Beware – Brutal taxi price rise in Budapest from Monday!
As a result of the decision of the Budapest Municipal Council, taxi fees will increase significantly in the Hungarian capital from tomorrow. Below, you can find the details.
Taxis in Budapest to be much more expensive
According to telex.hu, the municipal council of Budapest decided in April that from tomorrow, the base charge will be HUF 1,000 (EUR 2.66), the per-kilometre charge HUF 400 (EUR 1.06), and the per-minute charge HUF 100 (EUR 0.27). These numbers mean a 33 pc price increase in Hungary’s capital. Today, the base charge is HUF 700 (EUR 1.88), the per-kilometre charge is HUF 300 (EUR 0.8), and the per-minute charge is HUF 75 (EUR 0.2).
As we reported before, the price increase was not the idea of the local government. The Council of Budapest, the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), Budapest taxi companies, and trade unions started negotiations about a possible price increase in November 2021. That is because taxi prices have not risen since 1 July 2018. Meanwhile,
the average earnings of the national economy, inflation, and fuel prices have increased significantly.
The price increase was inevitable?
Thus, they agreed last November that the official prices needed to be revised. Interestingly, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) disagreed. They believed that the municipal council should have encouraged competition rather than increasing fixed prices.
Interestingly, the country’s third-biggest city,
Szeged, decided to abolish fixed taxi prices on Friday.
Before passengers had to pay a HUF 600 (EUR 1.56) base charge, the per-kilometre charge was HUF 400 (EUR 1.06), while the per-minute charge was HUF 100 (EUR 0.27). The mayor of Szeged, László Botka (Socialists), argued that introducing fixed prices is not compulsory for the municipalities. Most of them do not use it, he added.
The ministry does not permit free public transport in this Hungarian city
In January 2022, Baja made public transport free of charge for everybody. However, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology (ITM) believes the city’s decision was unlawful. ITM said the city could not modify the prices because of the government’s emergency rules introduced due to the pandemic. Therefore,
Baja got two months to resolve the situation,
but they would like the parliament to modify the relevant laws instead, ATV reported.
Klára Nyirati, the mayor of Baja, told the Hungarian TV channel that residents of Baja did not use public transport before because it was too expensive. After the city made it free of charge, more people left their cars at home to travel by bus.
One of the residents told ATV that the local buses were expensive before, so they commuted almost empty. Now, schoolchildren travel by bus.
Source: ATV, telex.hu, DNH