Taxi and cab operators pull in almost €50 million in 2023

The taxi and cab industry generated €47.2 million in revenues in 2023, significantly higher than the €38.2 million brought in the previous year.

The figure is also more than double the €21.8 million in declared taxable revenues generated by tax and cab service operators in 2019.

The information was tabled in Parliament by Minister for Finance Clyde Caruana, who was responding to a question posed by Shadow Minister for Minister and Enterprise Jerome Caruana Cilia.

The industry has boomed in recent years, with ‘Y-plates’ now a ubiquitous sight on Maltese roads.

‘Y-plate’ refers to the number plates issued to vehicles being used as cabs. The alphabetical part of these number plates always ends with a ‘Y’.

The industry’s growth has seen Government playing regulatory catch-up, at times introducing rules without enforcement, at others enacting laws that would hamstring small operators if they had to be followed.

While passengers book rides via apps like Bolt, Wolt, and the locally developed eCabs, the vehicles are owned and managed by fleet operators like WT Global, owned by an investment firm run by Libyan national Walid Ouhida.

As per information tabled in Parliament in March, WT Global’s 269 vehicles make it the largest fleet operator in Malta. It is followed by eCabs’ self-owned 150-strong fleet, which is almost matched by Agius Trading’s 147 vehicles.

Agius Trading is owned by Mark and Joseph Agius, brothers behind the popular Gozitan chain of supermarkets, Ta’ Dirjanu. The Agius brothers are also known as frequent partners in fellow Gozitan Joseph Portelli’s major construction projects.