Despite the continuous increases, a taxi group said it won’t pass the additional costs to their passengers.
From $4.65 last week, the price of Mobil’s regular gasoline went up to $4.75 at 10 a.m. yesterday. Its premium gas went up from $4.97 to $5.07.
The price for full service is 13 cents higher while diesel price went up from $5.11 to$5.21.
This is the seventh time gas prices have increased this year.
Raby Syed, president of the Saipan City Taxi Association, told Variety that no matter how many times the gasoline price increases, they won’t increase their fare.
Syed, who has been driving a taxi on island for more than 10 years now, said their flag down remains $2.50 and the charge for every quarter mile is still 75 cents. This has been the fare despite the gas hikes over the past few years.
He said gas price increases affect everybody on island, so it is not a good idea to increase their fare.
But the price hike also means less income to taxi drivers, he added.
Syed said they plan to conduct a six-month survey on the impact of the gas price increase on people from all walks of life.
