Taxi Driver Online

August 31, 2006 Thursday

HEADLINE: Wild ride for fares

Taxi fares vary widely in Notts - with the city's up to a fifth higher than Mansfield's.

That is the finding of a survey by the National Private Hire Association, the drivers' body. But it suggests fares in most districts of Notts remain below the national average.

The survey tracks rates set by 377 councils from May 1999 to May 2006 for hackney carriages - the taxis that can pick up in the street. Private-hire taxis, the ones you have to book, set their own fares.

It ranks council hackney rates nationally for fairness to drivers and passengers. Nationally, the average fare for a two-mile daytime trip is £4.46, £1.34 up since 1999.

In Notts only two out of eight councils set a higher rate: city (£4.80) and Ashfield (£4.50). But five out of eight had increased the rate by more than the national average - Ashfield (£1.80), Mansfield (£1.50), Nottingham (£1.40), Broxtowe (£1.40) and Gedling (£1.35).

Bryan Roland, of the association, said councils usually forgot to allow gradual annual rises unless drivers reminded them.

The result was sudden jumps in fares, wide price differences, and irritation. He said: "Whether you're getting a taxi, buying milk or a loaf of bread, most people understand the economics of the situation."

His association recommended an increase of about 20p a year, he said - less meant the drivers were not earning enough.

Rehmat Khan, vice-chairman of Nottingham Licensed Taxi Owners and Drivers Association, said: "Our fare increases are linked to the inflation rate. The city council are quite good at keeping the increases gradual."

Student Sonja Nicholson, 27, of Lenton, said she did not know councils set different rates. "I had noticed that they'd gone up in Nottingham," she said.
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I'm not so sure that Mr Roland understands the economics of the situation.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I've been reading mr Rolands outpourings on this for 15 years in my opinion the league table he publishes has done little to help the situation in fact differances in fares from area to area have widened in my opinion

IMO the table has done two main things.

1) It's allowed those at the bottom of the pile to move up the ladder by showing how bad their rates are.

2) It's allowed councils at the top to tell their drivers what a thieving bunch of c***s they are.

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IDFIMH