director of Lithuania’s Vehicle State Technical Inspection Enterprise Association, Transeksta, said recently to the daily Lietuvos zinios.

Speaking to the same daily, Robertas Peceliunas, Transport Engineering Faculty associate professor at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and member of Lithuania’s Car Engineer Union, emphasizes that most cabs endanger passengers’ safety. “In Lithuania, no agency performs checks on whether cabs have air bags and other  passenger safety systems. Obviously, there is a lack in controlling the sector. Now we deal with a situation when people are being carried by cars which have to be in a metal scrap site,” Peceliunas said.

Though all agree that Lithuanian cabs have to be replaced by new, or semi-new, cars to ensure safety and more qualitative services, that is just not going to happen any time soon in Lithuania.
“With the ill effects of the downturn, decreased purchasing power and constantly increasing petrol prices, it would not be wise to expect that. If it happened, absolutely all cab companies would be compelled to increase their service rates, which could simply lead most to their bankruptcies,” Martinkus is convinced. He added: “However, I believe that a certain timeline should be set for the changes to happen, allowing the taxi sector to better prepare for them.”

It is, however, very unlikely that any change could be around the corner -  the Transport and Communications Ministry and Lithuanian municipalities are engaged in a lengthy game of cat and mouse, nudging each other for the legislative actions and disagreeing on who is supposed to take them on.

“I see very well what kinds of cabs carry passengers today on the Lithuanian roads. There are very few taxis up to the standards we may want to set some time in the future. On the other hand, I am well aware of the position of our cab companies. Crisis-struck, they are not financially ready to replace the current cars with new ones. Therefore, the Ministry will not seek the policy changes yet,” Transport and Communications Minister Eligijus Masiulis acknowledged recently.
Though the cab service is often lousy and sloppy in Lithuania, most cab companies have increased their fares in the span of a year, explaining that it was a must-do thing due to ever rising gas prices.

Thus, Martonas Taksi, one of the largest Vilnius-based cab companies, hiked its rates, from 1.5 litas (0.43 euros) to 1.8 litas per kilometer in the beginning of the year, while many smaller companies did so even more drastically.
“We have to match the gas price increase in order to stay afloat,” Martonas Taxi director Valdimantas Rudys said tersely, explaining the hike to a news outlet.

If you are still eager to jump in a Lithuanian cab, be ready to expose your tough character so as to deal with the cabbie. And, sure, some Lithuanian drawl would be very helpful, at least to say matter-of-factly that you work for the Lithuanian Tax Inspectorate.