AMMAN — Three
months after a government pledge to disburse a transportation subsidy for
yellow and white taxi cab drivers, the matter remains hanging, said an official
with the Syndicate of
Owners of Taxi Offices, Internal and External Travel, and
Driving Training Centers.
اضافة اعلان
The syndicate’s
Vice President Mohammad Al-Hadid said the subsidy for taxis in the capital
Amman is the responsibility of the
Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), “which
announced that it does not currently have sufficient funds to disburse the
money”.
Hadid said that the
government made several suggestions to help the taxi drivers, such as raising
transportation fares. But he maintained that the suggestion was “rejected
because would further burden the pockets of Jordanians, and may lead to a
public reluctance to ride taxis”, he said.
Another option
suggested by the government was to exempt taxis from paying the GAM’s annual
taxi-licensing fee, which averages JD200. “This suggestion was rejected by the
syndicate too, since the fees are paid by the owner of the taxi, not the
driver,” he said.
“As we know, the
taxi driver is the one who bears the brunt of the raising fuel derivatives, and
other financial obligations, therefore the driver is the one who actually need
the support the most,” he pointed out.
Hadid noted that
some companies, especially those who buy the taxi and hire a driver to operate
it it as an investment, are excluded from the subsidy.
Taxi syndicate
President Ahmad Abu Haider said that his office came up with a solution that
might satisfy the government. The idea is to “postpone the subsidy till the
beginning of next year, provided that the drivers are paid” a subsidy in the
meantime.
GAM spokesperson
Nasser Rahamneh told
Jordan News that the municipality and the
government are working together to solve the issue “as soon as possible, and
that the solution will be announced soon”.
Ali, 55, a taxi
driver and father of four children and a military retiree, said the financial
conditions of taxi drivers has taken a sharp turn to the worse. “The current
circumstances are worse than ever,” he said, pointing to rise in oil
derivatives.
“We are hardly
making a piaster,” he told
Jordan News.
“With the daily
fees to the owner of the taxi and fuel expenses, what is left for us is
trivial. Sadly this profession is going to be ruined unless there is a serious
action taken by the government,” he noted.
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