A proposal to raise fares by 27 per cent was rejected, securing only five votes in favour, with three against and a notable nineteen abstentions.
At the same sitting, however, the assembly endorsed a motion tabled by Anna Szepesfalvy, leader of the Fidesz–KDNP group, calling on Mayor Gergely Karácsony to convene an extraordinary session. The aim would be to revisit taxi fares once the current cap on motor fuel prices is lifted and market rates rise above the protected threshold, the Hungarian News Agency wrote.
The fuel price cap was introduced by the Orbán government ahead of the 12 April general election, as global energy prices surged amid tensions linked to Donald Trump’s conflict with Iran and the resulting disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The outgoing administration set maximum prices at HUF 595 per litre for petrol and HUF 615 for diesel. The cap is expected to remain in place until at least 30 June, though Hungary’s new Minister for Energy and the Economy, István Kapitány, has suggested it could be extended into the second half of the year.
Photo: MTI/Zoltán Kocsis
Earlier reports indicated that taxi drivers had been preparing to blockade Budapest should the City Council approve plans to abolish fixed fares. Under the proposal, these would have been replaced by an algorithm-based pricing system. Drivers warned that such a move would expose passengers to what they described as the “opaque algorithms of global platforms”, with the risk of sharp price increases during peak periods or inclement weather.
Ambrus Kiss, Director-General of the City Council’s Office, told 24.hu that one of the taxi drivers’ unions had misunderstood the Budapest Transport Centre’s (BKK) proposal. He stressed that the document referred only in theoretical terms to the abolition of fixed pricing, and that the Council did not, in fact, vote on the matter at Friday’s session.
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