In two days time the public will have to fork out 50 cents more as the Fiji Taxi Union has revealed that come 6am Monday, when a taxi driver switches on his taxi metre it will start from $1.50 while after 10 at night it will start at $2.00.

Fiji Taxi Union General Secretary Rishi Ram said that while they are happy with the increase they still want to push ahead for a 70% fare increase.

Meanwhile, the other stakeholder in the transport industry, the Bus Operators Association is calling for the Government to think of the many people in society who rely on them for transportation.

The Association is calling on the government to look into alternative measures that will see no increase in bus fares.

Assistant Secretary, Viren Kewal said the Association has written to the Interim Finance Minister to explore the alternative measures which are Zero rating bus fares, restoring the grant at 20cents, Reducing Import duty on spare parts and Restoring tyre rebates.

Kewal said by removing the Vat component from bus fares, the fares can be held at current level. According to him, when Vat came into effect in 1992, Bus transport was classified as zero-rated for vat however the government decided to remove this zero rating in 1996 forgetting that the bus industry is the main means of transport is used by majority workers, school children, the poor and under-privileged.

The Association hopes the Mahendra Chaudhry will seriously consider the alternative measures to assist the poor.