The price of diesel and super gasoline has gone up by 15 per cent. Hence, diesel has risen by 22 cents and super by 41 cents per litre. And I guess it wouldn't be too long before we hear maxi and taxi operators attempt to justify increases in fares "by 15 per cent" because of the increase in fuel prices. But such increases would be totally unjustified.
Looking at the specs for a typical 12-seater maxi using diesel, the fuel consumption can vary from about 9 km/litre to 12 km/litre. For our purposes, we will use the easy figure of 10 km/litre. For a journey of 10 km, the maxi will use one litre of diesel. His increased fuel cost for that trip is just 22 cents. Shared among 12 passengers, that amounts to less than two cents per passenger.
If he is using "increased fuel cost" as the basis of his fare increase, he can justify an increase of two cents only! In general, he can justify an increase of two cents for every 10 km he drives. If, on average, his maxi is half-full, he can justify an increase of four cents for every 10 km. Anything more would be taking the public for a ride.
Noel Kalicharan