Taxi tariff war escalates in major Hungarian cities

Tariff wars between taxi companies in some Hungarian cities have escalated to a point where it is now cheaper to travel by taxi than by bus, writes news portal hirado.hu, based on a report in daily Népszabadság.

In the southern city of Szekszárd, one taxi company has introduced a fixed price, which means passengers can travel anywhere within the city for Ft 500. In response, another company set a fixed price of Ft 460, and a third offered to drive passengers anywhere within Szekszárd for Ft 350.

A similar tariff battle is going on in nearby Kaposvár and Pécs. In Kaposvár, one company offered to transport passengers for a fixed price of Ft 600, then three others offered a tariff of Ft 500. Finally, the first company won the war by lowering its price to Ft 488, while the others kept it at Ft 500.

Tariff wars have not yet started in eastern Hungary, but companies there are offering extra services to lure passengers. In Debrecen, taxi drivers will do shopping for passengers or run other errands.

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