Taxi fares in Taipei City are expected to increase soon, possibly in November, the citys Department of Transportation said on Thursday.

With oil prices continuing to climb, the citys Taxi Union and other taxi associations sent three fare hike proposals to the Public Business Fare Review Committee.

A decision will be made in November, the department said.

Yeh Tzu-chuen （葉梓銓）, a department section chief, said the associations first proposal was to raise the flag fall rate from NT$70 to NT$100 and keep metered fares as they are. The second was to raise the flag fall to NT$90 and shorten the distance before the meter starts ticking after flag fall from 1.5 to 1.3 kilometers and the following increments from 300 to 250 meters.

The third proposal was for night-time fares to apply around the clock. That would result in a fare increase of approximately 20 percent.

Yeh said the city government would hold talks next month on a new fare policy with taxi associations in Taipei City, Taipei County, Keelung, Taoyuan County and Yilan County.

Once a fare proposal is agreed upon, it will be sent to the city government for approval, which is likely to be some time in November, Yeh said.

"As the price of gas keeps increasing, a hike in taxi fares is inevitable," he said.

Taipei taxi fares were last adjusted on December 1, 2000. The city government considered raising the flag fall rate by as much as NT$25 last year, but in the end decided to reduce the vehicle license tax and the fuel tax instead.

The government grants taxi drivers a subsidy of NT$2 per liter of fuel, up to a maximum of 550 liters per month.