Taxi Driver Online

In case anyone's wondering, I changed the word 'increased' to 'hiked' at the last minute simply becauses I ran out of space for 'increased'


South Lakeland taxi drivers warn they face 'considerable hardship' without maximum rate rise

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19239321 ... ease-rate/


Image: NW Mail

South Lakeland taxi drivers are calling for the maximum meter rate to be raised to bring it ‘in line with inflation’.

Windermere driver Sarah Ibbetson said the lack of change in the rate, which has been in place since 2014, was causing ‘considerable hardship’ as costs had increased in the same period.

South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) has said it is ‘committed to reviewing fares later this year’ and ‘will seek to engage with taxi drivers, operators and members of the public’.

Mrs Ibbetson said costs had risen – including the charges SLDC imposes for having a taxi licence.

“Taxi drivers have seen their actual income diminish enormously,” she said.

“Taxis must now be set up to take card payments.

“We cannot factor this into our charges, and we lose about two to three per cent on every transaction.

“Fares are set by SLDC at £3.70 for the first mile, and £2.70 for every mile thereafter.

“To bring those fares – almost – in line with inflation, they need to be raised to £4 for the first mile and £3 for every mile thereafter."

Mrs Ibbetson, whose husband, Mark, is also a taxi driver, said she had written to the council, the licensing office, individual councillors and MP Tim Farron about the issue and was ‘fed up of being so comprehensively ignored’.

In email correspondence with Mrs Ibbetson in September 2020, Cllr Helen Ladhams, chair of the council’s licensing committee, revealed that she had had ‘many people sending me emails regarding a potential fare increase’.

Bob Mullen, a Barrow taxi driver, said drivers in the town had been in talks with Barrow Council for ‘quite a while now’.

“Everything’s been held up with the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

“There are some sort of increase negotiations in the pipeline.”

He said that some drivers in the town benefitted from increased rates two years ago, when cab companies in Barrow increased their fares in line with the hackney rates set by the borough council.

An SLDC spokesman said: “Fees are set taking into account local factors to support local businesses and economic development, as well as maintaining the health and wellbeing, welfare and safety of our communities.

“In setting fares, criteria taken into account includes being reasonable and fair to all stakeholders and proportionate with the locality, and benchmarking with other local authorities.

“One of the main factors in determining fares is fuel prices, which at the moment are broadly lower than they were in 2014.”

Not sure if now's the best time to be asking for an increase *anywhere*. But their running mile is currently £2.70 and they want it increased to £3?

Maybe problem was that £2.70 was a tad high in 2014. Wasn't there a thing where a lot of authorities haven't increased fares since 2014? Maybe that was when fuel prices peaked and a few councils overshot the runway in terms of fare increases?


Ah, yes, Barrow. Never worked out if that was about PHs raising their rates, or pre-booked HC rates removing a discount. More probably a bit of both, with mixed fleets in Barrow.


Could all the blather be put into actual numbers?

Never heard the fee-setting process described like that before. I thought it was just a question of the budget breaking even


More bull. How is that quanitified in terms of actual numbers? Or does the latter point in particular mean they just look at the PHTM tables?


Ah, I see

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IDFIMH

well it is the lakes one of the most popular hiking destinations in the world

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

first mile is the same as us but £2.70 a mile thereafter and they can't pay their bills on that we are on £1.80 a mile and are undercut by 30 percent on that by the Peterborough pirate hire

people round here think that £1.80 is expensive

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

Can't remember if I was aware that the Barrow Council tariff hadn't increased since 2012, but there was quite a lot about fares there for a while, and can't be bothered looking back - remember that hoohah about the booking fee, for example?

But if it's nearly a decade since the council tariff went up, that might explain why the offices increased their fares to be closer to the metered rates


Review of taxi fares planned, Barrow Borough Council confirms

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19240279 ... -confirms/

Barrow Council has said that a review of taxi fares across the area is being planned for this year.

The confirmation came after Barrow taxi driver Bob Mullen told The Mail negotiations with the council over meter rates were ‘in the pipeline’.

“Everything’s been held up with the coronavirus pandemic,” said Mr Mullen.

A spokesman for the council has since confirmed plans are in place to look at meter rates later this year.

“The fares have been reviewed in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and this has resulted in no increase,” said the spokesman.

“The last increase in taxi (hackney carriage) fares was in 2012.

“We understand there may be concerns about this, but taxi licence holders are an important part of the review and are consulted directly along with members of the public.