A trip from Almaty airport cost an Australian tourist 32,000 tenge instead of the usual 2,000 tenge, and now a suspected taxi driver will face court in the case, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to "31 Kanal," the story came to light after a post on Threads. A user said the taxi driver allegedly demanded 32,000 tenge from the Australian tourist for a ride from Almaty airport, even though the usual fare was around 2,000 tenge.
According to the author of the post, the driver blackmailed the passenger by threatening not to hand over his belongings. In the end, the foreigner reportedly had to pay 16 times more than the normal price.
The matter did not end there: police tracked down the taxi driver.
"On this fact, administrative proceedings have been opened under Article 463, Part 1 of the Administrative Offenses Code. In accordance with jurisdiction, the case materials have been sent to court for a decision," said Saltanat Azirbek, the official spokesperson for the Almaty Police Department.
If the court finds the driver guilty, he could face a fine of between 64,000 and 173,000 tenge.
Meanwhile, other drivers who wait for customers at the airport have mixed views about their colleague's conduct.
"Say you stand here for an hour. It (the parking — editor's note) costs us 1,500–2,000 tenge for an hour or an hour and a half. That's the business. Then you want to get that money back, and it comes out a bit more," a driver says.
By the way, Almaty airport recommends that foreigners use a special taxi counter. There, they can order a car from official aggregators, and some even have fixed prices based on distance.
Auto experts, however, believe the country lacks international players in the taxi sector.
"If we had 2–3 international aggregators, people would understand, and somewhere there would be information that you can call such-and-such or such-and-such. Please, here's your offer. If it exists, it will work here. We go to Thailand and we know which aggregator works there, an international one already. But for some reason they don't come to us. I don't know why. Maybe they're not allowed in. Maybe conditions need to be created," auto expert Aleksei Alekseev emphasizes.
He noted that the arrival of new aggregators would give competition a boost. That, in turn, would help bring prices down.