Prague Taxi Services

The court of Prague 1 have decided yesterday, the company Sedop doesn’t have to leave its position on Old Town square. The City Hall gave Sedop a notice to quit two years ago, from the reason of overpricing the fares. This is the second time of a lawsuit for the overpriced fares in Prague, and the second time when the City Hall lost.

The court gave the driver the truth, when he has chosen to overprice the fares. So Sedop will not only stay at the Old town square, but they can even request compensation of damages, which were caused by the lawsuit. The speaker of Sedop said: “The City hall cannot say, how much we charge our customers. The customers can choose, how much they want to pay.” City hall have appealed from the judgment.

Prague municipal authorities want to guarantee that if you take a taxi on places marked with a sign “FAIR PLACE” and a dumb-up image you’ll get a fair price and the journey will be safe.

By the end of this week 49 out of 121 taxi stands will be marked with this sign. The municipal authorities will make sure that taxi services at these stand will be permanently good.

As a part of a new campaign, that should improve the situation with overpriced taxis in the capital, there are also 100,000 leaflets printed in 7 languages informing travellers about their rights regarding taxi services. The leaflets will be available in Prague’s hotels, railway stations and the airport.

If you take a taxi on the Old Town Square in Prague, the taxi drivers will charge you 28 CZK per kilometer, even though a few weeks ago you would pay 99 CZK. Many Prague’s taxi drivers decided to cease their protest against the pricing policy of the Prague’s municipal authorities.

The Prague’s municipal authorities issued an edict valid from the beginning of January that Prague’s taxi drivers cannot charge more than 28 CZK per kilometer. Many taxi drivers were demonstrating against such an edict. They find it discriminating. The lawsuit between them and the municipal authorities has lasted for more than one year now.

Pavel Jelinek, the chairman of the trade union Taxi Praha claims that Prague municipal authorities does not act legally when they take away taxi licences. He gives an example that Prague’s municipal authorities took away licences from nine taxi drivers but the Ministry of Transport gave them back.

A small war broke out between some Prague’s taxi drivers and the municipal authorities. The taxi drivers now filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The taxi drivers claim that the situation when the municipal authorities dictate the price the taxi drivers can charge is discriminating. Taxi drivers in Prague are allowed to charge maximum of 28 CZK per kilometer. Otherwise they can lose their licence.

“Present edict forces the taxi drivers either rip off their customers or work 16 hours a day. That’s what we want to change,” said the representative of the labour union. One of the taxi drivers began a hunger strike yesterday.

The Deputy of the Lord Mayer, Marketa Reedova, expressed her shock that some taxi drivers claim that 100 CZK per kilometer is normal. Reedova had a conflict with one of the taxi drivers in December last year.

Few days ago the Czech newspaper Mlada Fronda DNES published an article about some Prague’s taxi drivers cheating their customers. The journalists, who pretended to be foreign visitors of the Czech capital, found out that six taxi drivers out of ten overcharged their services. MF DNES also offered some advice for people taking a taxi in Prague.

Yesterday at 2 p.m. hundreds of taxi drivers in their cars protested against the article in front of the publishing house of the newspaper in Radlicka street near Andel. They totally blocked the main road. They wanted to show their disagreement with the article and they asked an apology. They claim that not everybody is cheating.

The editor-in-chief Robert Casensky defended his employees by saying the journalist revealed really scandalous cases that damage the good reputation of Prague and the Czech Republic. They are going to continue the checks of Prague’s taxi drivers.

We already wrote about the bad experience of foreign tourists with Prague taxi drivers who damage the reputation of the city. Many taxi drivers, especially in the centre, charge much more than they should or they give you a receipt that does not have all the essentials. Czech newspaper MF Dnes brings advice what to do when taking a taxi in Prague.

• Instead of taking a taxi on the street, use the marked taxi station or order a taxi by phone and ask the name and number of the driver.
• When getting in the car, you can write down the registration number and the number on the door. If the drivers reacts negatively, leave the car.
• The maximum rate in Prague in 28 CZK/km. Be also careful at the chancing rate of some taxi drivers – you pay more in Euros then in Czech currency. Current exchange rate is about 28 CZK per EUR. After getting in the car, ask the driver about the approximate cost.
• Check the taximeter whether it is working. If you think that you have to pay too much, check the receipt, whether the driver charged you the standard tariff.
• Make sure that the receipt contains personal details of the driver. If the driver refuses to give you the receipt, make sure you know the registration number and the number on the door.

A sad incident happened at the end of the last week when a foreign tourist refused to continue the journey in a taxi after she had seen on the taxi-meter that she had to pay 128 CZK for 300 meters. The taxi driver was rude to her and demanded the money.

Accidentally, the Deputy of Lord Mayer passed by. She backed the tourist up. According to her, the taxi driver breaks the edict that says that the maximum rate is 25 CZK/per kilometer. Drivers that overcharge, sometimes even several times, are fined by the municipal authorities. However, the drivers lodge an appeal and the cases last long. The warning against bad behaviour and high prices of Prague taxi drivers is even in foreign tourist guidebooks.

The municipal authorities want to change the road law so that taxi drivers can be punished easily. Also in Old Town Square taxi drivers with the rate of only 28 CZK per kilometer will stand from 1st January. They should be a good competition to the overcharged taxi drivers.

Taking a taxi in Prague will be probably more expensive from January next year. One kilometer will cost 28 CZK instead of present 25 CZK. One minute of waiting will cost 6 CZK instead of 5 CZK.

The present rates have been valid since July 2004. The city council decided to increase the prices but at the same time increase the quality of services. Taxi drivers will have to wear pleasant clothes, not to smoke or bother other people with loud music. They will have to use only cars with air conditioning and not more than 8 years old. There will be only one colour – yellow – for all taxi cabs in Prague.

Also the reputation of Prague’s taxi drivers should get better. There are about 15 percent of taxi drivers in Prague who charge more than they should (in contrast to 65 percent in 2002). The Lord Mayer promises further improvements. Overcharge or not giving the receipt will be considered as the breach of the law and can lead to very high penalties or losing the licence.

Czech newspapers MF Dnes compared costs of taxi services in European capital cities. The cost was counted to average salary in country where measures were made.

The results are not very friendly for Czech people. The ride for average salary would be 762 kilometers long. Average salary of Spaniard is enough for 1733 km of taxi ride in Madrid. The ride in Paris and Vienna is for inhabitant 1864 km long. And Berlin offer for average German salary 2730 km long ride. More expensive taxis are in Slovakia when costs aren’t limited.

On the other hand, taxi Prague drivers says that they have more expensive input. And Prague City hall wants more required equipment for taxi.

Problems with overpriced Prague taxi are decreasing, but you can still met some cheater. Travellers should know that Prague has maximum costs of taxi service and each taxi driver has to give a ticket to passenger after ride. Now taxi drivers and companies will have more duties.

Most important is that maximum costs will be higher for a little.
Lump sum will be 40 crowns, one kilometer costs 28 crowns and a one minute of waiting will be 6 crowns. The changes starts with year 2007. Now the costs are 34 crowns of fixed rate, 25 crowns for a kilometer and 5 crowns costs one minute of waiting.
No taxi driver in Prague can want more.

Next change is that Prague will allow to drivers to wait at city taxi posts only if cars would accept Prague’s requirements. Cars will have to be at least in lower class no older than eight years. They will have to have yellow color and air condition. This order starts in year 2009.

Here is a list of some Prague taxi services.