Taxi Driver Online

No taxi price hike planned in Perth and Kinross

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/loca ... d-12930325

Perth and Kinross Council decision made at licensing committee

There will be no increase in taxi fares in Perth and Kinross until 2019 at least after a decision was made at a licensing committee meeting last week.

The meeting, held on Thursday, July 12, concluded that the current charges, which have been in force since April 2017, will remain due to low responses from Perth and Kinross taxi companies.

In accordance with the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 a review was carried out in May 2018 and all individual taxi operators and organisations representing, or appearing to be, representative of the operators of taxis in Perth and Kinross were invited to put forward their proposals.

A council report said: “Letters were sent to 107 taxi operators, 81 private hire vehicle operators with meters fitted and organisations. Fourteen replies were received.

“Two of those who responded wished the fares to remain unchanged, 10 wished the fares to be increased, one suggested a change to the tariff times and one wished the soiling charge to be increased.

“In light of the extremely low response rate from the taxi trade to the consultation, it is proposed that the scale of fares and existing tariffs remain unchanged. This would have the effect of continuing fares where there is a meter in place at the present levels until a further review is carried out in summer 2019.”

In line with the legislation, the council is required to review its scale of fares and other charges for the hire of taxis at intervals not exceeding 18 months.

At present the council operates a three tariff system. These provide for increasing rates from tariff one to tariff three.

Tariff one applies from 6.30am-11pm with a £3 charge for the first 880 yards and a 10p charge for every 110 yards thereafter.

Tariff two applies between 11pm-6.30am with a £3.80 charge for the first 880 yards and a 10p charge for every 88 yards thereafter.

And tariff three applies on December 24,25,26,31 and January 1 and 2 with a £4.50 charge for the first 880 yards and 10p charge every 74 yards thereafter.

The meeting proposed that the scale of the fares could be advertised in the local press and that interested parties are invited to respond within one month of the advertisement.

These responses would then be considered at the licensing committee meeting on August 23, 2018.

Also that if no representations are received, the scale of fares and existing tariffs remain unchanged.

However, the final recommendation was to keep fares the same with a review next summer.

Can't really complain about the non increase when you have such a p*** poor response.

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IDFIMH

I thought fourteen responses was quite good, actually.

The last Fife increases seemed to be based on around half a dozen responses.

Although to be fair I doubt if there was anything like the 200 or so consultation letters that seemed to be sent out in Perth and Kinross.

But is it that hard for someone to go up and down the ranks to get drivers to sign a petition for an increase or not as the case may be?

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IDFIMH

This is why a decent taxi association that listens to its members is so vital.

Aberdeenshire taxi fares to remain the same after only two firms respond to consultation

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/new ... sultation/

Council officers have recommended that taxi fares in Aberdeenshire remain the same after a consultation attracted just two responses.

Letters were sent to 179 taxi operators in the region in May, asking for their views on a change of the fare scale.

Within the allotted month, only two responses were received by Aberdeenshire Council – one in favour of raising fares and another advocating that they stay the same.

The current fares, set in 2015, costs passengers, between 6am and 10pm on weekdays, £2.60 for the first 880 yards and a further 20p for every 11th of a mile thereafter.

The price of the first 880 yards goes up to £3.60 between 10pm and 6am and up to £3.90 at festive periods, with passengers charged an extra 10p per eleventh of a mile at Christmas.

In a report to the council’s licensing sub-committee, officers have recommended that the pay scale remain the same, due to the lack of engagement.

The report reads: “Given that the vast majority of operators have made no response to the consultation document, it is recommended that the licensing sub-committee agrees that the current fare scale remain in place.”

Officers have, however, recommended that the fare hike over the festive period be extended to include January 3.

According to the report, an alternative change made to the price of taxi fares would extend the process into the end of the year.

It said: “If the sub-committee agrees to alternative changes to the fare scale, this will require further consultation that will delay implementation until December 2018 or January 2019.”

If the proposals are passed at the licensing sub-committee meeting next week, operators will be given the right to appeal until September 7.

Following that the fare scale will be implemented on October 1.

Our last review was in 2014 when I ran the association. Since then no one seems capable of doing it. I have even said that I will do the calculations for them and the Council have said that they are waiting to receive a request.

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Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5

Were any drivers asked if they'd like a pay rise ?

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IDFIMH

In Scotland taxi operator's are the taxi owners, unlike down here where they are the taxi/PH firms.

_________________
IDFIMH

Yes, and in my opinion the process places too much emphasis on taxi operators, ie taxi plateholders.

So there's no reference early in the process to:

- a despatch operation with 200 cars, say. Unless, of course, they happen to have a taxi plate.

- taxi drivers who don't have a plate. Recall the plateholders in Aberdeen who lived abroad, and were highlighted in a piece recently. Well they'll be part of the process, but any of their drivers would have no say.

- PH drivers and owners. In many locations they have meters fitted and charge the taxi tariff, but no input into the process.

To be fair any of the above can make representation once the proposed new tariff (or freeze) has been published in the press, but at that point they've no more rights than any member of the public.

Seems that despite only two responses to the consultation someone appealed to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner under the fares appeal process, which has further delayed implementation of the, er, freeze.

Unfortunately the piece is as clear as mud and it's not clear whether the Traffic Commissioner has yet to hear the appeal, or perhaps has already dismissed it for whatever reason - perhaps because of a lack of support, which is one of the grounds for rejecting an appeal.

But the report makes it sound like the implementation of the minor changes have just been put back a bit, which I suspect wouldn't be the case if the Commissioner intended having a hearing into the appeal - that would take some time, and I doubt if it would be done and dusted one month after the appeal was lodged.

Or if the Commissioner has already heard an appeal and endorsed the freeze then that isn't clear from the piece.

Aberdeenshire taxi fares to remain the same despite appeal

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/new ... te-appeal/

Taxi fares in Aberdeenshire will remain the same despite an appeal being lodged against the move.

Letters were sent to 179 taxi operators in the region in May, asking for their views on a change to the fare scale.

Within the allotted month, only two responses were received by Aberdeenshire Council – one in favour of raising fares and another saying they should stay the same.

Council officers recommended the current pay scale remain the same due to the lack of engagement, but suggested a couple of minor changes, with an implementation date of October 1.

However, a new report to the local authority’s licensing sub-committee, said it had received notice from the Traffic Commissioner on September 5 that a member of the trade had indicated an intention to appeal against the process.

The report added: “As the implementation process had to be suspended until the appeal has been dealt with, there was insufficient time to notify relevant parties of the revised fare scale in time for October 1.

“Accordingly, implementation has been pushed back to November 1, to allow the trade to put the required measures in place to comply with the revised fare scale.”

The fares, set in 2015, cost passengers between 6am and 10pm on weekdays £2.60 for the first 880 yards and a further 20p for every eleventh of a mile thereafter.

The price of the first 880 yards goes up to £3.60 between 10pm and 6am and up to £3.90 at festive periods, with passengers charged an extra 10p per eleventh of a mile at Christmas.

Officers put forward that the fare hike over festive period be extended to include January 3 and that credit/debit card charges be dropped in line with changes to the law.

Members of the local authority’s licensing sub-committee will consider the report when they meet on Friday.

Looks like what is effectively no change to fares has finally gone through in Aberdeenshire. But interesting how two different newspapers portray much the same thing, in particular the two different headlines.

Second piece doesn't even mention that fares have been frozen on 363 days of the year.


No changes to standard taxi fare rates say north-east council

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/new ... t-council/

A north-east council has announced there will be no changes to standard rates for taxi fares following a review.

Aberdeenshire Council has revealed there will be no changes to standard rates, £2.60, other than late night charges, £3.60, applying on two additional days of the year.

Fares have to be reviewed every 18 months and the council’s licensing sub-committee decided after the most recent review to make only minimal changes.

Rates remain the same, other than to make the late night fare apply throughout the day on January 3 and the May Day public holiday.

The revised fare scale comes into force from November 1.

Charges for the use of debit/credit cards will also be removed from this date.

Taxi operators were asked for their views as part of the most recent review prior to the decision by the committee.


Taxi fares to increase in Aberdeenshire

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... deenshire/

Taxi passengers will pay premium fares on two additional days a year following a review in Aberdeenshire.

The council’s licensing sub-committee has agreed that late night charges will apply all day on January 3 and on May Day.

This means that instead of paying the normal £2.60 fee up to the first half a mile of any journey, passengers will instead pay £3.60.

They will then pay 20p for every eleventh of a mile thereafter.

Charges for debit and credit card payments will be scrapped.

Fares have to be reviewed every 18 months.

They never ask the drivers round here either, all fare correspondance goes to the operators and not the drivers. You can imagine what the repsonse is going to be??