With regard to my point recently about sustainable fare rises etc
No figures provided to assess how much they were surging, though, but I suspect they weren't using the kind of multiples that Uber has been known to use
Taxi firm 'sorry' after customers outraged by surge pricing hikehttps://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/m ... s-21858948Chelmsley Wood based TC Cars quickly ditched the controversial policy after complaintsA taxi firm has apologised after customers were left outraged after it introduced 'surge pricing'.
TC Cars, based in Chelmsley Wood, quickly ditched the policy to charge more at peak times after passengers expressed anger.
The firm admitted it had "lost sight of what matters most" and reversed the decision within days.
Stuart Day, general manager, said TC Cars had decided to implement the pricing regime as it battled to keep operating following the pandemic.
The 58-year-old said that while demand had rocketed, driver numbers were plummeting - with some going to work for rival firms and food delivery apps.
He added that a number of cabbies had been logging off at peak times and going to work at places where they could make more money.
Surge pricing is most famously used by ride-hailing app Uber. At busy times, prices increase with demand and users are left with a choice between paying more or waiting for rates to go back down.
"It's down to drivers basically logging off our circuit and going to work at Uber or Bolt when they are surging their prices," said Mr Day, who also runs taxi firms across the country.
"To try and overcome the issue we made a decision on Monday that we would start to do the same and surge our prices during peak times.
"Unfortunately it didn't have the desired effect we were hoping to have and due to that we decided that we will turn it off altogether."
Mr Day confirmed the Solihull firm had "no intention" of going back to surge pricing, adding punters had made it quite clear how they felt.
"It was a response from customers saying that we were wrong and it affected, obviously, our regular customers as well that we don't really want to be affected," he said.
"It caused us a major problem and we listened to the feedback that was coming back from our customers and made the decision to remove it."
Mr Day added that the debacle had highlighted the difficulties faced by the taxi business, which like other industries risked becoming gripped by a shortage of drivers.
Writing on Facebook, TC cars added: "In an effort to improve service and boost driver numbers, TC Cars introduced surge pricing. In doing so, we lost sight of what matters most and the values we hold ourselves to.
"Over the past few days, our operations team have been listening to feedback from both passengers and drivers. This has led to the decision to remove surge pricing with immediate effect.
"We’d like to offer our apologies to anyone impacted by recent changes, TC Cars will be offering 10 per cent off your next app booking in October with code 'SORRY10'.
"TC Cars pride ourselves on being at the core of our community, providing a local, friendly service that you can rely on. So, it is important for us to mention that the initial increase to £4.00 minimum will be staying.
"This is due to increased costs for our drivers as well as national driver shortages which have impacted fleets across the country.
"We will also be releasing a short informational video soon, highlighting many reasons why taxi and private hire fares are changing."
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