Sussex wrote: Quote: Maybe OK for app bookings, but very messy in the rank/flagging scenario, and a recipe for conflict and confusion   Not sure it's much more different to vehicles that have a multi-seater tariff on their meter. I'm not saying the electric tariff would apply always, unless the customer books, it or specifically chooses it from the rank.
So the EV driver is in pole, punter comes along and jumps in, is he willing to pay the premium for an EV or not?
Does the driver just assume the punter will, or does he have to ask the punter? By whom and how will this be enforced?
Or the EV driver is mid-rank or at the back of the queue? Punter jumps in - is the punter jumping in because it's an EV, or they simply can't be bothered going to the front of the rank? And, again, what fare is charged?
And assuming there's a degree of etiquette among the queuing HCs, what's to stop the EV driver from using their EV designation to grab fares mid-rank, and then claiming that's the reason their cab was selected, while maybe the punter just couldn't be bothered walking to the front?
So a recipe for confusion and conflict even with our own rank free-for-all here in Fife, but where there is a degree of rank etiquette a different designation and fare structure for EVs would just break that down.
I mentioned multi-seaters because as a saloon driver (estate, actually) I get quite a lot of fares mid-rank, and among the reason are:
- some punters don't like the bigger vehicles. Period.
- some punters *perceive* that bigger vehicles cost more, whereas here there's no premium for such vehicles (nor for additional passengers)
- some punters just make a beeline for the nearest car
- sundry reasons: your car looks better/shinier, they prefer your car's marque, the driver in front looks too grumpy, or is 'busy' doing something, or they just generally don't like the look of the driver (a related one is that they prefer, er, 'local' drivers, and again this maybe be based on perception, because the driver's, er, look isn't always a reliable indicator of how 'local' they are 
But that's an indication of why I think things should be kept as straightforward and simple as possible, as stuff like the above just causes confusion for punters and conflict with and between drivers.
And don't get me started on the credit card thing 
(I'd prefer a front-car-first rule here, but that's not going to happen, for various reasons which I won't go into now, but the above might provide some indication.
And it's not as if most drivers are adhering to the protocols and only a few miscreants are grabbing fares mid-rank. NO driver here will refuse a decent fare mid-rank, and they'll only ever punt a local to the front if it's a RTFC, legless drunk, etc.
And this will depend on their position on the rank - if they're last car of a dozen, they're more likely to take a RTFC than if they're second or third, say.
So I just grab any fares mid-rank like all the rest of the drivers. If you didn't then you'd be the only one, and thus costing you money  )
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