“I used to pay five bolívars to fill my tank — now it will be 200 or 300,” lamented Juan Olivera, a cabdriver. He said he would pass the additional cost on to customers, and worried that the increase could exacerbate inflation, already expected to be 720 percent this year. “Now everything will go up, and so will our crisis,” Mr. Olivera said.

Mr. Maduro took no joy in announcing the increases on national television this week. Gasoline subsidies are something few Venezuelan politicians have dared to touch. In 1989, there were riots when the government tried to raise gas prices.

This time, there were no signs of unrest in Caracas. There were long lines in the heat as drivers filled up on Thursday before the increase took effect, but many people interviewed said the move was actually too late — and too little.

“He should have gone even higher,” Alfredo Gallardo, an accountant, said of the president. “We should pay more — everyone.”

Mr. Gallardo, who drives a Toyota Yaris, recalled a recent trip to the pump where he paid “maybe five or six bolívars” to fill up with 91-octane gasoline, equivalent to about half a cent if traded on the streets here, where $1 fetches almost 1,000 bolívars.