Dubai: Taxi commuters will now have to shell out an additional 11 fils per kilometre, while passengers heading from airport will have to pay 21 fils per kilometre.
This is a second fare hike in last 12 months as taxi flag down rate was increased from Dh3 to Dh5 and the minimum fare was raised from Dh10 to 12 last December.
The metre run which was Dh1.71 per kilometre for regular taxis and 1.75 for airport taxis until last week, have now been increased by six per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
Several taxi drivers told Gulf News that the marginal increase hasn’t had any impact on the passengers.
“I think most of the passengers have not even noticed. The increase doesn’t show significantly on the bill and customers are not feeling the pinch,” said Syed Furqan, a taxi driver, who was informed about the hike last week.
A comment from Roads and Transport Authority was not immediately available.
According to Furqan, the metres were updated a few days before the new fare came into effect.
However, the increase doesn’t reflect on the incomes of taxi drivers, and even their daily targets remain same.
“Our daily targets remain the same — Dh410 — and our income hasn’t changed either. There was no benefit to us even when the fares were increased last year,” said Abdul Manna.
Last year, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) had revised the basic charges for booking the taxis, with the non-peak hour bookings costing Dh8, up from 6 and the peak hour bookings went up to Dh12 from Dh10.
From Saturday to Wednesday the peak hours are set from 7am to 10am, and 4pm to 8pm.
While on Thursdays and Fridays the evening peak hours are set from 4pm to 12 midnight.
