Shanghai, October 10 (Gasgoo.com) Taxi passengers in Shanghai will pay about 10% more from tomorrow as the city raises the fares for the first time in three years to offset higher fuel prices, Shanghai Daily reported today.
Starting fares will rise by 1 yuan ($0.146) to 12 yuan and the per-kilometer charge will be increased by 0.3 yuan to 2.4 yuan after the first 3 kilometers, according to the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, the city's top economic planner.
Taxi passengers are likely to be charged at the old rates until about the end of the month, as it will take time for taxi firms to make adjustments on the meters for all the 40,000-plus city cabs.
The new prices will be in place for at least a year according to a mechanism that links taxi fares to fuel prices introduced in the city in May 2006, when Shanghai last adjusted cab fares.
The fare lift comes after local gasoline prices have risen more than 30% since 2006. The city government and taxi firms have been subsidizing each taxi with 820 yuan a month to offset soaring fuel prices. The subsidy will end after the fare rises.
The 30% surcharge on night fares (11p.m.-5a.m.) will still apply. That would mean a start-up fare of 16 yuan, compared with 14 yuan now, the commission said.
Start-up fares for suburban taxies will also rise by 1 yuan to 10 yuan, with the changes in the following per-kilometer fees in line with downtown increases.
