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Fuel fee mulled for taxi fare
(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-08 09:55 Passengers may have to pay a one-yuan (US$0.12)
fuel add-on fee each time for taxi services in Guangzhou from September, as the
city's pricing bureau was to submit the fuel surcharge plan to the municipal
government for approval later this month.
Vice-director Wu Linbo of the pricing bureau said they would not hold a
public hearing for the surcharge plan because the add-on fee was not charged on
the taxi service itself and could not be counted as a taxi fare hike.
A taxi driver welcomed the move saying the two lifts in oil prices in June
and July cost him 500 yuan more a month.
The city's taxi industry association sent a proposal to the pricing bureau in
April calling for a fuel surcharge during oil price hikes to relieve the
pressure on drivers, the New Express said. The proposal was shelved for further
investigation then.
Wu said Thursday the high oil price was likely to remain in the long term and
the fuel surcharge was a feasible resolution to reduce the cost pressure on taxi
drivers. He said his department was still researching on a balanced scheme for
the surcharge compromising the interests of passengers and taxi drivers.
Many residents were strongly against the surcharge saying the taxi fare was
already expensive. "The profit margin for the taxi industry is fairly big," an
ad agent said, "only drivers take a small share in it." He proposed the
government and taxi companies made a concession by charging drivers less for
license fees.
Shanghai's city government offers a 550-yuan (US$67.8) monthly subsidy for
taxis running 24 hours a day and 462.5 yuan for those running on the dayshift
alone starting August.
Meanwhile, the provincial bus station installed a 5 percent hike on 10
long-distance bus routes Saturday to combat the rising cost of fuels.
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