Taxi Driver Online

25% rise, eh?

Because drivers 'go that extra mile'?

On the other hand, no evidence at all of economic literacy in this piece. Maybe Uber are operating there, and councillors want to give them a little help


City taxi fares could go up in time for Christmas

https://www.middevonadvertiser.co.uk/ne ... mas-848598

TAXI fares in Exeter are going up by around 25 per cent after councillors heard how cabbies ‘go the extra mile’ for the city.

Members of the city council’s executive committee agreed to re-start a consultation on the move to increase fares, hearing that a previous consultation earlier this year had not been completed.

The public will be asked for their views on the rises, which will see the fares going up for the first time in three years.

The new tariff could come into effect by Christmas.

Figures shown to the committee revealed that Exeter currently has the joint fifth most expensive two-mile fare in Devon and the 133rd most expensive in England and Wales.

If the proposed increases are implemented, Exeter would have the most expensive two-mile fare level in Devon and would move into the national top 10.

At the moment the two-mile fare in Exeter is between £7.60 and £12.30, depending on the date and the time of day, with night-time journeys and occasions like Christmas being the most expensive.

If the increase goes ahead, fares will rise by an average of around 25 per cent.

The two-mile journey would cost between £9.50 and £13.55.

Fares elsewhere in Devon for the same journey vary from East Devon’s £8.69 to Mid Devon’s £6.80.

Cllr Ruth Williams (Lab, Mincinglake and Whipton) said: “The drivers provide a really important service, and it is very expensive for them to provide it. It is really important that we progress this as quickly as possible.”

And Cllr Peter Holland (Con, St Loyes) added: “They are ambassadors for our great city. They are often the first people that folk meet when they come into our city.

“They go the extra mile.”

25% increase overnight just before Xmas makes sense only to those who lack any of it.

I'm a big fan of drivers earning a good living, but this is trade suicide in my view.

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IDFIMH

You really have to gasp in awe about the detail of the fare increase in the article though

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Can't be bothered looking into it all, but maybe the operative word here is 'average', and the 25% figure is based just on the two-mile run, which could be unrepresentative of the whole thing. So maybe it's not so much of a hike than it looks

On the other hand, if it literally is a 25% average, then some fares will have gone up more than 25%...

But it's pretty rare not to find that once the detail is looked into then headline figures like the 25% don't reflect the reality in a more, er, holistic sense, and that it's all a good bit more, er, nuanced than it looks at first glance

Was going to try crunching a few numbers yesterday, but couldn't find the council papers, and the link to the consultation has disappeared, and couldn't even find a current tariff card, which most councils seem to include on their websites these days. This is the broken link to the 2025 consultation:

https://exeter.gov.uk/licensing/taxis-a ... tion-2025/

However, did find this on the news section of the council's website, which is from June this year.

And which certainly demonstrates that the current flagfalls are very low, and that a substantial increase in the flagfalls were proposed

So that might explain the 25% headline figure for the 'hike', but maybe that's kind of distorted by the big increase in the flagfalls. And, of course, there's been no rise since 2022.

(Although maybe the mention here of the running mile suggests that there's no flagfall distance, and the meter starts cranking up immediately, so maybe in effect the current flagfalls aren't quite as low as they look at first glance, but who knows. Anyway, that's enough of this particular rabbit hole )


Have your say on proposed new taxi fares

https://news.exeter.gov.uk/have-your-sa ... axi-fares/

People are being asked to have their say on proposed new taxi fares across Exeter.

A consultation is taking place and members of the public can make comments right up until 13 July.

Exeter City Council is responsible for setting fares in the city and this follows a request from both Exeter Hackney Carriage Associations.

The last tariff increase in Exeter was in 2022.

The latest proposals see a rise in tariffs from £2.70 to £3.80 for the starting fare (or flag drop). The running mile is proposed to rise from £2.50 to £3, between 7am and 7pm on any other day other than Sundays or Bank Holidays.

The second tariff for journeys between 7pm and 7am and on Sundays, proposes a rise from £3.20 to £4.60 for the starting fare (or flag drop) and from £3.10 to £3.80 for the running mile.

There are also new proposals for Bank Holidays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The proposed increases should be regarded as the maximum fares that can be charged. Taxi proprietors are not tied to charging the maximum fare but are not permitted to charge more than the tariff price shown on the meter.

To find out more about the proposed new fares, go to the City Council website at https://exeter.gov.uk/licensing/taxis-a ... tion-2025/

Anyone wishing to object to the increased fares is asked to email nigel.marston@exeter.gov.uk or write to Nigel Marston, Principal Licensing Officer, Exeter City Council, Civic Centre, Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 1RQ, before 13 July.