It is official: Taxi prices to double in Budapest

According to index.hu, the Budapest assembly has voted to approve the increase of Hungarian taxi fares from July. 82% of taxi drivers supported the decision. They claim to have more expenses now compared to five years ago when the current taxi fares were defined.

According to the representative of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the rate actually counts as a modest increase.

Zoltán Metál, the president of the Hungarian Taxi Association, said that they proposed the final rate of the increase after a long process of negotiations.

Originally, they wanted an even greater rise, but they accepted the arguments of the city council and that is how the decision was made.

The president believes that the reason why it is hard to get a taxi in Budapest is not the decreasing number of taxi drivers, but the greater demand that became common since the settling of the taxi market.

The currently 450-forint-base rate will be increased by 55% to 700 forints, the kilometre fare will rise to 300 forints from 280, while the waiting time/minute will cost 75 forints instead of 70.

It is not clear how supportive passengers are of the decision. However, it is true that there are problematic periods, peak times when it is extremely difficult to get a taxi. Vs.hu believes that the supply would be enough, but it is inflexible due to the system, in which the public burdens of drivers were calculated to full-time jobs. Certainly, the peak times could be resolved by part-time entrepreneurs.

Uber and similar initiations could have offered a solution to this problem given that they were not eliminated.

Featured image: Daily News Hungary

Source: https://index.hu/, https://vs.hu/