Venice’s infamous and expensive water taxis to be regulated
Anyone who feels they may have been ripped off at the hands of Venice’s water taxi drivers will be pleased to hear that the boats will soon be fitted with meters.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the city council has agreed a list of tariffs that will make the taxis “affordable for Venetians as well as rich tourists”; police have been told that the new measure will have to be enforced “rigorously”.
While the taxis represent the easiest way to get around the city’s famous waterways, fares are horrendously expensive; the Telegraph states that a one-way trip from the city’s St Mark’s Square to the airport would cost a single passenger more than GBP50.
Previous attempts to fit meters to the boats were not enforced after the city’s taxi drivers claimed it wuld make them too expensive. However, Venice’s mayor has vowed that the meters will “be much lower than they are now”. Operators, who the newspaper claims can earn in excess of £56,000 a year, are reported to be “unhappy” at the move.
