Taxi Driver Online

Passengers slam taxi fares rise

Taxi fares have increased by about 5%

Taxi fares in Aberdeen have risen again after five months of negotiations between the trade and city council.

Drivers will be able to charge more for shorter journeys and additional levies can be imposed if more than four people are sharing a cab.

The increased fares were criticised by many taxi users, who said the cost of taking a cab discouraged them from going out in the city centre at night.

But the Aberdeen Taxi Group said the increase was fair.

Starting fares are stuck at £2, but the distance travelled before an increase has decreased from 1,100 yards to 1,000 - about half-a-mile.

If more than four people share a cab, the price for the journey will rise by 50%.

Long queues

The move follows a further fare rise in Aberdeen last summer, and some customers spoken to by the BBC said they were not happy about the jump, especially because it was often difficult to get a taxi at the weekend.

One taxi user said she no longer went into the city centre for a night out because of long queues at the ranks.

She added: "You are not only getting ripped off by the amount of money they are expecting you to pay but you are having to wait for about two hours to get a taxi home so there is no point.

"Pubs in the town are actually losing out because there are not enough taxis to get you home, and when you do get into them you are getting ripped off."

Another taxi passenger described the rise as "shocking", and asked: "Why should things continue to rise like that?"

While a third person told the BBC: "We were in a taxi today and it was about £7. The driver said to us that the fares had gone up."

The Aberdeen Taxi Group, which represents taxi firms in the city, said fares would rise by about 5% for passengers, which it described as a "fair pay rise for drivers".

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

FORUM CLAIMS TAXI CARDS LET DOWN DISABLED

08:50 - 16 October 2007



Disabled and vulnerable people are being let down by a scheme which is supposed to make their lives easier, according to a group which represents communities in Aberdeen.

The Aberdeen Civic Forum has had complaints from two of the three members of the disability advisory group, which says the city council taxi card scheme does not always offer a reliable service.

The forum says some taxis do not show up, despite bookings having been made. It suspects that some drivers prefer "to pick up and collect immediate fares from the public".



Forum chairwoman Lavina Massie said: "It is unacceptable for a taxi card user to be left in a situation where, for example, having pre-booked a taxi to collect and take them home after an evening out, the taxi does not show up and leaves them, in effect, stranded. This is a matter of real concern to the Civic Forum as this is an essential service for some of the city's most vulnerable residents."

She said she hopes all those who use and have concerns about the scheme contact the public transport unit. She added: "If the council do not know it is not always working they cannot do anything to sort it out."

The forum says it has written to the council and all operators to make their concerns known.

A council spokeswoman said it had not received the correspondence but added: "In the past seven years, the unit has received two complaints from taxi card holders about pre-booked taxis failing to arrive. However, the unit found no evidence that these failures were linked specifically to the scheme and were anything other than no-shows.

"If the Civic Forum has concrete examples of failed bookings that can be specifically linked to the taxi card scheme, the unit would of course investigate them."

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

PH & Taxi Monthly in September had us at 274th. Not sure what difference the rise makes, but I don't think we will be anywhere near the top.
This is just the usual bollux. 4 people still get home for less than it costs one to get into a nightclub, so who's really ripping them off?
As for the queues, thats down to the amount of abuse drivers get at that time of the morning. Fewer of them are willing to put up with it and I can't see that changing.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

This part about covers it.

The Aberdeen Civic Forum and the Disability Advisory Group are council sponsored bodies with their own agendas. DAG objected to the recent fare rise back in April on the grounds that it would cause hardship for taxicard holders, which the council used to deny the rise. The council back peddled on the decision when their own legal department and the trade pointed out that fares couldn't be depressed for social reasons. It still delayed the increase by 4 months. No mention here of the savage funding cut the council imposed on the taxicard scheme, which resulted in increases of 50 - 100% in the cost disabled people had to pay when using it.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

I think someone should show Aberdeen council the league table from PH monthly if they haven't already along with a brief summary of how much fuel prices have increased garage charges etc etc and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the charges the council makes haven't gone up either since the last fare rise

Just another symptom of a divided trade.

It's no use coming along once in a while when fares increase and trying to justify yourself. This should be an on-going concerted effort by taxi trades to advertise just how good a service customers get, and for little money. The service is a bargain when one takes into account the costs of running a cab. problem is, no one tells the customers this. They just don't know.

Regular customers probably already realise this. But, if we're to grow our business, then potential customers have to be sold on the benefits.

It would be cheaper to do this collectively. Perhaps through a levy, from a trade organisation that could put aside petty differences and encourage free enterprise and collective effort.