White taxi drivers are still refusing to abide by the law and use their meters, an exercise by The Sunday Times of Malta has shown.
This newspaper was asked for upfront fares of between €15 and €30 to go from Valletta to Sliema Ferries when it visited three taxi ranks in and around the capital yesterday.
Only one out of six drivers grudgingly agreed to use his meter after several minutes of negotiations. All conversations with the drivers were recorded.
One driver near Auberge de Castille said the fixed price to Sliema was €35 but he was willing to undertake the journey for €30.
Three drivers used a brochure from their company, White Taxis Amalgamated, as ‘evidence’ that the price was fixed at €20.
In fact, fixed fares are currently only applicable from the airport, the Valletta seaport and a ticket booth in St Julian’s. The meter should be used from every other departure point. When this was pointed out to the driver outside the Phoenicia Hotel, Floriana, he justified himself by saying that the seaport was nearby.
Fares are calculated by the meter at €1.40 per kilometre for the first eight kilometres and €1 per kilometre afterwards, plus an initial fare of €3.50.
Passengers had the option to make a bargain
The road distance between Sliema and Valletta is approximately six kilometres, meaning the fare calculated by the meter would be around €12.
This newspaper conducted a similar exercise last November with the same results.
All 300 licensed white taxis were supposed to have new meters, tracking devices and CCTV cameras installed as part of reforms that came into force in November 2010.
The reforms were made by the previous Government in an effort to stamp out abuse in the industry.
The installation process was suspended last November when several drivers complained that the new equipment was causing their car batteries to go flat.
In February, supplier Alberta said it had modified the software used in the new equipment and installations would resume.
Questions sent on August 10 to Alberta and taxi regulator Transport Malta remained unanswered at the time of going to print.
Alfred Pace, of White Taxis Amalgamated, said passengers had the option to “make a bargain” with drivers and pay an upfront fare rather than have the fare calculated by the meter.
Asked if all 300 taxis now had the new meters, CCTV cameras and tracking devices, Mr Pace said some problems persisted with the equipment and the association was in discussions with the regulator and supplier to rectify them.
One of the purposes of the new equipment was to help Transport Malta better monitor which taxis were not following regulations.
Transport Malta was financing the installations of new equipment through a grant of €3,316 to the owners of white taxis that existed before November 1, 2010.
Owners of the 50 white taxi licences granted since November 1, 2010, had to pay for the equipment themselves.
This newspaper had asked Transport Malta how many drivers it had caught carrying passengers without turning on their meter this year, among other things.
In April, a taxi driver who failed to switch on the meter in 2009 was fined €2,000 and had his licence suspended for six months. His car was confiscated for a month and three penalty points were deducted from his driving licence.
Private hire firms do not need to have meters installed. They operate on a pre-booked basis and their fares are not regulated by Transport Malta.