Taxi Driver Online

Anyone would think they were acting in our best interests.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

perish the thought! sussex

still no news on whats going on but that will be due to the fact that they are still acting in our best interests

just waiting for the go and change your meters back line as this thing is going to take ages to go to court but dont worrie its only tax payers money

Is this another worm on the turn? And here's me thinking they all have no backbone.


Just think in a few million years they might even stand up-right

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Paying more in taxis is not fare


AS they say in The Bill: "It's a fare cop guv." And I do mean fare cop, and not fair cop . . . let's talk taxi meters, even better, let's talk fair fares.

The row over the council's taxi meter faux pas was flagged up again this week when Scotland's traffic commissioner criticised the city fathers' mishandling of the latest fare hike after a proposed seven per cent increase had to be frozen because of an objection from one driver.
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Consequently, the 1200 drivers who'd already had their meters re-calibrated are now, by law, obliged to calculate a seven per cent discount for passengers, or risk prosecution.

However, it seems some are unable, or unwilling to, like the bright spark who picked me up the other night and then refused to deduct the required amount with a gruff: "The fare is what's on the meter." It's not, as a quick call to taxi licensing to report the incident confirmed.

That driver was probably following the advice offered by the website administrator of Fast Blacks Edinburgh Taxi Forum, who suggested to drivers: "You can always adopt the 'by the book' stance. If the customer complains about the fare charged, plead innocence and refer him to the info at the foot of the tariff sheet: 'Any hirer aggrieved at the level of the fare charged for any hire or for any other reason may discuss the matter with the Taxi Licensing Officer. Any complaint must be made in writing and addressed to the Complaints Officer, Licensing Section, The City of Edinburgh Council, 343 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1PW, and should include the vehicle's licence number and time and date of the incident'."

So now you know what to do if you're fleeced.

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IDFIMH

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IDFIMH

Well you know what the say - all publicity is good publicity

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Can anyone confirm that this was the table of fares before the recent Edinburgh fare increase? Also does anyone know what particular parts of the fare structure has been amended/increased in the new fare rise?

THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
FARE TABLE FOR TAXIS
(OPERATIVE FROM 1st July 2004)

FOR UP TO 2 PASSENGERS

TARIFF 1
Monday - Friday 6am – 6pm

TARIFF 2
Monday – Friday 6pm – 6am the following day And at weekends from 6am on Saturday – 6am Monday

TARIFF 3
Monday - Friday 6am – 6pm during Christmas and New Year

TARIFF 4
Monday – Friday 6pm – 6am the following day And at weekends from 6am on Saturday – 6am Monday during Christmas and New Year

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
Between 6pm on 24 December until 6am on 27 December and between 6pm on 31 December until 6am on 3 January

CHARGES. Initial hire not exceeding 450m Initial 90 seconds of waiting time Combination of initial time and distance

TARIFF 1 1.45 TARIFF 2 2.20 TARIFF 3 2.25 TARIFF 4 3.05

Each additional 225m up until 2250m and therefrom each additional 250m
Each additional 45 seconds of waiting time Combination of additional time and distance

TARIFF 1 0.23 TARIFF 2 0.24 TARIFF 3 0.33 TARIFF 4 0.37

EXTRA PAYMENTS
When more than 2 passengers Each 0.20

Note:
Only 2 children under 12 years will be reckoned as one passenger. No extra fare will be charged for one child under 5 years of age.
Each Passenger must be properly seated

[b]Call Out Charge
Applicable when pre-booked, or hired from Edinburgh Airport 0.60

Cleaning Fee
Applicable when taxi is soiled (by travel sickness) 20.00

Cancellation Fee
Applicable when taxi is pre-booked but not used 2.00

Payment Of Fare By Credit/Debit Card
Extra applicable when fare paid by the above means 12½ %

Administrative Charges
Applicable in some cases when a taxi is supplied under a contract with a radio booking office.

NOTES (1) The above Tariff is applicable only within the City of Edinburgh.

(2) Any hire which terminates outside the City of Edinburgh area – FARE MUST BE NEGOTIATED AND AGREED WITH DRIVER BEFORE THE JOURNEY COMMENCES.

(3) A copy of the Conditions for the Licensing of Taxis and Private Hire Cars may be inspected either at the Taxi Examination Centre, 33 Murrayburn Road, or the Licensing Section Public Counter, 343 High
Street, Edinburgh.

APPROVED by THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL on 1st June 2004

Any hirer aggrieved at the level of the fare charged for any hire or for any other reason may discuss the matter with the Taxi Licensing Officer (0131 529 4250). Any complaint must be made in writing and addressed to the Complaints Officer, Licensing Section, The City of Edinburgh Council, 343 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1PW and should include the vehicle’s licence number and time and date of the incident.

TARIFF 1 £1.50 TARIFF 2 £2.50 TARIFF 3 £2.50 TARIFF 4 £3.40

Each additional 225m up until 2250m and therefrom each additional [url]250m[/url] Changed to 260m
Each additional 45 seconds of waiting time Combination of additional time and distance

TARIFF 1 £0.25 TARIFF 2 £0.25 TARIFF 3 £0.35 TARIFF 4 £0.40

Payment Of Fare By Credit/Debit Card
Extra applicable when fare paid by the above means 5%

That's the only change's JD

I find it difficult to envisage a tariff rise that is exactly 7%, so presumably if it's an average then even if 7% is taken off then there will still be overcharing in some cases.

Or if 7% is the maximum rise then in some cases the driver would be charging less than the old tariff?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

The actual increase on the flagfall alone is 3.44 percent you can travel 450 metres before the meter changes so if you only travel 449 metres and deduct 7% which is 10.5 pence then you will be running at a loss of around 3.5 percent. I'm surprised the council never sent the drivers a chart
explaining the yardage at which the 7% kicks in? If you travelled less than the yardage for the tariff change then you would only need to deduct 5 pence which is 3.44 percent.

Regards

JD

The above flag fall percentage rate is for tariff one only, the other tariffs work out at a different percentage rate. For instance the increase in the flagfall for tariff 2 is just over 13% so if you travelled less than 450 metres you would have to deduct 30p which is the increase in the flagfall from 2.20 to 2.50. if you deducted 7% from tariff 2 which is 17.5p you would still be in profit by 12.5p. In order to comply with the previous tariff you would have to deduct the whole 13%.

The most financialy rewarding journeys are those up to 2250 metres, after that the yardage increase becomes regresive. So the further you travel over and above 2250 metres there is no significant financial advantage in respect of the present fare tariff and the previos tariff because the distance at which the meter changes has been increased from 250 metres to 260 metres

When travelling 2250 metres the increase is an additional 13.5 pence on the previous tariff plus the increased flag fall tariff of 30p. This means the total increase on tariff 2 is 43.5 pence for 2250 metres = 2460 yards = 1.4 miles.

Tariff 2

4.50 for 2250 mtr new rate 1.4 miles

4.12 for 2250 mtr old rate 1.4 miles

= 9.2% increase over 1.4 miles
...................................................

New Mileage rate above 2250 metres

1.54.74 per mile

Old mileage rate above 2250 metres.

1.54.49 per mile

On Tariff 2 the old and new mileage rates come together at around 8 miles

50 x 25 = 12.50 = 13,000 mtrs = 8 miles
50 x 24 = 12.00 = 12,500 mtrs = 7.76 miles 12.48 = 8 miles

This is because of the extra ten metres added to the mileage from 250 to 260. Anything after 8 miles will serve as a reduction albeit negligable. It could be said that there is no advantage to be gained when travelling over 8 miles on tariff 2.

Regards

JD

On Tariff one up to 450 metres the fare is 1.50 the new unit increase is 2p from 23 to 25p this gives an additional 16 pence on 8 gross units of 225 metres = 8 x 225 = 1800 + 450 = 2250. This gives a total of 3.50 for the first 1.4 miles on tariff one.

The overall increase on the new tariff to that of the old tariff of 3.29 for 1.4 miles, is 21p = 6.38%


Regards

JD

It would appear to me that as in most cases day drivers are yet again losing out in a fare increase. I can see why the person objected to the increase on the grounds that it wasn't enough. Taking into account the isolated increase in fuel costs alone should have generated a higher increase than the 6.4 percent. Tariff 2 is probably about right but that is higher than 7% for the first 1.4 miles. I think those persons responsible for negotiating fare increases in every authority not just Edinburgh should take a serious look at the daytime tariff and make sure it is reasonable in the light of expenditure for both owner and driver.

Regards

JD

So even if a driver offered a 7% discount, then on some fares they would still be exceeding the council's set rate.

Only in Edinburgh.

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IDFIMH