Taxi Driver Online

This is mostly about opposition to a fare rise proposal (except for one councillor), but not clear from the article where the impetus for the proposal came from in the first place

Taxis in Dorking and Leatherhead could become most expensive in Surrey with 10% cap rise

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey ... e-15727545

Drivers say they do not want the maximum fare cap to go up because it could harm their livelihoods


Taxis outside Dorking main station (Image: Grahame Larter/Get Surrey)

Taxi drivers in Dorking and Leatherhead have raised concerns over a planned rise in the maximum fare which one councillor says could make Mole Valley the most expensive area for a cab in Surrey.

Mole Valley District Council's (MVDC's) overview and scrutiny committee discussed a proposed 10% rise in the maximum fare cap at a meeting on Tuesday, January 22.

Cabbies said they "already have enough problems" competing against app-based taxi firms such as Uber and that fares were already "too high", so they objected to the idea.

The objections were raised after MVDC's Hackney Carriage Consultative working group made the recommendations, following consultation with drivers.

In a joint objection letter sent in by 25 Dorking-based drivers and some from Leatherhead, one cabbie said: "If you increase fares too much or too quickly there is a risk you will end up doing even less work and earning less despite charging the higher fares."

The cap is designed to protect customers from being overcharged and while drivers do not have to charge the maximum fare, there are concerns it would create confusion if some charged more than others.

The objection letter stated: "People may think some drivers are overcharging them or ripping them off as this could lead to an increase in distrust and have a detrimental effect on trade."

Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Lib Dem member for Dorking South, said: "It seems to me that what we are doing is increasing the fares that residents have to pay by 10% and creating a situation where, if not the highest, certainly almost the highest, fares in all of Surrey are going to be imposed in Mole Valley. And there needs to be a good reason why that is the case.

"We are inflicting on our residents a very significant increase at a time when many of them have money difficulties. But actually taxi drivers are saying no 'we don't want to do this because the nature of our business has changed'."

Cllr Paul Elderton, Lib Dem member for Dorking North, said the council is not setting a fare, but setting a maximum fare and he had made it clear to drivers "they do not have to charge the maximum fare".

He said: "The maximum fare protects the consumer; in other words the customer is not going to be paying more than the maximum fare we set."

He said drivers may negotiate fares "more often than in the past" and that rates had not been increased for a number of years so addressing the increase in inflation had been "neglected".

The Hackney Carriage working group, which includes five drivers, will now meet every year to discuss charging.

The recommendations will be put to cabinet next month for approval.

Must all be earning too much money.

If one or two drivers object then you may think it is someone who doesn't need the money or loves doing cheap work, but when 25 drivers object this does need looking at.

And as for all those words about maximum fares subject to negotiation, well that may be the legal case but if someone wanted to negotiate a local fare with me, and I suspect most of my hackney friends, they would be given two choices, meter rate or walk.

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IDFIMH

Well that's the thing - here, certainly, discounting on the longer fares is the norm. But every driver has a different idea about what *local* means.

I mean, potentially highest metered fare within the Fife boundary here is pushing £200

(Late night on Christmas day, Hogmanay etc.)

I would say the biggest meter fare, on a normal day, from one end of the area to the other is £30, and I would guarantee that no one working on a circuit, or on a rank, would discount any cash job within the area.

It's just doesn't happen.

Outside of the area, particularly to the airports, circuits discount.

But I would say at least 90% of the rank work going out of town is via the meter.

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IDFIMH

Ignoring the Christmas rates, in Fife I suspect you could squeeze a 50-mile straight-line trip within the county boundaries, in theory at least.

That would meter at about £150 on the normal Rate 2.

Doubt if many drivers would refuse an offer of less than £100 from the rank, and suspect circuits broadly similar.

Rock bottom would be about half the metered rate, I suspect. That would be about £1.50 per mile, which nationwide I doubt would be particularly low for a 50-mile run.

Not much discounting here on the 1-mile jobs round town though, although some drivers do it for regulars, especially on Rate 2.

But in general, the further the journey, the more likely drivers are to discount and the higher the percentage discount, which I suspect is generally the principle everywhere.