The government said Monday that the city’s increased taxi fares will take effect on December 14 with the flagfall to be raised to 17 patacas – up 13.3 percent – for the first 1.6 kilometres, while the distance-based interval charge will be increased to two patacas for every 260 metres and the waiting time charge will go up to two patacas for every 60 seconds.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced the new fares in a statement. The new fares were also published in yesterday’s Official Gazette (BO).
The bureau said in the statement it had received different proposals from several taxi drivers associations asking for a fare increase including one which asked for an increase in the flagfall from 15 patacas to 18 patacas while others requested 17 patacas.
After discussions with the associations, the bureau decided that the flagfall be raised to 17 patacas and that the distance-based interval and waiting time charges also be increased, while other charges would remain unchanged.
Consequently, the current fare of three patacas per piece of luggage and specific destination surcharges (two patacas for trips from Taipa to Coloane, five patacas for trips from Macau to Coloane, and five patacas from the airport to any destination) will remain unchanged.
The last fare increase took place in July 2012 when the flagfall rose from 13 to 15 patacas for the first 1.6 kilometres, while the distance and waiting time intervals stayed at 1.50 patacas for every 230 metres and 60 seconds respectively.
The bureau also said that figures announced by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that over the two years since the last fare increase the local consumer price index and petrol prices increased 12.57 percent and 11.9 percent respectively while the average salary of professional drivers rose nearly 9.7 percent.
The bureau also said that the new taxi fares struck a balance between residents’ purchasing power and the taxi sector’s fare increase requests.
The bureau also said that it would complete its amendment draft bill on regulating the taxi industry by the end of the year and continue working with the Public Security Police (PSP) to weed out rogue taxi drivers.
DSAT Director Wong Wan said on Sunday that the government would consider the feasibility of introducing a mechanism for holding regular discussions on taxi fare increases with industry representatives when it is drafting the draft bill.
Wong also said that most citizens agree with the government’s proposal to deploy plainclothes police in sting operations to clamp down on rogue cabbies. However, taxi industry representatives and individual taxi drivers have voiced their opposition to
the proposal.(macaunews/macaupost)
