Taxi fares in Dubai and Sharjah affected by July petrol prices

Taxi fares in the UAE have created a massacre in the region as communities residing find it as opprobrium as the fares for public transport have bloated out of proportion. People consider travelling minute displacements on foot and for the reasonably long ones, on vehicles using alternative means of fuel. People aren’t furtive to admit that they have relinquished their travel expenditures over the past few months. 

Analysts and public in general have reckoned several determinants for the increase in taxi fares. The deregulation policy of oil in 2015 which stymied incentives followed by the immediate incessant demand after the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflagration present the leash that almost quadrupled the fuel prices in the UAE.

It’s most atrocious impact has been on the taxi fares in Dubai and Sharjah. While the base fare remains steady at AED 12 for taxis in Dubai, the taxi drivers reportedly confirm that the charge per Km has surmounted by over AED 0.2. 

When a client enquired about Careem rates, the ride-hailing service company commented that the rate per Km has been revised from AED 1.98 to AED 2.19 citing the fuel prices getting dearer. 

Withstanding a similar impact, the taxi fare in Sharjah will now set one back by AED 17.50 against the initial AED 13.50. Fares in Sharjah now commence from AED 7 and the minimum fare will now burn a hole in one’s pocket of AED 17.50. 

There has been a searing increase in bus fares of Sharjah from the minimum fare amount of AED 17 to AED 20, report users. They faced this issue post July 1. Despite the services getting costlier, the fares for Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram and the integrated marine system remain unchanged. 

Not just the Government endorsed public transport services, even Uber Technologies fares climb steeply by as much as eleven percent for some trips, it notified its customers through e-mail. 

The taxi fares are likely to change depending on the announcement by the UAE Fuel Price Committee which pronounces the rates for the upcoming month towards the end of the ongoing month. The petrol prices in the UAE for the month of July, 2022 stand at AED 4.44 for E-Plus 91, AED 4.52 for Special 95 and AED 4.63 for Super 98. If a similar bandwagon in business activities related to supply of crude oil continue, the taxi fares might be hiked further while if the supply increases following certain relaxations from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the fares might be restored to the previous levels.

The UAE can either increase its own supply of oil or sign dogma with other OPEC countries and others who mine and supply oil to provide the valuable resource at subsidised rates and volumes enough to impinge the prices from breaching unbearable levels. 

People are anticipated to use other intra-city services such as the Dubai Metro, Tram and Abra to save exorbitant expenses on fuel and may use bikes available outside the metro stations to cover minute distances. However, its feasibility remains a question which confronts the masses in such scalding and sultry weather conditions. That said, parsimonious people might be extremely tempted to opt for these cost-effective solutions until the situation doesn’t reverberate a brighter picture or at least something, which is apparent to the pre-COVID times where the fares would at the most, have a negligible impact as part of the regular business cycle fluctuations. However, gendering at the existing imbroglio, that time might still be some time away.