Taxi fares in Beijing could be set to rise by 25 per cent.

The city's development and reform commission has received the proposal from the Beijing Transportation Bureau.

Charges could increase from the existing 1.6 yuan (20 US cents) per kilometre to 2 yuan (25 US cents) to offset the rise in costs from recent oil price hikes, the proposal said.

A price tag on a taxi window is seen in Beijing April 19, 2006. The tag indicates taxi passengers are charged 1.6 yuan (20 US cents) per kilometre. [newsphoto]

Published on the commission's website on Tuesday evening, the proposal estimated that about 80 per cent of taxi passengers would have to pay an additional 1 yuan (12 US cents) to 5 yuan (62 US cents) on fares because of the price change.

In addition to the fare readjustment, the proposal also suggests establishing a mechanism to allow taxi fares to "float" with fuel price changes.

If the price of oil rises above 5.2 yuan (64 US cents) a litre, taxi companies should offer drivers a certain amount of petrol subsidies; if it rises above 5.5 yuan (68 US cents), a fuel surcharge of 0.5 yuan (6 US cents) to 1 yuan (12 US cents) would be collected from passengers; if it rises above 6.1 yuan (75 US cents), there would be another round of taxi fare hikes, the proposal suggests.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held on April 26. Twenty-five main participants have been chosen already from taxi companies, schools, research institutions, consumers' associations and factories.

Bureau figures show that the fare readjustment would affect about 63,600 taxis in the city, while the existing 3,000 taxis that charge 1.2 yuan (15 US cents) per kilometre would no longer be in use by the end of this year.

Taxi fares in Beijing have stayed fixed for more than five years, but oil prices have increased from 3.2 yuan (40 US cents) a litre in late 2000 to the existing 4.65 yuan (57 US cents).

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