AMID the furore over their loss of business to the new public bus system, it seems taxi drivers are racking up their prices wherever they can.
This was the unfortunate discovery made by one returning Cypriot, who last week had to pay a staggering €70 for a 25 minute journey from the airport to Nicosia.
The hapless traveller, Socratis, arrived just after midnight, making it to the taxi rank by 12.30am where he asked for a cab to the capital.
“I told the secretary (who coordinates taxis from the airport) and he called out to the drivers that I wanted to go to Nicosia,” Socratis told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
“They all tried to walk as far away as possible, so he ordered one driver to take me. He started swearing and shouting.”
The reluctant driver eventually agreed to take Socratis – but for a flat rate of €65 instead of using the meter, saying that it was nothing personal, simply that local journeys paid more than the hour long round trip via Nicosia.
On arrival in Dasoupoli, two minutes off the highway before Nicosia, the driver said he did not have five euros to give correct change for Socratis’ €100 note, so he had to pay €70.
“I come back twice a year and normally pay €40… The journey took 25 minutes.”
This is not the only such incident: another Cyprus Mail reader reported an €80 fare from Makronissos beach to Nicosia after her car broke down in Ayia Napa on Sunday.
At such rates, it is perhaps no surprise that taxis have lost customers to the buses and the shuttle.
However, instead of lowering their prices to become competitive, ailing taxi drivers’ associations were once again lobbying the communication and works ministry to raise bus ticket prices and compensate them for lost earnings yesterday.
Representatives of ten regional taxi firms met with Communications and Public Works Minister Erato Kazakou-Marcoulli to discuss a range of firms.
Marcoulli said: “We did not take any final decisions – I asked for one more week to look into several options.”
Asked about the possibility of raising bus fares, Marcoulli said: “The government has no plans to raise fares and we are not willing to do it at this point.”
Instead, the minister said she would look into making organisational changes to the bus routes and timings that would not harm the citizen, but help the taxi drivers. Another option that is being examined is a share-taxi scheme that would see drivers collecting multiple passengers along predefined routes.
The ministry and taxi drivers’ representatives will meet again on Thursday.
