THE shiny new imported taxis with set fares that have hit Yangon streets are getting a mixed reception from cabbies and passengers.

“I’m happy something like this has been introduced here,” said one taxi driver waiting for customers downtown. “It’s good for the country. This is just the start of great things to come.”

Local riders welcome the cheaper fares, and expats are glad to avoid being overcharged. But many sympathise with private cabbies who worry the new taxis could hurt their business.

“Even now there are so many cars on the road that it’s hard to compete,” said U Soe Moe, who supports a wife and two kids driving a taxi. “If ever more come in at a cheaper price, it’ll be very hard to make a living.”

On July 23, the Yangon-based Bandoola Trans-portation Company started running new Hyundais as set-rate cabs. They charge K500 at the start of a trip, plus K100 a mile, regard-less of the number of passengers. That’s about half the price of a standard cab fare.

After renting their car for the day and buying petrol, most Yangon cabbies start each day about K13,000 down. They depend on the fares they negotiate for each ride to make their money back and maybe scratch out a profit.

Typical cabs charge K2500 from downtown Sule Pagoda to Eight Mile along Pyay Road. The new set-fare cabs charge K1300 for the same trip.
Local passengers welcomed the cheaper rates.

“If I could pay K1000 I’d probably take taxis much more often than I do now,” said Dagon University student Ko Han Zaw Oo, as he waited for a bus downtown. “For the passengers it’s great, but for the existing taxi drivers it’s not so great.”

Expatriates said they’re happy to avoid the hassle of negotiating and getting ripped off.

“Foreigners won’t have to pay more just because they don’t know the actual price,” said Aline Stucki, a Swiss travel agent who has lived in Yangon for one year.

She said her tourist clients would benefit, but she feels badly for regular taxi drivers. “I know it’s a struggle for them to survive,” she said.

Camila Vega, a Colom-bian who has lived in Yangon nine months, said the change is good if all taxi drivers have a chance to operate the new cars.

“I think it’s the best way to regulate taxi fees,” she said. “On a couple of occasions I’ve gotten into taxis with a Myanmar person inside, and the amount that they pay is much less than what I pay.”

The cars themselves are a stark contrast from most Yangon taxis. Bandoola Transportation’s cabs are imported from South Korea and run on compressed natural gas. They charge drivers K5000 a day for the vehicle.

The drivers are free to travel anywhere they want in the city, but they tend to congregate around the outlying universities where business is brisk, said Colonel Myo Myint, managing director of Bandoola Transportation.

There are 20 of the new cabs on the street so far, he said, but 30 more are waiting to be converted to run on CNG. Another 50 have been ordered from Korea, he said, but the company is waiting on permits from the Myanmar government to import them.

Bandoola Transportation also runs buses and pickups under the name “Parami”, the same name on the side of the new taxis.

Importing cars and converting them to CNG takes time, Col Myo Myint said, but he said eventually he would like to expand his taxi fleet.

Ma Aye Thein, a homemaker from Insein township, said she’d like to see more set-fare cabs on the road.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “The more they bring in the better.”