Shocking cases of “stung“ taxi drivers' customers in Croatia this summer have forced both the authorities and representatives of the sector to consider and take measures to resolve the situation, BTA reported.
The liberalization of the sector since 2018, which aimed at more accessible and profitable services for citizens and tourists, has increasingly led to dissatisfaction, fraud and completely uncontrolled prices, especially during the tourist season, notes the Croatian national television HRT.
The Croatian media is full of examples of citizens who have been deceived by taxi services, but the case of a New Zealand tourist who paid over 1,500 euros for a little more than a kilometer of taxi travel in Zagreb has become emblematic.
The shocking prices for taxi services that have emerged have raised the question of regulating taxi transport. The government has been talking about legislative amendments that should bring order.
The Croatian news website Index wrote that the cabinet intends to limit taxi prices by amending the Road Transport Act, but the details are not yet known.
Minister of Transport Oleg Butković stressed the need for a balance: “On the one hand, we need to protect passengers from excessively high prices, but at the same time, the price should not be such that no one wants to take a taxi anymore.“
The current law has been in force since 2018. Its aim was to liberalize the market, which initially brought a number of positive changes.
Liberalization has enabled a wider range of consumers to use taxi services, but liberalization also has a negative effect - there is no maximum price limit for the service, and then the opportunity for such fraud appears, says Marko Šoštarič, dean of the Faculty of Transport Sciences at the Zagreb University university.
According to Željko Bandić, who is the chairman of the Taxi Operators Section of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Crafts (HOK), last year over 400 signals were filed with the Croatian State Inspectorate.
“We are also in favor of a minimum price that ensures profitability. We are looking for a comprehensive solution to the problem, not just cosmetic changes. We have a situation in which the 2018 law has been amended three to four times. This means that the law is very bad“, Bandić added.
The Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Crafts announced that they are insisting that taxi driver representatives participate in the process of drafting amendments to the Road Transport Act. Among the proposed changes is the setting of a maximum price for taxi transportation per kilometer. According to the chamber, this will avoid paying unrealistic prices for the service, which has become possible thanks to regulations according to which each taxi driver determines the price of his service.
In addition, legal regulation should be discussed in connection with the emergence of dumping prices, i.e. the emergence of unfair competition, the chamber said in a statement published on its website.
Tomislav Mihovic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, said that discussions on changes to the legal framework will begin after the end of the tourist season, with both users of the service and providers participating in the discussions.
The implementation of the promised reforms to restore order and trust in taxi transport in Croatia will certainly be closely monitored by the public, as the sector is extremely important both for the daily lives of Croatians and for tourism in the country, which accounts for about 20 percent of the Croatian economy, and the country is striving to become a year-round tourist destination.