Taxi Tax: Surcharge Increased Again

China Daily reports that as of today, the fuel surcharge in Beijing taxis has once again been raised from RMB 2 to RMB 3. Great.

In recent years, the city government has raised and lowered the taxi surcharge several times in response to changes in the price of fuel (which are set by the National Development and Reform Commission). The price of fuel was increased by RMB 300 per tonne on February 25, so this RMB 1 rise in the taxi surcharge is hardly surprising news.

It does seem nobody had told the guy driving the taxi I took this morning. This driver knew everything about the current state of relations with Japan, but was apparently oblivious to the fact that he should have been adding RMB 3 to my fare rather than the RMB 2 he actually tacked on.

Take note: If you're traveling less than 3km, the fuel surcharge doesn't apply. Most taxi drivers are pretty honest about this, but watch out.

Also be aware that because increases in the taxi surcharge are designed to compensate drivers for rises in their fuel costs, today's rise definitely doesn't help drivers make more money. Do not expect the next taxi driver you run into to be any more cheerful than the last. For an in-depth exploration of just why Beijing's cab drivers are so miserable (and they do have some very legitimate reasons to be so), check out this analysis from our colleagues over at Agenda.

Now if you object so strongly to an extra RMB 3 that you swear never to take an official Beijing cab again, you might want to look up a hei che driver. How about this guy?

Confused? So was I. We'll tell you the full story of the "Unkown Soldier" on Monday.