Taxi Driver Online

Nothing particularly out of the ordinary here. But I can never see the point of citing figures for the intended increments without saying what they're going up from

Ditto the proposal to change the starting times for T2 and T3.

Some slightly unusual phraseology here, though - as highlighted.

And great photo of the rank - who'd have worked out it's a screengrab from Google Streetview


Delay to bid to increase taxi fares in Boston

https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/boston/vu ... s-9470322/

Plans to increase the taxi fare limit have been put on hold following concerns that they could hit disabled people hard.

Boston Hackney Carriage Association (BHCA) has put forward a proposal to increase the threshold for taxi drivers to charge for journeys within the borough.

The association says the increase is needed due to rising fuel and staff costs along with increased insurance premiums.


Image: Google/Lincs Online

Boston Borough Council's regulatory and appeals committee were told that there has been no increase in the maximum fares since August 2022.

In Boston there are three tariffs, all with fares for distance, waiting time, and permitted extra charges.

Under the plans, the BHCA would like an increase to each subsequent 190 yards of a journey (after the first 400 yards) to 30 pence for tariff one, 45 pence for tariff two and 60 pence for tariff three.

It also wants the council to increase the maximum booking fee from £8.00 to £10.00 and put up the initial fuel price surcharge from 20 pence per journey to £1.00.

The proposed changes only apply to hackney carriage vehicles - and not private hire taxis which are free to charge more or less than this threshold.

At the committee meeting on Wednesday, June 10, Coun Anne Dorrian (Independent - Skirbeck) said she was “concerned” that the proposed increase could make the borough the “most expensive” for taxis in the county.

She added: “I also worry that one of the biggest impacts that these increases could have would be on our disabled residents and our elderly residents who may rely heavily on taxis, especially those who live in more rural communities.”

Coun Dorrian went on to say that she didn’t think the council had “enough evidence” to make a decision yet.

Coun James Cantwell (Conservative - Five Villages) agreed with her as his ward would be most affected as it is furthest to travel into town.

He said: “I think there’s not enough information from the (Boston) Hackney Carriage Association to make a determination.”

But Coun Stephen Woodliffe (Independent - West) backed the proposal and said it was up to individual companies to keep their prices to levels that people can afford.

He said: “I’ve got no particular objection to the proposals because each operator can decide whether they want to charge more or charge less.

“I mean that’s the nature of capitalism or wherever. You charge what you want to charge - or essentially you charge what you think you can charge.”

The BHCA also applied to the council to amend the start time for the standard tariff two to 9pm and amend the start time for the Christmas and New Year tariff two to 12 noon.

The proposals will be considered at a cabinet meeting at a later date where a final decision will be made.

Which begs the question, why regulate HC fares in the first place?

I think the technical term is market failure. Which is the very antithesis of capitalism. (And I think maybe something like the market system is a better way to phrase what he's getting at, as opposed to 'capitalism'. But the point is that the market system doesn't work too well in rank and hail markets.)

and of course no mention of what the costs for the drivers have actually gone up by since the last change

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