Taxi Driver Online

Unremarkable boilerplate article in the current climate, but not sure I really understand one part of this


West Oxfordshire District Council advised to push up taxi fares by up to 20 per cent

https://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/ ... nt-3843529

West Oxfordshire District Council is being advised to push up taxi fares by up to 20 per cent to allow drivers to cope with rising costs.

The council’s cabinet, the ruling group of Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green Party councillors, will decide on Wednesday, September 21 whether to implement an increase to the maximum charges that licensed Hackney carriages from towns including Witney, Woodstock, Chipping Norton and Burford can ask for.

More than 20 of the 105 drivers or operators licensed by the district signed the letter asking for the ability to charge more based on inflation and rising fuel costs with a 20 per cent rise described as “the absolute minimum we need to support our businesses”. They say the proposals have “the support of the majority of the trade”.

Council officers are backing the plans. The council's report read: “Since the last fare increase the cost of living, inflation and fuel prices have all increased, and as such the current Hackney carriage maximum tariffs no longer meet the licence holders’ costs.

“The process of setting a fare increase is complex and a balance needs to be struck between the legitimate aims of the taxi trade to maintain profitability in the face of increasing costs.”

If approved, the standard fare would jump from £2.40 to £5 but that would cover the whole of the first mile, something that currently comes out at £4.20.

A two-mile journey would go up to £7.20 from £6.20, a rise of 16 per cent, while a 10-mile journey would go up to £26.40 from £22.20, up just shy of 20 per cent.

Waiting time charges would go up by 50 per cent at 20p per 30 seconds. The same rate is currently charged for 45 seconds.

The night-time rate, which remains at 50 per cent extra, will now kick in at 10.30pm rather than 11pm with the 50 per cent uplift also applying to minibuses and six-seater vehicles at all times. Christmas and new year tariffs remain at double time, while the soiling charge is set to increase from £60 to £100.

The new charges, which would kick in from October 12, would reset the maximum threshold. Operators remain free to charge less if they wish to.

The new tariffs will be subject to a 14-day public consultation. If objections are received, the council’s cabinet must consider them within two months of implementation.

Not sure if the 'standard fare' is the flagfall, so it's increasing from £2.40 to £5?

But reads like it'll cover the first mile rather than a considerably shorter distance at present?

So flag increasing hugely, but to a degree that's alleviated by increasing the flagfall distance.

But for some shorter runs it would mean a 108% hike?

Should help reduce cherry picking.

That said I seldom do a job less than a mile.

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IDFIMH

The same article in another two outlets, but with different headlines. The first one in particular isn't good for the trade, because it uses a long trip with one of the biggest rises, and thus makes things look worse than they are. But at least it doesn't use the 'h' word

And if I'm right about the flagfall thing and the doubling in fares for some very short runs, then the headline could be a lot worse


10-mile journey up £4.20 as taxi fares look set to rise amid cost of living crisis

https://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/21 ... ng-crisis/

WEST Oxfordshire District Council is being advised to push up taxi fares by up to 20 per cent to allow drivers to cope with rising costs.


Push for taxi fares in Chipping Norton, Witney, Woodstock and more to go up as cost of living takes hold

https://www.oxfordshirelive.co.uk/news/ ... on-7590683

A two-mile journey could go up to £7.20 from £6.20

Curiosity got the better of me and had a look for the official papers, which for a change were actually quite easy to find

https://meetings.westoxon.gov.uk/docume ... t.pdf?T=10
(From page 13)

And indeed it does look like the flagfall is going up from £2.40 to £5.00

But of course the flagfall distance is being increased to a mile. And on the old tariff there's no flagfall distance at all, and the meter starts clicking up after each tenth of a mile. So there won't be many runs rising by 108%, but there will surely be a few rising from £3 (say) to £5

Unsurprisingly, both the trade and the council brush over all that, and just give the change in the fare for the one-mile run and upwards, which of course doesn't look as bad as the very short runs.

But what a load of nonsense some of these people speak. I mean, the trade's submission says:


Then they propose:




They also claim that the submission is the view of the 'majority' of the HC trade, but according to the council little more than 10 percent of the trade signed the submission