From 1st Jan 2008, passengers have to pay 1 yuan additional as petroleum¹ fee while taking a taxi in Hangzhou city proper. According to the publicized notice issued by Hangzhou Pricing Bureau, the fuel surcharge is charged by all taxies running in the city proper (excl. two suburb districts Xiaoshan and Yuhang) due to the integrated petroleum price system for all taxies.

　　Established and implemented² since last May, the integrated petroleum price system ensures that once the unleaded petroleum (No. 97) is over 5.10 yuan per litre for continuous two months and over, the urban taxi association can submit the application for approval from the municipal pricing bureau and the transportation bureau to charge 1 yuan as petroleum fee. This will be terminated when the price of No. 97 petroleum decreases below 5.10/L for continuous two months.

　　From 1st Nov 2007, the price of No. 97 petroleum increased from 4.95/L to 5.41/L. According to estimation of the relevant authorities, the actual monthly income for taxi drivers decreased by 12% from 5,701 yuan in Feb. 2007 to 5,018 yuan. Though the government has issued a one-off petroleum allowance, it doesn't solve the essential problem of the increasing costs.

　　The integrated petroleum price system was officially implemented from 2006. From the midnight of 1st Aug. 2006, as the price of the petroleum was raised for two months, all taxies running in the city proper were entitled to charge extra 1 yuan from the passengers, until 15th Mar³ 2007.

　　However, as pointed⁴ out by the pricing bureau, the fuel surcharge can only be used to absorb the increasing operational cost due to the increased petroleum price. It can't be used as a resource to generate profit, so any improper⁵ practices such as increasing rental⁶ fee, or administrations fee, or failure to notify approved prices, or failure to issue receipt, etc. will be punished by relevant authorities.