Taxi commuters should brace themselves for a fare increase of between 10 and 25%.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) announced on Friday that fares for all taxis nationwide will go up from 1 July.
This after some taxi associations in Joburg said their fares would increase fees by a whopping 170% as drivers and taxi owners battle to make ends meet during the Coronavirus pandemic.
According to Covid-19 regulations, taxis may only load 70% of their passenger capacity.
However, that proposal was dropped after a meeting between Santaco and Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo.
Santaco spokesman Bafana Magagula said commuters should not be alarmed as taxi fares increase every year around this time.
Government last week indicated it would provide financial relief to taxi operators.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said taxi fare hikes must be in line with inflation.
Further consultations between government and Santaco would resume on Tuesday.
Santaco Western Cape spokesman Nazeem Abdurahman says they cannot say by how much the taxi fares would increase yet, but should have an answer by the end of the week.
“It’s a proposal from national and we will be consulting our eight regions in the Western Cape this week. We should have a position on this by Thursday or Friday,” he said.
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town said MyCiti tariffs would decrease from 1 July.
Mayor Dan Plato said the reduction is possible due to fuel prices dropping because of the impact of Covid-19, the slowdown of economies and the subsequent drop in demand for fuel worldwide.