Taxi Driver Online

Some on here won't be happy with this

Wasn't sure whether to include this in the other thread, but although similar it is a different topic, although not clear how the surge price will interact with the £2 queue-jumping payment. Or maybe the surge is intended to replace the latter

But which confusion is maybe why it's a good idea to put it in a new thread


Boro Cars explain 'surge pricing' that will see passengers charged more the longer they wait

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... g-17317012

Firm says 100% of the extra charge will go to drivers and they're still among the cheapest

Boro Cars has defended its plan to charge passengers more for a journey, the longer they have to wait.

'Surge pricing' will see extra charges added at times of "high demand" - but bosses say it's an attempt to tackle a chronic industry-wide driver shortage and none of the extra cash will go to Boro Cars.

The new fares have been blasted by customers, who claim they "don't make sense" and it's "unfair on both drivers and passengers", while some say drivers will "purposefully make themselves late for the extra fee".

A notice from the Middlesbrough firm to its drivers, which has been shared on social media, says: "For the last 3 to 4 months we have been working on software changes with Autocab in order to update fare pricing.

"The following new fare structure is ready to go.

"At any peak period, on all days of the week, 365 days of the year (including Christmas period) when customer demand exceeds taxi supply, surge pricing will automatically apply to bookings made during this surge period in that zone."

Anything under a 20-minute wait for a Boro Cars taxi will incur no extra charge.

If, at the time of booking, there is already a waiting time of at least 20 minutes due to high demand, the 'surge pricing' will be activated and the customer will be advised, the firm says.

Surcharges range from 25% to 100% for a 45-minute wait.

Boro Cars says all fares will be quoted - so the passenger won't get any nasty surprises at the end of their journey.

Fares quoted on the phone "will be honoured", they have added, and 100% of the extra charges will go to the drivers.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "There is a shortage of drivers entering the trade due to the earnings and many of our drivers will not work the night time economy because of the fear of assaults and abuse many drivers have suffered from a minority of the travelling public.

“Our surge pricing will only apply at times of highest demand.

"The Private Hire & Taxi Monthly magazine has reported that Hackney Carriage taxi fares in Middlesbrough are the lowest out of 363 councils .

"Boro Cars fares will still be less than the hackney carriage taxi fares set by local councils.

"Surge pricing was introduced to the industry years ago by International App companies and is now commonplace in many towns and cities throughout the country.

“All fares will be quoted before the customer confirms their booking.

“100% of the surge pricing will be retained by the drivers, and it is hoped this will encourage more drivers to work at times of high demand so that we can improve our service levels overall by matching customer demand with driver availability at any particular time.”

The firm, which is the largest in the North-east, came under fire last week for their app, which allows passengers to “jump the queue" for £2.

Stockton councillors branded it “totally immoral”, but a spokeswoman for Boro Cars defended the app saying it had proved "hugely popular" with thousands of users across the North-east .

“The so-called “queue jump” feature is used by Teessiders all the time, just as they purchase speedy boarding when jetting off on their summer holidays," she said.

“It seems we’ve got lots of ‘appy’ customers but not many ‘appy’ councillors.”

This could well operate in a similar manner to Uber's surge-pricing.

However, as far as I can see it's a PR disaster for Boro Cars.

It makes it sound like the longer a customer waits, the more they're charged

While Uber's marketing is effectively the opposite - surge pricing means punters get a car more quickly than they would otherwise.

Of course, it may be that the methodology is similar in both case, and that it's just the way Boro are portraying it that makes it sound totally different. But that's where Uber's PR nous maybe comes in handy

That was the point I was going to make.

The whole point of the Uber surge is to get cars out working when there is buckets of work. Thus people are paying to get cars quicker when it's busy.

The way Boro are doing it is the fewer cars out the more they charge. Very strange.

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IDFIMH

Cannot see how they can claim fares which have surge charge of 25% to 100% will still be cheaper than a TAXI.

Maybe because their normal rate is peanuts.

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IDFIMH

Hack fares in the area(4 Authorities) range from £4.30.p to £4.80.p for a 2 mile journey on Tariff 1

Normally business goes hand in hand for both PH and HC. If the PH lot are so busy that they're having to surge price to get more drivers out then odds are the hacks are all busy too.

hence the driver shortage

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector