Some taxi fares to come down by Bt5 on Feb 16

From February 16, some members of the public will enjoy three months of cheaper taxi rides after the Commerce Ministry convinced a group of Bangkok's cab-drivers to lower fares by Bt5.

To bring down drivers' costs, the ministry will soon ask PTT to cut the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 10 satang a kilo for taxis and taxi-rental enterprises to cut their fees.

Speaking after meeting with more than 150 taxi-drivers, Praphol Milindhachinda, secretary to the commerce minister, said the lower fare would help consumers during these tough economic times and allow taxi-drivers to keep their passengers.

"Taxi-drivers are worried about lower numbers of passengers in this difficult economy, but the Bt5 discount will help them maintain numbers," he said.

To compensate drivers for any losses incurred by the scheme, Praphol said the ministry would meet with PTT next week and ask it to cut the LPG price 10 satang for the duration of the scheme.

He said the ministry would then meet with taxi-rental businesses to ask about the possibility of reducing rental fees.

About 100 taxis have signed on for the pilot project. The ministry hopes as many as 1,000 taxis will eventually participate.

Sompong Sawadisuk, a taxi-driver who will participate, said drivers were willing to go along for fear of fewer passengers in the tight economy.

"Our loss from the Bt5 discount will be small, maybe Bt50 to Bt70 a day, and it'll help us keep our passengers," said Sompong.

He also said drivers expected their taxis' owners to help shoulder the burden by trimming Bt50 a day off the rental fee, which normally ranges from Bt500 to Bt800 a day.

Moreover, he asked for the government to provide soft loans for taxi-drivers and be more flexible about loan qualifications for low-income earners.

Sompong said many taxi-drivers had to borrow from loan sharks, because they were not qualified to take out loans from government or commercial banks.