“A Dump, Not A Job.” Yandex Taxi Driver Earns 10 BYN For A 12-Hour Shift
Reform.news Editorial Team · 12 November 2026, 13:11
https://reform.news/en/a-dump-not-a-job-yandex-taxi-driver-earns-10-byn-for-a-12-hour-shift/A Yandex Taxi driver from Baranovichi shared on Threads how much he has left after a shift. Over 12 hours, he completed 40 rides and generated 150 Belarusian rubles (BYN) in revenue, as shown in a screenshot from the Yandex Pro app. He said that around 80 BYN went towards car rental and 60 towards fuel. That left him with just 9.9 BYN, or about $3.30 at the National Bank’s exchange rate. In other words, the driver earned around 80 kopecks an hour, while the average fare was 3.75 BYN. “A dump, not a job,” he concluded.
To back up his claims, the driver posted a screenshot showing 13 rides over three daytime hours, with fares ranging from 1.71 to 5.12 BYN each. Asked why the fares were so low, he gave a one-word answer: “Baranavichy.”
He drives a rented Hyundai Sonata that runs on gas. According to him, a full tank is enough for 300–350 km of city driving. The fuel cost seems plausible: 60 BYN is roughly the price of a tank of gas, consistent with his estimate of 300–350 km per tank. However, commenters questioned the 80 BYN rental cost.
The driver does not blame passengers: he understands why they want to get somewhere for 2–3 BYN and says he is only angry with himself. He promised to work for another week at the taxi fleet’s request and then quit.
Complaints about earnings in Belarus’s Yandex Taxi service are not isolated. Discontent over fare multipliers and income led to calls for a taxi drivers’ strike in December 2025. In September, a new wave of complaints emerged from Brest, Homiel and other cities. Drivers estimated that a typical ride of several kilometres earned them just 3–4 BYN. As Reform.by reported, the service operates with official dominant market status, while taxi fares remain outside state price regulation. In April, the antimonopoly authority declined to support a request by the carriers’ association for a 30% across-the-board fare increase, as reported by the association.