Just over 140 metered taxicabs wheel the
streets of Phnom Penh today, catering to an increasingly diverse group of
passengers.
But by
the end of June, Cambodia’s two biggest taxi companies will have more than 200
yellow and white cabs on the capital’s boulevards in what some have called a
slow phasing-out of Cambodia’s long-standing transportation traditions: tuk
tuks, moto dops and the occasional cyclo.
The
number of cabs could double within three years.
“We’re
going to push tuk tuks out of town,” Kong Sarath, a manager at Phnom Penh’s
Choice Meter Taxi, said yesterday.
“In the
next few years, business and investment will continue to grow here. This is
good for the taxi business. Businessmen ride in taxis.”
Korean-owned
Choice, which has 70 cabs, would add about 30 taxis next month and planned to
have a fleet of 200 by 2015, Kong Sarath said.
Only
four years ago, visitors to Cambodia either rented private cars or moved around
in open-aired modes of transport. Global Meter Taxi opened in 2008, followed a
year later by Choice.
Andre
Lim, chief executive and general manager of Chinese-owned Global, said his
company would add 28 cabs to its 72-strong fleet this month. Within the next
two years, he hopes to have 170 cabs on the road.
Motos
and tuk tuks were less and less competitive compared to taxis, Lim said.
“At the
moment, the price of tuk tuks is not cheap. So in the future, it will be
difficult for them to find customers. More people will take taxis,” he said.
Pho
Samnamg, 27, said that during his two years as a driver at Global, the customer
base had changed from businesspeople and airport arrivals to average
Cambodians.
“People
think taxi fares are high, but actually they’re nearly the same as tuk tuks,”
Pho Samnang said.
Global
fares begin at US$1 and $0.69 for additional kilometres. Tuk tuk rides often
cost passengers $2, although there is no standard charge.
Tuk tuk
drivers on the streets of Phnom Penh yester-day offered a gloomy vision for
their future.
The
increase in cabs has impacted on tuk tuk drivers’ wallets, particularly during
the hot season, which pushed the mercury past a humid 33 degrees Celsius
yesterday.
“At the
moment, its too hot and people switch to taxis, which are air-conditioned,”
31-year-old Pak Phanith, a tuk tuk driver who was parked near the NagaWorld
Casino yesterday, said.
Pak
Phanith has other worries as well. Gas prices continued to force him to raise
his fares, and he has heard rumours of government plans to rid the increasingly
crowded streets of tuk tuks.
Yit
Bunna, under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Transportation and Public
Works, but not speaking on behalf of the ministry, says safety and pollution concerns will promote
the use of taxis.
“I
believe taxis and buses will replace tuk tuks,” Yit Bunna said yesterday.
Don
Weinland
The
Phnom Penh Post
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