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 Post subject: Reading Fares
PostPosted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 8:24 am 
TOWN'S TAXI FARES ON THE RISE

TAXI fares are to go up across Reading. The minimum fare for black cabs will rise 10p to £1.80 during the day and to £3 (from £2.90) at night in around six weeks’ time.

And the charges for waiting times will also go up after Reading Borough Council’s licensing committee agreed the increases on Wednesday.

The rises amount to just over six per cent on the day fare and three-and-a-half per cent on the night charge. The committee turned down a bid by Reading Taxi Association to put the minimum day time charge up to £2, but agreed its other requests.

Councillors at the meeting said it would be hard to justify the percentage increases to the public – a 30p rise to the minimum charge would have equated to a 17 per cent increase.

Bet Tickner, who chairs the committee, said: “The percentages for shorter journeys are rather high. It is difficult to present this as anything other than a steep rise.”

Councillor Jude Fry added: “Anything over 10 per cent is too high. We are paying a lot of money for a short journey. It would almost be better to have a higher increase at night when it’s dark or raining and people would not mind so much paying more.”

The town’s cabbies claimed they needed the raise to cover increased overhead costs such as diesel and insurance. Keith Johnson, secretary of the association, told the committee: “A minimum charge of £2 is not wishful thinking.

“It’s fully justified and we think we are being fully reasonable. We are trying to stop the deterioration of the service in Reading, because that is what will happen.

“My personal running costs are £5.35 an hour. If you have queued for an hour for a £2 job you do not have to be an accountant to work out that you have lost money.

“We do not want to see standards fall any more than they are at the moment but you cannot run a business at a loss.”

Reading Borough Council recently won a legal battle to increase the number of black cab licences in the town by 30.

A frustrated Mr Johnson said after the meeting that many drivers who share cars and only work during the day would be left out in the cold by the fare increases.

He said Reading Buses, which is run by Reading Borough Council, had increased charges on one route by 42 per cent this year – which was part of a set of rises introduced to pay for a new fleet of buses.

He said: “We are a public transport service that has to run 24 hours a day. I do 65 hours a week.
“They do not grasp the financial implications for us.”


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:23 pm 
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 7:30 pm
Posts: 53921
Location: 1066 Country
See what I mean, you have drivers moaning when fares go up, and then when they don't.

But what Mr Taxi doesn't say is that the day drivers will be getting part of the night increase by either putting up the rentals, or as part of their percentage of the meter. :shock:

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