Beijing cab fare hikes may start Monday

Beijing will release the finalized version of a long-debated taxi fare hike plan on Thursday, which is expected to become effective Monday, Beijing Times reported.

The final plan will fine tune the two proposals discussed at a hearing on May 23, when 23 of the 25 representatives, which included taxi drivers and ordinary residents, supported a hike in cab fares and 21 supported the two submitted plans to raise the base fare, idling fees during traffic jams and booking fees.

Both of the original plans proposed raising the base fare from 10 yuan ($1.63) to 13 yuan for the first 3 kilometers. Thirteen representatives supported the first plan, which lifted the rate per km after the first 3 km to 2.3 yuan from the current 2 yuan, while eight favored the second plan, with a higher rate of 2.6 yuan per km.

Another reform of the Beijing taxi market is the launch of a dedicated phone number to help riders book cabs.

After three days of trial run from June 1 to 3, the phone booking platform saw 3,707 successful orders out of 7,594 orders, a successful rate of 49%, People's Daily reported on Thursday.

The capital is expected to roll out taxi booking phone apps by the end of June to work with the phone booking platform.