Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (Rura) last year issued a directive obliging all taxi drivers to install automated metre readers, as a way to protect the users from unscrupulous operators.

However, the metres, which have been fitted into most of the taxis, commonly known as taxi-voiture are not being used, with the operators saying the prices prescribed by the metres are so low and would lead them into losses.

They prefer to negotiate with the client, as has always been the case. With the meter, the price is set at Rwf1,500 for the first three kilometers covered and Rwf500 for every extra kilometre.

"I have the metre but I will never use it because it would push me out of business,” said Antoine Munanira, a taxi operator from Amahoro Stadium Cooperative (Cotahama) operating near Amahoro Stadium in Remera.

"Through mutual consent, the minimum a passenger pays from the national stadium to the Kigali international Airport is Rwf5,000. The same distance can go for as low as Rwf1,500 when the metre is used,” Munanira added.

With the fees to access the Airport now increased to Rwf1,000, it does not make business sense if one was to drop a client who pays Rwf1,500 to the Airport.

The taxi-operators say these prices prescribed by the metre can only be afforded by those they call illegal operators, who do not pay public transport taxes to Rura.

"We cannot make any profit if we are to go with this price,” says Jean Claude Kabanda, the chairperson of Cotahama, the taxi operators association.

Same complaint at airport

Although considered "VIP”, by their counterparts around the city, taxi operators at Kigali International Airport said they also have the taxi-metres but hardly use them.

For them, the unit price is Rwf1,800 for the first three kilometres and Rwf 600 for every other kilometre.

"It does not make sense to go for Rwf 1,800 for a distance you can negotiate and get at least Rwf5,000,” said one of the members of Atak, the association of Airport operators who preferred  anonymity.

This driver who also once worked with the now defunct Kigali Taxi Service, which first introduced the meter system in the country, said they never use the system.

"Even passengers from abroad come with an idea of our prices and do not need to ask for taxi-meter,” he said.

Giving an example, he said a ride from the Airport to down town (11.45-kilometre distance) goes for Rwf 8,000 to 10,000 when they negotiate, while with the metre, it would be Rwf6, 800.

Justin Bashige, a city resident who regularly uses the taxi said; "I would never bother asking about the taxi-meter. I am used to negotiating and this is our culture here.”

When contacted, Emmanuel Asaba Katabarwa, the head of transport department in Rura said the prices were fair and they were set after consultation with several stakeholders.

He urged taxi operators to abide by the rules and give his institution time to tackle the illegal operators whom the drivers accuse of killing their business.

"Negotiation is still an option when a taxi has to wait for the passenger,” he said.