Consumer protection society announces opposition to taxi fare increases

AMMAN — The National Society of Consumer Protection (NSCP) in a statement sent to The Jordan Times said it was “opposed” to a hike in taxi fares recently agreed to by Ministry of Transport.

Under an agreement reached with representatives of the “yellow taxis”, meters will start at JD0.35, up from JD0.25, and the lowest fare for trips ordered by phone will rise to JD1, while the fee for the waiting fare will increase to JD2.5 per hour.

The increase, according to the NSCP’s President Mohammed Obeidat, was “not what the taxi sector meant when they demanded better working conditions”.

He told The Jordan Times on Thursday: “Taxi drivers, after the arrival of ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Careem, realised that their sector needs a working system on par with those apps. That means, logically, an app of their own.”

Earlier this month, the Lower House’s Public Services and Transport Committee agreed to shut down all unlicensed companies that transport passengers via applications, in accordance with the demands and protests of “yellow taxi” owners who had been protesting the apps since 2016.

The move did not affect Uber and Careem, both of which were already licensed, but it did shut down other apps such as Jeeny (previously EasyTaxi), which issued a statement saying it “has stopped its operations in Jordan until further notice”.

As a result of negotiations between the Ministry of Transport and the taxi owners, it was agreed upon that the ministry would begin designing an app for taxi drivers, the Minister of Transport Anmar Khasawneh told The Jordan Times in previous remarks.

However, the NSCP said that the “process should be faster”.

“All the ministry has done so far is impose this increase, which has no convincing argument to back it up. Increasing the starting fare will further drive the consumer away from yellow taxis and towards the apps,” said Obeidat.

In their statement, the NSCP said it “does not find it reasonable that the ministry would cite ‘inflation’ and ‘rising fuel costs’ as the causes of the increase”.

The Ministry of Transport was not immediately available for comment.

Taxi driver Kamel Batmeh, referring to the base fare increase, told The Jordan Times that “some are saying that a JD0.10 increase is not that much, but if you think about a person who goes to and from work in a taxi, as well as all their other outings every day, that [increase] amounts to a lot”.

Siwar Khoury, a Lebanese national residing in Jordan, said in a social media post that the increase was not what was stopping her from using taxis. “They [taxis] are mad about the increase as if that is the reason people are not using them. In reality, the reason is that they are rude.”