Taxis to Raise Fare Following LPG Price Hike
The Transport Ministry prepares to announce a taxi fare hike following an increase in liquefied petroleum gas prices. Taxi fares should go up by about eight to ten baht per a trip.
The Land Transport Department Director-General Chairat Sanguansue revealed that a committee, made up of representatives from taxi cooperatives and consumer groups, has been set up to look into a taxi fare hike. This follows requests by taxi operators for a fare hike as the fares have not gone up for over a decade but costs have gone up with the increases in the prices of oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The committee has decided to keep the base fare at 35 baht but will shorten the distance interval for fare increments on the meter. This should result in a hike of eight to ten baht on average per taxi trip so taxi drivers should be able to earn an additional 100 baht per day, based on an average of 14 trips a day.
However, this new fare structure will have to be approved by the Transport Ministry before it can be implemented.
The department is also trying to increase the number of taxis using natural gas (NGV), which about 20% of taxis in Bangkok are already using, to alleviate the burden from the LPG price hike. The government will be subsidizing the cost of the engine conversion to use NGV and has already announced that all new taxis to come out on the streets must be outfitted to use only NGV.
Secretary-General of a taxi federation Kasemsarnt Chompudaeng says the higher LPG price will result in less revenue for taxi drivers by as much as 200 baht per 12-hour shift. This, coupled with higher costs of living, will hurt the families of the 150,000 taxi drivers in Bangkok.
She also says the promotion to convert taxis engines to use NGV is not effective because there is still a shortage of NGV filling stations in Bangkok. Taxi operators will hand a letter to the Energy Ministry to ask for help to combat rising costs and have threaten to come out with pressure methods if their demands are not met.
- Thailand Outlook
