Romanian charity project Taxi Gratis to use two Toyota hybrid cars in November

Car importer Toyota Romania has donated two hybrid cars, a Prius and a Auris Hybrid, to Romanian Alex Bobeș to use for his Free Taxi services during November. “Alex Bobes' initiative impressed us. It was an inspiration for us from the first day to learn about Taxi Gratis and we are honored to be together in this beautiful endeavour,”said Irina Izota, Senior Brand Manager Toyota România. The two cars will have lower consumption, which should lower the founder's budget for the month of November. Since starting Taxi Gratis in April 2013 to help people in need of transport who don't have financial means, Bobes has been funding the project from his own funds. A 23-year old IT professional, Bobes pays around RON 1,500 to RON 2,000 for gas every month, and the only thing he gets out of it is knowing he helped someone in need. He gets one to four orders a day, and during the night he works for an IT company. A friend with whom Bobes started the project withdrew from the service as he did not have time to do it anymore, however Bobes continued. He is even planning to expand the service to other cities, and currently is looking for volunteers to do this. The free cab is for the time being only available in the Second and Third Districts of Bucharest. The founder, who says people were at first reticent, as they believed nothing was for free, said the project is one of a kind in Romania, and probably in the world too. Bobes said he sometimes got prank calls too, and once he drove to a place where no one was waiting for the cab, but that he still believes in people’s good faith and asks them to get in touch and ask for the free service only when they have an emergency. The young Romanian spends around 40 percent of his monthly income to keep the Free Cab project running. “Some people asked me why I started this project, when I could have contributed in other ways. It is true, I could have donated some money to charities, but I would have not been sure whether the money went to the right place. So I decided to get involved myself, to show it is possible!”, Bobes writes on the Free Cab’s website. Bobes said the idea behind the project came to him when he found himself in an emergency situation and could not afford a cab, so he decided to help other people in the same situation. The two phone numbers where the free cab service can be reached are (+4) 0785.728.749 and (+4) 0725.062.356, and those who cannot afford to call can text explaining the emergency and the cab service will call them back. editor@romania-insider.com