Taxi Driver Online

3 Jan 2008

Taxi Fares could rise 10p-a-mile

Wigan cabbies want to increase fares by 10p-a-mile - they blame rising
fuel prices, an increase in insurance premiums plus the success of late
night buses for weekend clubbers.
Now taxi firms are asking Wigan Metro to increase the minimum charge to
£1.90, the one mile charge to £3.10 and the two miles charge to £4.70.

The Transport and General Workers Union is also calling for an end to the
restriction of the 18-month-old formula they agreed with town hall chiefs
that would govern price rises which found no rise necessary when applied
in May.
The plea will be considered by the council's regulation committee on
January 9.

However, even if approved, such a rise would still leave the borough's 115
traditional black cabs cheaper than neighbouring Chorley, Bolton and
Manchester vehicles – but more expensive than adjoining West Lancashire
or St Helens cabbies.

Director of environment Martin Kimber revealed that the cabbies had
wanted the issue to be discussed by last autumn, but the postal strike had
also disrupted the statutory consultation process.He is declining to make
any recommendation over whether councillors should approve the
application.

Cabbies currently calculate their running costs, he pointed out, by
including 25 per cent "dead mileage," which is the distance a vehicle must
make to return to the rank after completing a journey.
More than 63% of licensed cabbies who took part in the Metro consultation
claimed an increase in fare rates was necessary, while 59% did not want
the fare calculation formula abandoning.
One cabbie told Mr Kimber: "If you saw the sort of people we have to deal
with at weekend ... you will see we deserve to double the fares!"

Source: Wigan Today

Well which ever pillock from the trade agreed to that needs shooting.

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IDFIMH

Umm am I missing something, I work as an independent = no radio, no data base. So if I do 30,000 miles per year, surely 15,000 is dead mileage i.e 50%, or is my maths out.Or do they just negotiate with the operators.

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

No you are not missing anything.

What the stupid trade, or their reps, have done is to negotiate a tariff that's way to low, via a flawed formula.

Say a car does 50,000 miles a year, and the running costs (including drivers wages, cost of car, insurance, fuel, servicing, licensing etc) is £30,000. If you had no dead mileage that would mean the formula would say 60p a mile. If you had 25% dead mileage it would be 80p a mile, and if you ran at a more sensible dead-mileage, say 40%, then the mileage rate would be a more sensible £1 a mile.

Yes I know everyone is different, and £1 a mile ain't worth a toss, but the above just shows that by running a 25% dead-mileage formula the driver is losing 20% each job.

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IDFIMH