The customers of service taxis between Irbid and Amman complained Sunday about instances wherein drivers forcibly charge passengers the fare of the fourth passenger seat to compensate for capacity differences.

The seat capacity in public transport was raised to 75 percent as one of the government's mitigating measures for economic sectors within the first stage of reopening sectors, after it was reduced at the height of the coronavirus crisis to 50 percent to prevent the virus from spreading in the country.

A citizen identified as Haneen Abu Al-Haijaa, who works in a money exchange shop in Amman, said that she uses service taxis, having to go back and forth between Irbid and Amman on a daily basis. She noted she suffers from the financial burden that service drivers pose when they charge passengers the fare of the fourth passenger to compensate for their payment loss.

Another service taxi user, Salim al-Omari, who commutes between Irbid and Amman daily, said that the cost of transport often reaches JD 10 per day due to the continued violation of fares, stressing that the fare is usually four JDs, and in the evening and night hours it reaches six JDs.

Omari called for tightening controls over public transportation that violates the official tariff for passenger transport wages, stressing that citizens bear the cost of reviving the transport sector.

In turn, the head of the Public Car Owners Union, Ahmed Abu Haidar, said that a number of drivers of public service cars are raising transportation fees to compensate for their loss as a result of the application of the defense orders related to seat capacity in light of the pandemic.

He added that the union called on the government to raise public transportation fees due to the high prices of oil derivatives, and also demanded the return of seat capacity to what it was before the coronavirus crisis.

In its response to citizens' complaints, the Land Transport Regulatory Authority said that it is closely following up the observations and complaints of passengers regarding unlawful increase of fares within public transport services, stressing that it and the Traffic Department are monitoring the compliance of the means of transport with the legislation governing their work, especially with regard to the tariff of transport fees.

The authority necessitated the need for public transportation to comply with defense orders, and health and safety measures related to the pandemic, foremost of which are seat capacity and social distancing.