Taxi fares to rise by 12pc
http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/11/17/taxi-fares-to-rise-by-12pc/
Taxi fares in Wolverhampton are set to increase by an inflation-busting 12 per cent, it emerged today.
Passengers will pay an extra £1.58 on a seven-mile journey and £1.78 on an eight-mile trip under the rises put forward by council chiefs.
For the first time ever, the city’s 105 black cab drivers also want to charge people a penalty of £40 if they are sick or drop food inside the taxi.
The new fares are expected to be approved by licensing chiefs on Wednesday and will see 38p added to one-mile journeys, taking the total to £3.68.
Two-mile trips will increase from £4.80 to £5.38, three-mile journeys from £6.30 to £7.08 and four-mile journeys will be £8.78 rather than £7.80.
The rise would be the first since July 2006 and is being introduced to help hackney drivers offset the cost of fuel prices. Private firms set their own fares.
Shiva Misra, spokesman for Wolverhampton Taxi Drivers Association, said today: “The taxi drivers have not had a fare increase for some time now and they have been trying to change the status quo for a while.
“I’ve had some correspondence with the council over proposed increases and since the last one, inflation is probably beyond the rise.”
The £40 penalty charge will not be enforced through a bylaw, but taxi drivers will be able to add the fee onto the normal fare at the end of the trip.
The council say it will issue guidance for all taxi drivers about how to recover the money through court action if the passenger makes a mess of the vehicle and leaves without paying.
Councillor Paddy Bradley, cabinet member for regeneration, said she believed the increases were fair. “I think a happy medium has to be struck here,” she said. “The drivers had no increase when the fuel prices shot up and were probably driving around for nothing.”
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