Taxi Driver Online

This is an official council press release, so no moaning from drivers who think their human rights will be breached, etc

It doesn't actually say, but the spiel near the end implies that it might apply to PHVs as well as HCs, which I think bucks the trend a bit - it usually only applies to HCs.


Taxis in St Albans District may soon have to accept contactless payments and no longer be cash only

https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/news/taxis- ... -cash-only

All taxis operating in St Albans District may soon have to accept contactless payments and no longer choose to be cash only.

The proposed rule is intended to improve public safety by ensuring people are not left stranded because they do not have cash.

It comes in response to a growing number of complaints from people who were unable to get a taxi late at night because they only had a card.

Officers from St Albans City and District Council, which licenses taxis within its area, conducted an inspection of taxi activity one night in November last year.

They witnessed a woman at the City’s main rail station being refused a cab four times because she had no cash and could only pay by card.

She was faced with a long walk home in the dark before she finally found a taxi that would take her.

Members of the Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee unanimously supported the proposal to oblige taxis to be equipped with card machines at its meeting on Tuesday 17 January.

The machines are able to take contactless payments from mobile phone apps such as Apple Pay as well as bank cards.

A four-week consultation will now be held with the final decision on whether to implement the rule being delegated to a senior Council officer.

Councillor Raj Visram, the Committee’s Chair, said after the meeting:

"Many of our licensed taxis carry card machines already, but there are some that still choose not to.

"The Committee felt very strongly that we need to bring in this new rule for taxi drivers to accept contactless payments as soon as possible. It is clear we have the public behind us as there has been an increasing number of complaints about cash-only cabs.

"Since we came out of the Covid lockdowns, more people have been using their card or phone to pay for things and are no longer carrying cash.

"This new rule recognises that we live in a digital age and will also improve public safety by making sure people are not left in a potentially vulnerable situation by not having cash to pay for a taxi home.

"Our taxi drivers’ representatives were consulted about the proposal and they have accepted the need to move in this direction. It will also be good for their trade as those drivers who choose to be cash only are actually missing a lot of business.

The Council licenses taxis classed as either hackney carriage or private hire vehicles that operate within the District.

Hackney carriages can pick customers up from anywhere in the District including designated taxi ranks and from the street after being flagged down.

Those licensed to operate in the District are identifiable by their colours of white with a yellow stripe, the only exceptions being some black London-style cabs.

Private hire vehicles have to be booked in advance for specific journeys.

If the new rule comes into force, drivers unable to take contactless payments will risk losing their licence.

Media Contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.

Well after the rigmarole in Colchester, or wherever it was, this is a bit different

I still really haven't come across a good reason why mandatory card reader policies shouldn't apply equally to PH as to hackneys.

But many councils only mandate hackneys.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, it seems to be similar to the basic argument entailing more regulation for HCs as opposed to PHVs. The public hire market is considered anti-consumer because first car gets the job, so there's no competitive incentive to adopt even basic quality and safety standards. By contrast, as the argument goes, in private hire markets the customer can shop around, and if they don't like one provider, they can try another. Therefore in private hire markets if the consumer wants higher standards and wants to pay for them, then they can choose whichever provider they want, and the market works to achieve that.

It's basically the same argument which says HC tariffs must be regulated, but PH tariffs don't - at the rank the sky would be the limit unless councils controlled fares, while there's more price transparency and competition as regards private hire.

Of course, in reality things aren't quite so binary and clear cut. But, in general, and although it varies between councils, most of them regulate HCs more stringently than PHs.

Well it looks like the official has decided that card readers will be mandatory...

But reading this press release in isolation, you'd assume the decision was made by councillors, because it just says that the council has decided

Note also that the council uses the t-word generically, so it looks like the rule will apply to both HC and PH

But the making contactless payments a 'mandatory option' in the headline sounds contradictory and a bit confusing

Of course, what it means is that it's mandatory for the driver to accept contactless, but optional for the passenger


Contactless payments made a mandatory option for taxis in St Albans District

https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/news/contac ... s-district

All taxis operating in St Albans District will have to accept contactless payments and can no longer be cash only.

The rule is intended to improve public safety by ensuring people are not left stranded because they do not have cash.

It follows to a growing number of complaints from people who were unable to get a taxi late at night because they only had a card.

The decision to make a contactless payments option mandatory was made by St Albans City and District Council, which licenses taxis within its area, after consulting with taxi drivers and their representatives.

Taxi drivers will have until Wednesday 3 May to comply with the new regulation by equipping their vehicles with card machines or they risk losing their licence.

The machines are able to take contactless payments from mobile phone apps such as Apple Pay as well as bank cards.

Councillor Raj Visram, Chair of the Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee, said:

"Many taxis carry card machines already, but there are some that still choose not to.

"We felt there was clear support for making contactless payments a mandatory option as more and more people no longer carry cash.

"We live in a digital age and this new rule not only recognises that, but will also improve public safety by ensuring people are not left in a vulnerable situation by not having cash to pay for a taxi home.

"This change will also be good for the local taxi trade as those drivers who chose to be cash only were missing a lot of business."

The Council licenses taxis classed as either hackney carriage or private hire vehicles that operate within the District.

Hackney carriages can pick customers up from anywhere in the District including designated taxi ranks and from the street after being flagged down.

Those licensed to operate in the District are identifiable by their colours of white with a yellow stripe, the only exceptions being some black London-style cabs.

Private hire vehicles have to be booked in advance for specific journeys.

Media Contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.

clearly doesn't understand that if they've no money in the bank then their cards will be declined

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

Clearly don’t understand that you can legally demand payment in advance.

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Former taxi driver

correct which means they would be left stranded

If I was referring to payment at journeys end then they wouldn't be stranded

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

Councillors delegated the final decision to officers following the four-week consultation period.

Begs the question as to why they got involved in the first place.

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IDFIMH

As ever, hilarious, young man.

It is surely writ everywhere, as well as say Lincoln, or Stamford, or Brighton, that a driver of a hackney carriage “shall not unreasonably refuse to carry”

So, where it would be reasonable to refuse to carry, because the intending passenger did not have the wherewithal to pay for the requested journey, it would be UNreasonable to refuse to carry because the passenger could pay the fare by a standard method of payment, by debit/ credit card, and not by barter of chickens, say.
A pound to a pinch of schiessen, the drivers who refuse to accept card payment are sat on a big fat wallet stuffed with cash, and er, debit,credit cards that they use on a regular basis.

As a retired taxi driver, I rarely use cash nowadays, be it in a pub, or paying bills, or whatever. The minimum card operators will process is one pound, so that’s no excuse, now is it?

Lincoln city council went cashless years ago, as I suspect so did many others.

Cherry picking, tax avoiding dinosaurs.

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Former taxi driver