Taxi drivers protest to demand insurance coverage, higher fares

AMMAN — Taxi drivers on Sunday organised a sit-in on Queen Rania Al Abdullah (University) Street, and called on the government to meet their demands, according to Ahmad Abu Haidar, president of the Transport Services and Taxi Owners Union.

The demands include increasing taxi fares, providing taxi drivers with health insurance coverage and registering them as subscribers to the Social Security Corporation (SSC), Abu Haidar told The Jordan Times.

“The government is currently studying the health insurance issue,” he said, adding that even if it does not meet this demand, citizens can apply to the Royal Court to receive free medical services.

As for the social security insurance, Abu Haidar said taxi drivers can benefit from SSC services by registering as optional subscribers.

“Increasing the fare is what drivers really want, especially since the government has raised fuel prices three times without changing taxi fares,” the union president noted.

Taxis’ current starting rate is 250 fils during the day and 300 fils at night.

Abu Haidar also said that the union had previously sent official requests to the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC) and the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) to increase taxi fares, without receiving a reply.

He added that the union will renew the petitions to both institutions on Monday.

The sit-in started at around 8:30am and lasted until 11am, with the participation of 30 to 40 taxi drivers, according to the union president, who noted that the protest was peaceful and there were no incidents.

LTRC Director General Marwan Hmoud told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that adjusting taxi gauges takes a long time, especially since there are around 16,000 cabs in the Kingdom.

He added that the time needed to change these meters is about one month, which is a long period and the process cannot be repeated often.

Abdul Rahim Wreikat, director of GAM’s public transport operations department, told Petra that transport fares are studied every six months.

Wreikat also noted that fuel prices dropped several times in the past but GAM did not reduce the fares, because the decrease was not significant, according to Petra.