The Minister of Transportation, William Camargo, expressed the enormous possibility that the rate of the taxi service in Colombia will increase.
This is in relation to the increase that has been seen in recent weeks in the price of gasoline, according to the ministry.
Implementing a dynamic rate for the taxi service is an initiative that is being analyzed by the Ministry of Transportation and that would seek to improve competition in relation to digital platforms.
Position of the taxi drivers union in Cali:
“The taxi drivers’ union does not agree with a dynamic rate or with an increase in services. What we are asking the government for is a differential rate in fuel prices, it was a commitment from the authorities,” said Óscar Enrique Villegas, leader of the taxi drivers in Cali.
The drivers of the yellows in the capital of Valle del Cauca rejected what Minister William Camargo said and asked the National Government and the president, Gustavo Petro, to comply with the campaign proposal to implement “differential rates” for taxi drivers for the supply of gas.
This situation led to the taxi union announcing a national strike for August 9.
“We were in a meeting with the minister last Friday, July 7, where the two proposals he made for the increase in gasoline left us very concerned. From La Mancha amarilla we are conducting a survey with the union and this survey, most of the colleagues at the national level at this time do not agree with this dynamic rate or with this rate increase, because they say that in some way the transport Illegal has been affecting us too much due to the issue of prices”, said Johnny Rangel, leader of the yellow spot.
Given:
The minimum race in Cali currently stands at $5,400; on weekends and holidays there is a surcharge of $1,500.
What does the Ministry of Mobility in the capital of the Valley say about it?
“I think it is in line with what is developing in the market today. They are not inventing anything new, dynamic rates exist in other systems. Therefore, it could be a tool to also implement in the taxi-type public transportation system,” argued Cali’s Mobility Secretary, William Vallejo, agreeing with the measure.
Response from the National Government:
The Vice Minister of Transportation, Carlos Enríquez Caicedo, faced with this threat of unemployment by taxi drivers in Colombia, proposed an invitation to this union.
The idea is that they share a dialogue table to advance in the solution of their requests, instead of affecting the country’s economy by mobilizing the sector.
“As a National Government we are respectful of the mobilization. But what we tell them (to the taxi drivers’ union) is ‘let’s get ahead of the facts’ because, in general, these mobilizations end up in dialogue tables. The invitation is: ‘let’s sit down now and avoid affecting the country’s economy,’ said Enríquez Caicedo.
The vice-minister recalled that the Government has had a good dialogue with the taxi driver sector with which a 17-point agreement was signed, among which there are two that are the ones that motivate the call for a strike in the sector.
“The sensitive points are the preferential rates for the price of gasoline and the issue of illegality in the sector. In front of both we have been advancing in a positive way and we have talked about them honestly over the table, ”he added.
“Next July 20, the Government will present the draft Penalty Regime and the National Traffic Code for consideration by Congress, which includes other requests from the taxi drivers’ union, but we seek from them to have the channels to socialize them and work together to find the solutions”, he added.
“The last mobilization of the sector was on February 22 and today we tell you that progress has been made; that the Government has achieved results and that we regret that their decision is to stop again”, closed Enríquez Caicedo.