Not long ago, a successful screening of the documentary film "President" took place in the Kyrgyz Republic, which served as a kind of report by Sadyr Japarov on the work done and plans for the future. The elections to the Jogorku Kenesh also demonstrated a noticeable growth in the political maturity of society. Foreign observers note significant transformations and active growth in various sectors of Kyrgyzstan's economy.
Given these achievements, it seemed that the time had come to relax and confidently speak about the right direction towards improving the lives of citizens. However, the beginning of the new year 2026 did not meet expectations, as it was marked by a strange transport collapse.
One of the measures initiated by the government was the licensing of taxi drivers. This is an important and timely decision, although its implementation was postponed from November of last year to February of this year. Kyrgyzstan is a country where laws often emerge, but the timelines for their implementation are repeatedly shifted. The reason for this is that officials should have thought in advance about how these innovations would work in practice and whether they would be feasible.
And that is exactly what happened with the licensing of taxi drivers. Initially, the innovations put many Kyrgyz taxi drivers in a difficult position, as they needed to gather documents by December 1 and endure long queues, which deprived them of the opportunity to work.
Moreover, taxi drivers were required to provide a certificate of no criminal record. How this relates to safe passenger transportation is an open question.
I remember that at one time teachers were forced to undergo medical examinations, including checks for sexually transmitted diseases, which caused bewilderment. The question was how this could affect their work in the classroom. The same applies here — is there a need to check taxi drivers for criminal records when it is more important to assess their driving skills and mental state?
Rules should be developed taking into account real conditions. A taxi driver must know the traffic rules perfectly, not confuse the pedals, have good vision, be free from addictions, and be ready to work diligently.
Furthermore, obtaining a license should not turn into a stressful situation with long queues and significant costs. This will ensure comfort for both drivers and passengers.
Another problem was the obligation to replace old indefinite driver's licenses, as announced by the president's chief of staff, Kanaybek Tumanbaev. He explained that the old licenses are not digitized, are not recognized in neighboring countries, and have a low level of protection. They are to be replaced starting in 2026.
All would be well, but drivers understood the information to mean that the replacement had to be done starting January 1. As a result, a frenzy began, fueled by officials who announced that the replacement would be free for a month. The word "free" acts on people like a magnet, and many rushed to meet this deadline, not considering that the cost of replacement would have been insignificant.
Nevertheless, it soon became clear that medical certificates were not required for replacing old licenses. This information came when many had already spent hours in queues, risking losing their jobs.
Additionally, in early January, panic began due to an electricity shortage, which only heightened tensions in society. The situation with the replacement of licenses caused additional problems — queues in family medicine centers and auto service centers increased, and nervousness reached its peak.
Despite promises of digitalization, the implementation of online license replacement through the "Tunduk" app turned out to be unsuccessful. A driver with twenty years of experience, Kanaykey (name changed), shares her experience: she encountered numerous errors in the system, and her electronic application could not be found.
The situation in the auto service center also left much to be desired — long queues, irregular system operation, and waiting times for documents significantly increased. As a result, instead of quickly obtaining a license, drivers waited for weeks.
It is hard to say how many drivers found themselves in a difficult situation at the end of December and the beginning of January, but one thing is clear: such a mass event as the replacement of driver's licenses should have been organized more professionally. Why should ordinary citizens suffer from incompetent decisions? How can we ensure that useful initiatives do not turn into mass problems and public dissatisfaction?
The question arises: should the president or the head of the GKNB control aspects such as taxi licensing and license replacement? Or is someone deliberately setting them up?
