According to Kommersant, users will have to pay this fee for their own pocket for each order. Citymobil sent a letter to its partners informing them of the introduction of a service charge for each order. The amount of the fee was 1.4-4.5 rubles. According to the representatives of the aggregator, this is "a necessary solution in the face of growing load on the entire infrastructure", and a fixed amount will reduce the amount of the fee in comparison with the fee as a percentage of the cost of the trip.
This will not affect the drivers' income, the company said. They recalled that the same fee was introduced long ago in foreign services — Lyft and Uber, as well as in the Russian Yandex Go.
In the second quarter of this year, customers have used Citymobil more than 50 million times, which means that in three months the aggregator’s receipts from the collection may amount to 50-225 million rubles.
Note that the main income of aggregators is commission. Yandex.Taxi said that the fee was not introduced, but they charge a fee for the software from each vehicle fleet — about 20% of the trip, and the effective commission (what the aggregator earns) is half as much.
It's worth reminding that the largest food delivery services have such a fee. We are talking about «Yandex.Eda» — 29 rubles per order and Delivery Club — 1-29 rubles.
Since food delivery and taxi services have historically actively subsidized their partners and directed funds for promotion. Currently, due to the introduction of new fees, there will be an adaptation to a more economically viable model, says Konstantin Belov, senior analyst at Uralsib Bank.
Recall that at the end of summer, taxi prices were predicted to rise sharply.