Taxi fee standards will be revised in an effort to address the difficulties in hailing a cab and drivers' complaints over low income, Beijing municipal authorities announced in plans on Tuesday.

According to the plans, released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, a base fee for taking a taxi will go up from 10 yuan (1.6 U.S. dollars) to 13 yuan to cover the initial 3 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the taxi fee per kilometer will rise to either 2.3 yuan or 2.6 yuan from the current 2 yuan after the initial 3 kilometers, according to the plan.

Beijing taxis currently charge an extra fee from 1 to 3 yuan, floated according to fuel prices, should the drive be further than 3 kilometers.

The new standard will charge an extra fee of 1 yuan for the whole journey, according to the plan.

The plan will be discussed at a public hearing on May 23 before its implementation.

Beijing is home to 252 taxi operators and 1,157 individual cab drivers that collectively run 66,646 vehicles, carrying about 700 million passengers annually or accounting for 6.6 percent of the city's transport. Endi

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