Shanghai taxi-fare rises to offset higher fuel price

Published: 11 Oct 2009 18:38:44 PST

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.

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