A report by CNTV reveals that the Beijing transportation department has already started working with the municipal Development and Reform Commission to look into higher taxi fares, but a decision is not expected too soon.
The report shows that if the local officials will indeed agree to adjust taxi fares, this won't happen sooner than mid-2011.
Strangely, Beijing is also trying at the same time to introduce more electric taxis in the city, and a fleet of 50 units has already reached the streets in December last year. City authorities have created dedicated rechargers that allow the electric taxis to recharge in around 30 minutes. The autonomy is estimated to reach 300 miles if the vehicles do not exceed urban speed restrictions or 180 miles for outside the city routes.
And, more importantly, more electric taxis are expected to reach Beijing's streets in the upcoming years, so why increasing the fares after all?
"After 5 to 10 years, automobiles will be transformed from fuel powered to electric powered, from mild hybrid to heavy hybrid, and finally to pure electric powered. Wonder Auto will optimize its product portfolio and maximize its resources in order to focus on the global auto market in the future," Zhao Qingjie, Wonder Auto CEO said last year when Wonder Auto handed the Lioaning government 100 electric taxis.
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