Taxi Driver Online

I suppose it might be appropriate to mention dinosaurs and late adopters, or whatever.

But when you consider the pace that the likes of the council here moves with stuff like this, are the refusenik drivers any worse?

And Fife Council hasn't even considered the issue, as far as I know

But certainly here in St Andrews, some days I'd basically be earning zero if I didn't take cards, and among the students in particular it's an expectation. Of course, that's still not stopping the drivers knocking back the odd run they don't want with the age-old excuse now (although I can't see how any driver here can make much without actually being able to take cards) but even that thing seems to have largely disappeared now.

I'd guess there are more cash-only drivers in the more, er, post-industrial parts of Fife (still a lot of chatter about cash-only drivers in Dundee), but if you-know-what happens then even they might be forced to adopt


Should Glasgow taxi drivers accept card payment? Consultation launched

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/sco ... -launched/

A consultation has been launched to help decide if Glasgow taxi drivers should be required to accept card payments.

Currently there is no guarantee that Glasgow passengers can use their cards in black cabs – as some drivers only take cash.

More and more people want to pay by card and members of the public have been in touch with the council over the matter.

Now people are being asked to give their opinions to the council on whether they agree with making it mandatory for drivers to allow cards – and have until June 1 to have their say.

Glasgow City Council’s licensing committee decided to hold a public consultation in December over the matter.

Glasgow City Council said: “The Committee will consider all views received to this consultation before making a decision on whether to amend Taxi Driver Licence and/or Taxi Vehicle Licence conditions in relation to accepting payment of fares by credit/debit cards.”

A report presented to the committee said: “There are currently 1217 Taxis licensed by Glasgow City Council. Historically, cash payments were the preferred payment method for customers, however, in recent years with technological developments, the landscape has changed and it is commonplace for members of the public not to carry cash, relying solely on card payments or preferring to use payment methods via a wallet on a smartphone.”

To take part in the survey and comment on payment methods visit: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CPFTV26/

So years after passengers and other drivers are complaining, the council announces that they may launch a consultation, months later they actually announce a consultation, blah, blah...

Not before time.

On the Glasgow Taxis circuit, you must take card anyway. IMO the cash-only independents are living in the past (although it's not difficult to guess why). I'd sooner have 98% of something than 100% of nothing.

So long as the council doesn't over-complicate the eventual requirement. Which would not surprise me.

I'm not sure how they are going about it, but it is very hard to put a condition on a driver's license, so it's usually added to the vehicle license.

So if a journeyman doesn't have a card reader, for whatever reason, enforcement action could only be taken against the vehicle owner.

_________________
IDFIMH

The, er, ponderousness continues

Anyway, a surprising number of responses to this from the public but, unlike the fare thing from [wherever] the other day, the numbers here seems a bit more credible than a significant public response to a standard fare consultation.

And, to that extent, hardly surprising that the consultation has effectively concluded that it's a goer...

The arguments either way are fairly familiar to anyone who's been following it all for a few years now. But it's been a while since there's been a mandatory card reader article

And, as stated, this one's a first for Scotland. But, of course, should really have been sorted out years ago. At Holyrood.

But I suppose they're too busy doing more important things like, er, awarding some of themselves £20k pay rises


Glasgow taxi drivers may need to take card payments as strong support revealed

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glas ... e-34875894

The majority of respondents to a public consultation were in favour of making it mandatory for taxis to accept card payments.

Taxi drivers in Glasgow could soon be required to accept card payments after over 80% of respondents to a public consultation backed the proposal.

The city’s licensing committee launched a consultation earlier this year to gauge views on whether it should be mandatory for taxi drivers to allow the use of credit/debit cards.

It received 1,666 responses, with almost 1,200 from members of the public and just over 250 from taxi driver licence holders.

Of the respondents, 99% answered when asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed that taxi drivers must accept card payments. Nearly 78% strongly agreed while over 5% said they tend to agree.

Almost 11% strongly disagreed with the proposal and 3.6% answered that they tend to disagree. Currently, there are no conditions that make accepting cards necessary, but some operators have installed payment card readers voluntarily.

Councillors on the licensing committee will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to introduce licence conditions which require taxi drivers to take card payments for fares.

A report to the committee states: “Members will be aware from the consultation responses received that 83.16% of respondents were of the view that taxi drivers must accept payment of fares by credit/debit cards.

“In light of the responses received, members may wish to consider imposing conditions on taxi driver licences that would require the acceptance of payment of fares by credit/debit card, however, if a passenger wished to pay by cash that option would remain.”

Councillors will also consider whether conditions should address some of the concerns raised during the consultation. These include what happens during a network outage and whether receipts should be provided.

The committee would need to decide on an implementation period if a decision to make card payments mandatory is taken. Taxi drivers who do not already have a card payment device would need to purchase one.

The consultation period ran from February 4 to June 1 this year. Respondents who supported mandatory card payments said consumer habits have changed and people expect to be able to make non-cash payments. They also believe the change will reduce wait times at ranks and provide a better service to the public.

Those who disagreed said taxi drivers should be able to choose their payment method as they are self-employed and card payment devices come at a cost. They also said technology is not always reliable and drivers will be charged a fee or percentage of each transaction.

Concerns were also raised over cards being declined at the end of a trip and members of the public being less likely to tip when using a card. It was also suggested that drivers could claim machines are broken if they don’t want to accept card payments.

When the consultation was approved in December last year, officials in the council’s licensing team reported there had been “several queries” from members of the public on the issue. They said some operators had also raised it due to the number of people now asking drivers if they can pay by card.

A report stated: “Within Scotland, no local authority has yet introduced licence conditions or adopted a policy mandating the use of card payment devices within taxis.

“Notwithstanding this, several English authorities have mandated the use of card payment readers in taxis by conditioning… taxi operator and taxi driver licences to require a card payment device to be installed.

“The number of European cities also introducing a mandatory requirement for card payment facilities to be available for passengers in taxis is ever-increasing.”

It is now “commonplace for members of the public not to carry cash, relying solely on card payments or preferring to use payment methods via a wallet on a smartphone”, the report added.

Appendix 2 – Proposed new licence conditions

Taxi Driver Licence Condition

1. The driver of a taxi, while in charge of a taxi as such, must at all times, accept credit/debit card and contactless payments via a card payment device and provide a printed or handwritten receipt for those payments upon request.

2. The driver of a taxi shall ensure that the card payment device is fully working before accepting any fares. Should there be a network outage affecting card payment devices or any other technical issue with the working of the card payment device, the driver of a taxi shall inform passengers as soon as they become aware.