Moscow drives out 20,000 illegal taxis

Moscow's mayor said an effort to drive out illegal migrant taxi drivers is succeeding, with 35,000 liveries legally registered in the last 18 months. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 20,000 illegal taxis have been taken off the city's streets thanks to the effort. He told ITAR-Taas Saturday he hoped to have 40,000 taxis and 460 cab stands by year's end. "The 35,000th taxicab was registered just recently. In fact we are coming close to the target amount," he said. "The illegal migrants did not know the city and posed real danger to passengers. We believe that by the end of 2013 we shall have 40,000 legal taxicabs in the city. By the end of next year there will be 55,000 legal taxicabs. ... The number of taxicab stands will be increased to 460 by the end [of] this year."