Egeton Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), has rubbished claims that hackney taxi operators have increased their fares, after anecdotal stories emerged on Monday of an unsanctioned fare hike. 

“It is not true,” Newman said in response to an OBSERVER ONLINE query about the alleged illegal hike in fares from $120 to $150.

The head of TODSS, which represents taxi and mini-bus operators, put the situation down to a misunderstanding caused by the fact that more operators had just begun applying a fare increase granted by the Transport Authority last August, which he said brought up the fares to $150.

“The Hackney carriage fare was $540 or there about per passenger. They got a 15 per cent increase,  that would put them just over $600. Most hackney carriage operators in the Corporate Area operate a share ride service which means that they carry four passengers instead of one. Therefore they would have to divide the $600 by four, so the taxi fare is $150,” he explained.

“In the past they were following the buses and charging $100 so when the fare was raised, some persons were charging $120. But the fare at that time, was really $150,” Newman explained. 

He posited a reason for the misunderstanding, chalking it up to the reluctance of taxi operators to hike up their charges to place an excessive burden on the public in 2014. 

“The operators must take some blame for this misunderstanding because in 2014 their fare was $120 but they did not want to charge it because the JUTC was charging $100 which was too close to their fare,” he said.