Hackney carriage fare rise approved

Operators of hackney carriages, which can use taxi ranks or be requested in the street, can now increase their starting fares by 40p after Stafford Borough Council cabinet members gave the go-ahead this month.

The rise means that a two-mile journey by hackney carriage will go up to £6.50 on “tariff one”. A higher “tariff 2” can be charged for hires starting between 12am and 7am on any day, between 6pm and 11pm on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve or on any public bank holiday.

The national average cost for two mile “tariff one” fares is £6.55, a report to the cabinet said. This means Stafford Borough is below the national average – but is now charging the one of the highest fares across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.

Tamworth has recently seen a fare rise, bringing a two-mile hackney carriage journey up to £7.12. As of September a similar journey cost £5.10 in neighbouring South Staffordshire and £5.90 in Stoke-on-Trent.

The report added: “The local authority controls the maximum fares charged by hackney carriages. This is enforced through the use of a meter for all journeys, which measures a combination of time and distance travelled.

“Taxi fares are set at a maximum and, in principle, are open to downward negotiation between passenger and driver, although at ranks or for on-street hailing, this could result in confrontation or unreasonable customer expectations. However, local licensing authorities can make it clear that published fares are a maximum, especially in the context of telephone bookings, where the customer benefits from competition.

“Members of the taxi trade have requested that the fares be increased which, in effect, is an extra 40p on the starting rate of the journey. There are no other changes requested within the mileage tariffs.

“During the consultation period there have been no objections received from the public and only one comment out of 199 consultees within the taxi trade. The comment made several criticisms regarding the cost of living and asked for a higher rise than requested.”

Councillors heard that the borough has lost taxi drivers during the past two years for reasons including illness, the effect of inflation and better pay in other sectors. The main costs for the trade are fuel, vehicle purchase. maintenance, insurance and labour.

Councillor Mark Winnington, cabinet member for environment, said: “We’ve had a significant loss of licensed drivers since the Covid-19 pandemic. Sadly two members of the trade have died (from Covid-19).

“The overall decline has been in the region of 26 to 30%. We are losing taxi drivers at a quite frightening rate really.

“The proposal is we add 40p to the initial payment. That will help the drivers to carry on delivering a service for the residents of Stafford Borough.

“We have done a check against the national Hackney carriage fare table (for a two-mile journey). Cannock Chase with their new fare rate will be £6.40 and Stafford are looking to take it for a two mile journey up to £6.50, so we are midway on the league table.”

Council leader Patrick Farringtion said: “I wasn’t aware we had lost such a high proportion of drivers – that’s an interesting thing to raise. In terms of the fact that a taxi requires petrol, we know of the effect on local drivers.”