New guidelines foresee starting fares being raised from TL 2 to TL 2.50, but the city's higher night fare has been lifted. Shuttle fares have increased by 10 percent. The price per kilometer has also been raised, from TL 1.30 to TL 1.40, while the price for making a taxi wait more than 10 minutes remains Kr 25 per five-minute period. No change was made to the requirement that passengers pay all toll fees.Taxis will have their meters re-programmed to reflect the new fares at pre-determined spots in Kadıköy, Seyrantepe, Zeytinburnu, Beşiktaş and Aksaray by tomorrow. İstanbul Taxi Drivers' Union head Semih Kaçanoğlu noted that in a metropolis like İstanbul, taxi drivers, who work long hours, have many problems. He added that traffic in the city is always dense and that with rising gas prices, drivers' incomes have fallen.
“Twenty months have passed since we demanded an increase of 15 percent on Dec. 15, 2007. The drivers can hardly make their living through their taxi incomes.” Addressing the abolition of night fares, he added: “In our meetings with drivers, they say that the number of customers decreases due to night fares and the global economic crisis. Therefore, we decided to abolish night fares. The starting fares were also increased in the interest of fairness.”
