Taxi fares to increase 31 August
Commuters should expect a taxi fare increase of between 10 and 20 percent effective at the end of August.
This comes after the price of petrol increased by 32 cents a litre.
The South African National Taxi Council’s (Santaco), Bafana Magagula said the local routes would increase by R1 and R5 and long distance taxis by R10 and R50.
A taxi from Johannesburg to Sandton will now cost R13; R11 to Randburg ; R15 to Fourways and R9.50 to Rosebank.
In June, Santaco introduced a system based on a computer programme that calculates the costs of taxi operations. The associations will use this system to determine the appropriate fee to be charged.
Santaco CEO Nkululeko Buthelezi said taxi fares were under-priced by up to 70 percent in some instances, adding that taxi associations had no formal means of calculating what their fares should be.
“This means that when an association decides to increase fares, the amount is simply based on the general feeling among operator members about what they need to receive to restore their net earnings. In turn, this makes it difficult for the association to explain to commuters why fares are being increased,” said Buthelezi.
