On Thursday, Beijing finalized the taxi fare hike plan, which will become effective Monday.
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The base fare will rise from 10 yuan ($1.63) to 13 yuan for the first 3 kilometers, and the rate per km after the first 3 km will rise to 2.3 yuan from the current 2 yuan, according to the municipal commission of reform and development on Thursday. Fuel surcharges will go down from 3 yuan to 1 per ride.
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The final plan fine tuned the two proposals discussed at a hearing on May 23, when 23 of the 25 representatives, which included taxi drivers and ordinary residents, supported a hike in cab fares and 21 supported the two submitted plans to raise the base fare, idling fees during traffic jams and booking fees.
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Both of the original plans proposed raising the base fare from 10 yuan ($1.63) to 13 yuan for the first 3 kilometers. Thirteen representatives supported the first plan, which lifted the rate per km after the first 3 km to 2.3 yuan from the current 2 yuan, while eight favored the second plan, with a higher rate of 2.6 yuan per km.
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Another reform of the Beijing taxi market is the launch of a dedicated phone number to help passengers book cabs.
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After three days of trial run from June 1 to 3, the phone booking platform saw 3,707 successful orders out of 7,594 orders, a successful rate of 49%, People's Daily reported on Thursday.
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The capital is expected to roll out taxi booking phone apps by the end of June to work with the phone booking platform.