The Permit Foundation of Public Transit
Public transit — regular passenger transport and taxi services — is protected by a permit regime under the law on licences and permits. The list of types of permits directly includes a permit for regular passenger transport within the administrative boundaries of a municipality, a permit for transport by light motor vehicle — taxi — in the capital of Georgia or another self-governing city, and a permit for automobile passenger transport. These three types form the legal map of public passenger transport: municipal regular routes, the city taxi and general automobile passenger transport. The separation is practical: each type has its own issuing authority and form of issuance.
Municipal Regular Routes — Competition and Issuing Authorities
A permit for regular passenger transport within the administrative boundaries of a municipality is issued, by way of competition, by the executive body of the municipality. Within the administrative boundaries of the city of Tbilisi, this function rests with the government of the Tbilisi municipality, its authorized structural unit of the mayor’s office, or a legal person founded by the municipality; in another self-governing city — with the executive body of that city, its authorized structural unit of the mayor’s office, or a public law legal person founded by the self-governing city.
The winner of the competition pays the price of issuance of the permit in order to receive it, while a fee is not charged upon the issuance of this permit. The price of issuance is determined, and the rules for conducting the competition and paying the price are approved, by the representative body of the municipality, and the price is credited to the budget of the respective municipality. A competition means that the municipality limits in advance the number of operators working on the regular routes and itself sets the selection criteria.
Taxi — at the City Level
In the capital of Georgia, a permit for transport by light motor vehicle — taxi — is issued by the government of the Tbilisi municipality, its authorized structural unit of the mayor’s office, or a legal person founded by the municipality; in another self-governing city — by the structural unit of the mayor’s office of that self-governing city or a public law legal person founded by it. The permit seeker pays the price of issuance of the permit, and a fee is not charged in this case either.
In the capital, the permit conditions, the procedure for issuance, the price of issuance and the procedure for its payment are approved by the representative body of the capital of Georgia — the assembly (sakrebulo), and in another self-governing city — by the assembly of that city. The price of issuance is credited to the budget of the capital or of the respective self-governing city. In the taxi case, the city assembly, as the local representative body, is directly answerable for how the market of transport by light motor vehicles works in the city.