Huge increase to come in taxi fares in Budapest!

Instead of the previously planned 19% fare increase, taxis in Budapest will become even more expensive.

Changes

Taxi drivers can expect serious changes. These include service and administrative improvements, in addition to fare increases, but lobbyists would also like to see controls that would provide a real opportunity to detect illegal carriers, according to Index.hu.

Since November last year, taxi companies and stakeholders in Budapest have been negotiating with representatives of the Municipality of Budapest and BKK. Although the talks are not yet concluded, BKK said in a statement that agreements have been reached on several issues, as we can read in nlc.hu’s article.

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Negotiation about fare increases

Source: Facebook/Országos Taxis Szövetség

One of the key points of the negotiations is the rate of the fare increase, about which the president of the lobby said that although he is still unable to give exact figures, expecting this to change perhaps at the beginning of April,

an increase of around 23 to 24% in fares can be expected.

The statement notes that there have been no changes in the tariff elements since 1 July 2018. The basic charge is HUF 700 (EUR 1.88), the per-kilometre charge is HUF 300 (EUR 0.8), and the per-minute charge is HUF 75 (EUR 0.2).

However, the average earnings of the national economy, inflation, and fuel prices have increased significantly. Thus, the parties agreed that the current official price needs to be revised.

As we can read in Index’s article, Zoltán Metál told InfoRadio that in addition to the fare increase, certain service and administrative problems need to be solved. These will be jointly initiated with the government, but they would also like to see inspections in the future that would actually put the power in the authorities’ hands, as this would open up a real opportunity to detect illegal passenger carriers in Budapest.

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Hard to switch cars

Zoltán Metál also recalled that there is currently a moratorium, with the government allowing the age of cars to be raised from 10 to 12 years. However, it is almost impossible to switch to a new car in the current state of the economy.

“Used and new cars are already 20-25% more expensive, and the latter are promised by car companies in one and a half to two years, so we are supposed to change cars at a time when everyone’s hands are tied,” said Metál, the president of the National Taxi Association.

If a final agreement on the new tariff is reached, the increased official tariffs will enter into force on 9 May 2022.

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Source: nlc.hu, Index.hu, infostart.hu