Fuel hikes put three wheel vehicle drivers in a fix

The price of 92 Octane petrol was raised to Rs 138/- per litre, an increase of Rs 3/-,by the Petroleum Corporation last week. However single owner scooter and taxi drivers (the vehicles mainly using this fuel) said that they would not raise fares in fear of losing customers.

The Chairman of All Island Three Wheel Drivers' and Owners' Association Sudhil Jayaruk said their membership was unable to compete with the foreign and local taxi companies which provide transport at lower costs as their vehicles used diesel fuel.

He said these companies provide offers and charge Rs 60/- for the first kilometre. He added the companies charged Rs 35/- for every additional km.

Mr Jayaruk said they were in discussion with government authorities to implement a government controlled taxi fare which covered all taxi services including taxi companies and single owner three wheeler drivers.

The President of another three-wheeled vehicle association explained that the taxi meter companies were reluctant to increase the prices every time the government decided to increase fuel prices.

Lalith Dharamasekara, president of the All- Island Three- wheeler Drivers' Association’s said their membership too would not be increasing the fare on their vehicles.

He too, added his membership faced difficulties in changing the increased costs via their metres, every time government raised the price of fuel, as the companies responsible for the meters were reluctant to attend to the changes on a monthly basis.

However the single owner three wheeled vehicle drivers who operate their vehicles as an occupation, said they cannot keep increasing the prices as passengers would decide to stop using three wheeled vehicles and change to other modes of transport.

He added that the three wheeled vehicle drivers who do not run hires were among the worst affected as they had no means of covering the increased fuel costs.

Chairman of the National Industrial Three Wheeler Drivers Association, Liyanage Rohana, said that they were unable to increase fares at a time when the economy of the country was badly hit in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bomb explosions.

“People don’t have money these days and if we increase our fare, we will surely loose our customers," he said.