As taxi drivers clearly reject the replacement of state-regulated tariffs with free, or partially free market prices, they have sent a letter to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.

The letter, written by unions and economic players representing the majority of the Hungarian private taxi sector, was obtained by the Hungarian economic paper Vilaggazdasag, and was also sent to several ministers, including Antal Rogan, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, Marton Nagy, Minister of Economic Development, and Gergely Gulyas, who serves PM Orban’s office chief.

Taxi drivers consistently and firmly insist on fixed tariffs and voice this demand absolutely clearly at every possible forum, because the regulation has had a beneficial effect in many areas since its introduction in 2013, the letter says.

Recently, there have been efforts seeking to replace fixed-price fares with free, or partially free market prices, the taxi drivers wrote, pointing out that this would destroy all the progress the taxi industry has achieved over the last ten years. Therefore, they appeal to PM Viktor Orban and the ministers to use all available means to support the sector in its clear aspiration to defend the state-regulated, fixed tariffs that are currently in place.