New taxi meter law delayed until April

Due to a lack of taxi meters in Guayaquil, the National Transit Agency (NTA) has extended the nationwide deadline for the installation of taxi meters until April 10. Previously, the NTA had set January 31 as the deadline.

Although acknowledging the meter shortage, the NTA blamed the taxi unions and owners for much of the delay. The agency said the unions and owners were using delay tactics to stall implemention of the law. “The lack of meters is only a small part of the problem,” an NTA spokesman said.

The union says that only 4,000 of Guayaquil’s 12,000 have meters and that vendor stock of meters is running low.

Last week, police began fining taxi drivers whose cabs lacked meters but the ticketing was called off Thursday due to negotiations between the NTA and taxi companies.

In Cuenca, the NTA said that implementation of the new law had been delayed until March 31 due to unconcluded fare schedule negotiations between the government and taxi drivers. It says that mid-April was the anticipated date of full implementation.