Taxi owners and drivers fear losing business with the introduction of fare-by-the-meter system.

A number of taxi service companies have said that they will not force their drivers to comply with the new fare meters when they transport customers, citing the reduction of daily profits as few customers will be able to pay the fare by the meter.

The new regulation will make it mandatory for taxi drivers who have already installed the meters to charge passengers as per the readings.

Cabbies say that Jeddah and other Saudi cities are huge in terms of area and the introduction of the meters will result in some trips costing more than SR30, almost double the current fare.

“If the decision is made mandatory, we will lose customers as no one will be willing to pay by the meter’s exorbitant readings,” Omer Ramadan, an Egyptian taxi driver, told Arab News. He added that citizens and expats are not used to paying more than SR25 for a single journey.

Trip fares are currently determined through bargaining between the customer and the taxi driver. With the introduction of the meters, taxi drivers will be required to pay higher daily amounts to their employers.

“If the decision is implemented, we will be required to pay more than SR170 in daily profits to our employers but we will have a dearth of customers willing to go by the meter fare,” said Saeed Al-Shraabi, a Yemeni taxi driver.

“I think that customers should be given a choice: either to go by the fare meter readings or make a deal with the driver because it is most likely that customers will refuse to be charged by the meter readings due to the high cost,” Abdul Ruhman Maki, a taxi services establishment owner told Arab News.

“We cannot force a taxi driver to use the fare meter because we know that no customer would be willing to pay more than SR40 for a trip inside Jeddah. Therefore, we will allow drivers to either make a deal with the customer or charge him according to the meter reading,” Saad Al-Zahrani, another taxi service establishment owner, told Arab News.

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