Four associations of taxi drivers are pushing ahead with their call for a hike in taxi fares even though talks with the Department of Land Transport (DLT) on Tuesday ended in a stalemate.
Negotiations will resume early next month, Sadit Chaithiang, president of the Thai Public Taxi Association, said yesterday. At the meeting with DLT director-general Jirut Wisanjit, the taxi driver associations asked for the starting price of taxi fares to be raised to 45 baht for small taxis and 50 baht for large taxis, up from 35 baht now, said Mr Sadit.
Small taxis are defined as cars with an engine of between 1,600cc and 1,800cc while large taxis have a 2,000cc engine or larger, he said.
The new starting fare will cover the first kilometre of travel while passengers will be charged 10 baht/km after that from the second kilometre to the 20th, 11 baht/km from the 21st kilometre to the 40th, 12 baht/km from the 41st kilometre to the 60th, and 13 baht/km for longer travel, he said. In case of heavy traffic in which a taxi runs at a speed of 25km per hour or less, the passenger instead will be charged 5 baht per minute, he said. The associations have also called for a special starting fare for taxis taking passengers to an airport, of 75 baht for small taxis and 90 baht for large taxis.
“We insist the taxi fares will have to be raised,” Mr Sadit said.
A public hearing carried out by the DLT showed the public mostly agreed taxi fares should be raised, he added.