MARCH 2009
PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY ANDFEES
LONDON CAB FARES TO RISE BY 3.4 PER CENT
Black cab fares in the capital are to rise by 3.4 per cent, it was announced last month.
The move by Transport for London follows the six per cent increase on Tube fares imple- mented by Boris Johnson last month. It will mean an extra 68p on a £20 taxi journey from 4 April.
An additional 40p flat rate will be charged if fuel prices hit 147.1p per litre between 4 April and 1 January 2010.
Ed Thompson, taxi and private hire director at TfL’s Public Carriage Office, told the Evening Standard: “These new fares take
into account increased costs over the year,
reflect
changes in national average earnings and encourage taxi drivers to provide top quality service.”
Stephen Critchley, TfL’s director of finance, said that Tube fares could fall by two per cent next year - a saving of £21 on an annual Zone 1 and 2 Travelcard.
Mr Critchley said: “Our current forecast for the RPI in July 2009 will be minus three per cent; there- fore if you follow the business plan fares would go down by two per cent in January 2010.”
INCREASED COSTS WILL BE PASSED ON TO CUSTOMERS, WARN
STAFFS MOORLANDS CAB FIRMS
Rises in the costs of operating private hire vehicles in the Stafford- shire Moorlands will have to be passed on to passengers, owners of the businesses have warned.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council is plan- ning to increase its licence fee for private hire vehicles to £171 from April, an increase of £6. The authority’s licens- ing and regulatory committee has also decided that the cost of licensing an operating base for such vehicles will rise from £86 to £89. The authority says that both increases are in line with current inflation levels.
The committee also
agreed to freeze the hackney carriage licensing fee at £125 per year, in an effort to attract more operators to the Staffordshire Moorlands.
At present, the district council’s hackney car- riage licence register contains just five names. The numbers on the pri- vate hire operators licences number 23, with 30-plus vehicles on the authority’s register. Cllr Jason Hails, chair- man of the district council’s licensing and regulatory committee, told the Leek Post and Times: “It was decided to freeze the hackney carriage licensing fee at £125 in an effort to attract more operators.
“At the moment, there are only five hackney carriages operating in Staffordshire Moorlands. “The licensing fee for private hire vehicles will rise from £165 to £171 from April, while the cost of licensing an operating base for such vehicles will increase from £86 to £89. Both rises are in line with inflation.”
Cllr Gill Burton, portfo- lio holder for communities, said: “In setting the charges for licensing applications, we have to strike a bal- ance between covering our costs and support- ing the local economy, especially during the current downturn. “By freezing charges
where desirable, I’m confident we have the balance right”. However, operators of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles say the increases in charges will have to be passed on to passen- gers. They are already having to cope with steep rises in fuel and insurance costs.
Anthony Malkin, of Malkins Private Hire in Leek said: “We will have to pass on any increas- es. They always seem to increase charges much more than inflation.” Glyn Jones, of A2B Pri- vate Hire in Leek, said: “I don’t think the council has heard of the reces- sion. They seem to ride rough shod over us.”
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HARROGATE FIRMS’ BATTLE OVER WHETHER
FARES RISE IS FAIR
A row has broken out over changes to taxi fares across the Harro- gate district, with some firms pushing for a rise of more than four per cent while others want a price freeze.
Harrogate Council has proposed a three-and- a-half per cent rise in the maximum fare, but, with a week to appeal, the decision the rival groups are pressing the authority to change its mind. If it rubber-stamps the changes, the new prices will come into effect from April 1. Max- imum daytime starting fares will increase from £2.80 to £2.90, with the distance for each sub- sequent 20p increase being cut by about three-and-a-half per cent.
Night tariffs would also rise, increasing the ini-
tial fare from £4.20 to £4.35 and making iden- tical changes to subsequent charges. There are 434 taxi driv- ers currently licensed by the council. The 149 black cabs are duty- bound to stay below the maximum fare. Richard Fieldman, who represents 20 drivers in the Ripon Taxi Associa- tion, and is a member of the Harrogate and District Hackney Car- riage and Private Hire Association, said an increase of four-and-a- half per cent was needed. “We have had to shoul- der a lot of expense and we’re significantly out of pocket,” he said. “Due to the credit crunch our trade is suf- fering quite badly, drivers are having to work more hours, it’s getting dangerously
excessive now.” But Mark Leaver, chair- man of the Harrogate Hackney Carriage Association which comprises around 65 black cab drivers, said the planned increases would put people off travelling by taxi. “We’re in the midst of a serious downturn. Passengers don’t want this increase. We’re all going to get stung by this,” he told the Harrogate Adver- tiser.
Cllr Les Ellington, who with council officer Gareth Bentley will make the final decision, said he was in a no-win situation.
“Every year we sit down and try to find some ground where we can agree, but this is one of those jobs where you can’t win,” he said.
DON’T INCREASE FARES
OR WE’LL LOSE CUSTOMERS SAY WIGAN CABBIES
Good news at last. Wigan’s cab fares are being frozen - by order of the drivers.
The borough’s 136 hackney cab drivers have told the Metro that they don’t want any increase at all this year because of the econom- ic situation.
They are worried that any increase will drive customers away and could damage the trade in the longer term by pushing more cus- tomers into the seats of the private hire industry. Last year fares were increased by between seven and 12 per cent depending on the dis- tance travelled.
That meant the maxi- mum for a one-mile journey went up from £2.90 to £3.10, with a four-mile trip rising from £7.40 to £8.30.
Ronnie Melling, secre-
tary of the Unite cab drivers’ union, said the trade believed that keeping fares at 2008 levels this year was the correct move.
He told the Wigan Evening Post: “We held a meeting and consult- ed opinion on the ranks and the majority opin- ion was, with the credit crunch that it would be right to keep the fares as they are. “We would normally start negotiations around about now with, hopefully, any rise in fares being applied from around about March. “Drivers have told the council that we won’t be seeking any increase and, if the council were to try and apply one, we wouldn’t take it up. “We will be considering our position in the autumn for the following year although, from what
we are now hearing, the position might not be much brighter then. “When we had the rise last year, some drivers didn’t want it because there were fears that the business was becoming too expensive and was driving people away.” A spokesman for the Metro said: “It is normal procedure for the coun- cil, as licensing authority, to review the level of fares every year. “However, it is correct that this year the taxi trade have told us that they don’t think that any increase would be appropriate because of the recession.
“Therefore, there won’t be a review this year. “The initiative has come from them in this instance and we applaud their foresight and public spirited- ness.”
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