Sharjah: Residents can breath a sigh of relief as the burden of having a minimum taxi fare introduced in Sharjah has been postponed until October 1.
However, taxi fares will be increased as of Wednesday.
"It takes at least a month in order to re-programme the taxi meters. Although the Dh10 minimum fare has been postponed, the plan to introduce a new tariff is running as scheduled for September 1," said Ahmad Al Qaed, head of franchise taxi vehicles at Sharjah Transport.
The announcement was made on Monday when an official at Sharjah Transport stated that the minimum fare for all taxis operating in Sharjah had been postponed due to technical difficulties.
Meanwhile, the introduction of the new taxi tariff means that commuters will have to pay Dh1 for every 620 metres instead of the previous rate of Dh1 for every 650 metres.
The starting fare will continue to remain the same at Dh3 during the day and Dh4 at night.
Authorities at Sharjah Transport previously told Gulf News that the decision to introduce a minimum fare of Dh10 was made in order to meet the rising cost of maintaining the taxi fleets, as a result of the recent price hike in fuel. The changes were due to be made on October 1.
Sharjah Transport also stated that the hike in the taxi tariff was aimed at improving the quality of service for taxis.
Commuters however, said that even though the burden of having such costs has been postponed, they were still reluctant to pay for the extra charges in October.
"The fare hike is not beneficial for passengers. The only ones who will gain are the taxi operating companies, because the fare hike will come to around 250 per cent," said a resident.
