CAIRO, Nov 6 (Aswat Masriya) – Taxi drivers will call on the Cabinet to raise the fare’s initial charge from EGP 3 to EGP 5, along with an increase in the rate per kilometer from EGP 1.4 to EGP 1.75, in the wake of a surge in the prices of fuel.

On Thursday night, the government issued a decision to raise energy prices, affecting the prices of 80 octane gasoline which increased to reach EGP 2.35 per litre instead of EGP 1.6, and 92 octane gasoline which increased to EGP 3.5 instead of 2.6 per litre, while diesel increased to EGP 2.35 per litre from EGP 1.8.

Meanwhile, natural gas used for vehicles increased to EGP 1.6 per cubic metre instead of only EGP 1.1.

Salah Sedik, head of the White Taxi Drivers Coalition, told Aswat Masriya that the coalition will send a memo to the Cabinet on Sunday.

He explained that the governorates are responsible for determining the taxi fares.

“Given that fueling up costs so much more now with the increase in the prices of octane and natural gas, we cannot continue with the current fares,” he told Aswat Masriya.

Sedik said that the hike in fuel prices is already causing problems between taxi drivers and passengers over fares, since they are yet to be officially amended by the government.

Taxi fares have not increased since June 2014 when the government raised it to EGP 3 as an initial charge up from EGP 2.5, and EGP 1.4 per km instead of EGP 1.25 following a previous hike in fuel prices.