The Transport Bureau (DSAT) is proposing to raise the flagfall to 21 patacas from the current 19 patacas for the first 1,600 metres, representatives of the city’s taxi sector told public broadcaster TDM yesterday.
According to the TDM report, the bureau is also proposing an increase in incremental charges.
Currently, the incremental fare is two patacas for every 240 metres after the first 1,600 metres. The bureau is proposing that the incremental fare will be two patacas for every 220 metres after the first 1,600 metres, the report said.
According to the report, the bureau is also proposing that passengers will have to pay more after requesting the cabbie to wait at some point during the ride.
Currently, passengers have to pay two patacas for every minute of waiting time. The bureau is proposing that the two patacas will be charged for every 55 seconds, the report said.
Macau Taxi Drivers Mutual Help Association President Tony Kuok Leong Son told TDM yesterday that his association proposed an average fare hike of around 18 percent when applying to the Transport Bureau. According to Kuok, representatives of the taxi sector met with DSAT officials on Monday, where the officials told them that the bureau agreed that taxi fares could be increased but that it would only allow a lower fare hike.
According to Kuok, the bureau is instead proposing that taxi fares should only be increased by around 10 percent as the government assumed that residents would be unwilling to accept an 18 percent increase.
The bureau has not yet come up with a schedule as to when the new taxi fares will get off the ground, Kuok told TDM.
Meanwhile, Leng Sai Vai, who heads the Macau Commercial Vehicles Business Association, told TDM yesterday that while the new taxi fares proposed by the government would still not be able to cover the rise in fuel costs and inflation, the taxi sector expected the new taxi fares to get off the ground as soon as possible, as the city’s taxi fares have not been increased for seven years.
This file photo taken late last year shows taxis waiting for passengers at the taxi rank outside Hotel Lisboa. – Photo: Tony Wong
