Higher rates Taxi prices to rise in Bonn
Bonn · Despite opposition from the FDP and Bürger Bund, there is likely to be a majority on the council for an increase in taxi fares. Other cities are even more expensive.
The planned rise in taxi prices on Tuesday will not go quite as smoothly through the city council as seemed to be the case last week. On the central committee, only Bürger Bund Bonn (BBB) voted against the average 2.8 per cent rise. The FDP, which had first abstained, is also likely to vote no to the higher tariffs in the council meeting. However, a majority is still likely for the decision.
“Taxi rides are becoming a luxury in Bonn,” criticised FDP faction leader Werner Hümmrich. However, the cars are an important part of public local transport in the city – especially for senior citizens, who can only use buses and trams with difficulty or not at all. “Instead of offering special rates for senior citizens, prices are simply increased.” Hümmrich views the city’s announcement that it is following tariff increases set by Transport Association Rhine-Sieg (VRS) with particular scepticism. BBB faction head Marcel Schmidt also warns against automatic changes. “With taxi fares, we want to spare citizens the years long excessive price spiral of the VRS.”
The current application by the Bonn taxi association, in which almost all of the 170 taxi operations are organised, lies slightly over the VRS increases for 2017 and 2018. Most recently, the council approved taxi fare increases in 2014 (+5.6 per cent) and 2016 (+4.5 per cent). Even after the planned increase, Bonn is somewhat cheaper compared to Cologne, Münster and Bielefeld.
“Siegburg or Düsseldorf are also more expensive,” says Claus Lenz, managing director of the association, citing further examples. He argues the tariff increase will in principal only cover inflationary losses. Although fuel prices are stable, other costs are rising. The minimum wage for employed drivers was increased from 8.50 Euros to 8.84 Euros per hour in January 2017.
“Taxi operators must also expect losses in the value of their cars, which almost all have diesel motors, because of the debate about imminent driving bans,” says the managing director of the association. This hits sole operators with only one vehicle hard. These make up 60 per cent of all drivers in Bonn. The market is already highly competitive and not only because there have been, with 326 licences, a relatively large number of taxis in Bonn since its long past time as the capital. There is also competition from rental car companies who offer similar services with drivers. According to the city administration, 75 operators with around 280 vehicles are registered in this field in Bonn.
The proposal to link taxi fares to VRS increases in the future originally came from council circles, according to Lenz. However, Markus Schmidt from the press office confirmed when asked that this does not mean automatic changes. A council decision will also be needed in future before any rate increases.
(Original text: Andreas Baumann, Max Müller. Translation: kc)
