Taxi Surcharge Increases to Three Kuai. Today!

Without any advance warning, we’ve discovered that the taxi surcharge is going up from RMB 2 to RMB 3 starting today. This comes just days after we reported on the suggestion from officials that people should start sharing taxis whenever possible.

News of this change was only released this morning, which is a sure way of confusing a lot of passengers who won't be expecting to be asked to pay one kuai more than they did yesterday.

The surcharge (which still only applies for journeys of three kilometers and up) is meant to alleviate the burden of rising fuel costs for the drivers; it was last increased from RMB 1 to RMB 2 nearly a year ago. Today's increase comes a few weeks after the city government decided to raise fuel prices by 6-7 percent, the largest margin in three years. Officials responded to this by implementing a monthly subsidy of RMB 300, which was clearly not enough to offset the impact on drivers.

Images: bjnews.com.cn