Taxi Driver Online

Taxi-fare surcharge legalised



The practice of charging a 10 per cent surcharge on taxi fares when the customer pays with a card is about to become legal.

Councillors were told in a report to the licensing committee on Tuesday last week the practice, although in existence among taxi drivers in Reading, was not currently legal because it was not logged in the council’s approved table of fares.

Reading borough councillors decided to put that right at the meeting.

Licensing officers did some research to see what other councils were doing about the charge.

They discovered Oxford and Sheffield permitted a 50p surcharge and Leeds up to 15 per cent – although it was usually 10 per cent – and these rates were all recorded on the councils’ table of fares. In Manchester cabbies charged 10 to 15 per cent, but it was not on the council’s table of fares.

None of the other unitary authorities in Berkshire regulate this surcharge.

Councillors were told in Reading, where the drivers have a machine to take fares electronically, they charge 10 per cent on top of the fare.

Reading Cab Drivers’ Association and Reading Taxi Association were both in favour of making a maximum surcharge of 10 per cent and that is what the committee agreed.

source: http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2129 ... _legalised

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

I expect the councillors who agreed to this will also expect to pay a 10% surcharge when they buy groceries or petrol or any other goods.

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

Of course - any PH operator with a brain in gear - only has to put a large advert in the local paper saying they won't surcharge passengers paying by credit card.

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

I have today asked our LO if we can charge a surcharge for passengers using a credit/debit card and I have been basically told no.

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Grandad,

Not his decision.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Which is why so many taxis don't take cards 10% of the fare is a hefty fee to pay for processing the payment perhaps if as new table of fares was introduced with higher rates but a guaranteed discount for cash it would be more attractive

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

If you're paying 10% as a processing fee, you're being ripped off.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

She said that we can't charge more than the fare shown on the meter even if the customer pays by card. Obviously if the journey goes out of the borough or is in a PH then we can but not for metered jobs in the borough.

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Grandad,

The card people who came to see us today quoted 17 pence for debit card transactions and 1.36% for credit card transactions. If the card is issued outside the UK the charge is 1.8%. The mobile terminal will cost £25.00 + VAT per month.

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Grandad,

There are other ways which involve no equipment charges. Cab:App for example, charge around 3% on top of the fare. Much better value if you don't do many card jobs.
http://www.cabapp.net/

BTW, you are not charging for the use of the card. The processing company is.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

I'm not I don't take cards but there are a lot of firms offering the 10% but no other fees and a lot offering cheaper fees but you have to pay monthly for the equipment either way it is quite a cost to you accepting card payments which is why we don't currently do it and probably why these taxis want a surcharge

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I have actually had a similar offer but when i did the maths I worked it out that we would average about £1000 to £2000 a year per vehicle in card transactions at a cost of £400 per vehicle you would need to do more than £100 a week per vehicle in card sales to achieve better than 10% a number of taxis around here have tried it and given up

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

So there's no view on filling up with fuel - paying by card and then being told that 10% will be added to the transaction because its being paid for by card?

I seriously hope other business doesn't follow the route of some in the cab trade - we'd have overnight inflation.

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

I suspect most of this is down to greedy operators wanting more, and very little of it down to the ordinary driver.

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IDFIMH

No doubt - but the greedy operators in this case appear to be those who applied for the fare increase - predominantly owner drivers?

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