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Court rules in favor of taxi drivers' right to hike fares

Ruling deregulates rates but City Hall sticks to current caps

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 26th, 2007 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Rudolf Tůma of AAA says 40 or 50 Kč per kilometer would be fair.
After years of battle between cabbies and regulators, Prague Municipal Court has weighed in on the side of drivers, denuding City Hall of its power to control a trade some say is parasitic but that drivers say can barely provide a living.
The Sept. 6 ruling states that cabbies can flout the city ordinance that caps their rates at 28 Kč ($1.45) per kilometer, and it does not put an explicit upper limit on what drivers can charge.
But Jan Ryba, deputy chairman of the court, says the ruling does not give drivers a carte blanche to charge whatever they want.
And City Hall is, for now, turning a deaf ear to the ruling, saying that until it receives a written version of the court decision, the current practice stands.
“It is still necessary to follow the valid legal regulations issued by City Hall, most of all the regulation setting the maximum price for the cabs,” says Rudolf Dobiáš, a spokesman for City Hall.
Amid the confusion, some taxi companies are holding steady at 28 Kč while other independent operators have significantly raised their rates.
Zdeněk Ponert, a driver who went on an 11-day hunger strike outside City Hall last winter to protest the regulations, is back at work full-time on Old Town Square, charging the fee — up to 99 Kč per kilometer depending on the total distance traveled — that caused him trouble last year.
He says he feels good about the court decision. “The way I see it … the law, the police, and [City Hall] were persecuting/bothering us all the time. I am glad the court decided like this. Now it is important that the court’s decision be taken seriously.”
In February, Ponert told The Prague Post that he made 15,000 Kč a month at most and was protesting “for all the taxi drivers who are forced to live on 10,000 to 15,000 Kč per month. It’s not an easy life.”
Pavel Jelínek, chairman of Taxi Praha Trade Union, says the average cab driver in Prague makes about 15,000 to 20,000 Kč per month, often working 12-hour days. The average wage in Prague is about 26,000 Kč.
He says the court’s ruling means rates can be increased based on costs.
“So the decision of the court does not mean the cabbie wakes up in the morning and decides to charge this or that. The rate must be properly calculated and substantiated,” Jelínek says.
A fair and reasonable rate would be around 40 to 50 Kč, he says.
Rudolf Tůma, a driver with AAA Radiotaxi, agrees. “That would be just about right for us to make a profit,” he says. AAA is keeping its rate at 28 Kč.
“I can tell you that the current price doesn’t really conform with all the different costs that we have to cover,” Tůma says. The costs include car maintenance, gas, third-party liability, insurance and leasing. After 17 years on the job, he says he takes home only 5,000 Kč a month and still owes money on his 10-year-old car. With this, he says, he must help support his wife, who is a teacher, and their two children.
He also agrees with the court decision on principle. When there is a limit on fares “it’s not a business environment like it is in other sectors,” he says. “A customer has a right to choose which kind of taxi he picks.”
Jiří Možný works part time as an independent cab driver and says if he had a family he would choose a different job “because it’s hard to make a living out of this.” He charges only 25 Kč per kilometer.
He says he agrees with the court decision, especially in its power to counter City Hall, which he says “persecutes” taxi drivers. The 90 Kč per kilometer that some cabbies have charged wasn’t right but was “kind of a revolt against City Hall.” But mostly, Možný says, the bad reputation of Prague cabbies is undeserved.
“Eighty percent of taxi drivers are normal, honest guys who just want to make a living,” he says.
— Naďa Černá and Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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