Public consultation on changes to taxi tariffs in Wokingham Borough
Wokingham Borough Council needs to hear your views on proposals from local cabbies to increase taxi fares. Taxi Fares which are fixed by Wokingham Borough Council have not increased since 2010.
The drivers have written to the Council asking for the fares to be increased to take into account the dramatic increase in the cost of living. .
At last night’s Licensing and Appeals Committee Meeting (26 January 2022) councillors considered this request from the trade. The drivers asked councillors to consider increasing the fares to reflect the actual cost of living and the compounded rate of inflation since 2010.
Mr Mahmood Behroozi, who had submitted the request, commented that ‘It is shocking to see that price of diesel running above £1.50 per litre which is roughly 25% (more for larger taxis) of business cost. Just in the past few months as demand has gone up, the cost of service parts and labour has gone up by 25% on average. ‘
The changes, if agreed, would see the time at which meters changed from one tariff to the next being brought forward from 23h00 to 22h30, the initial flag distance being reduced from 863 yards to 440 yards and the cost per mile being increased from £2.10 to £2.90 for journeys undertaken between 06h00 and 22h30. The drivers were also proposing changes to tariffs 2 (applied between 22h30 and 06h00 and on bank holidays) and 3 (Christmas and New Year’s Eve and Days and Boxing Day). The changes would mean that a five mile day time journey would now cost £16.60 instead of £12.50.
The drivers were also asking that the charge for the interior of a vehicle being soiled increase from £50 to £75 and for the exterior of vehicles from £10 t0 £15. The final request was that they be able to charge an additional £2.00 per passenger where more than four passengers were being transported.
The Chairman of the Committee Councillor Barrie Patman stated that the role of the Licensing and Appeals committee was to strike a balance between the legitimate aims of the taxi trade to maintain profitability in the face of increasing costs, while protecting the public from excessive fares.
The Committee therefore agreed that they would seek out the views of residents and the trade via a consultation exercise which would run from the 03rd February to midnight on the 17th February 2022 which was in line with the statutory requirements for any consultation to vary the fares.
Detailed information about the MAXIMUM fares that are being proposed across the three tariff scales and how to respond to the consultation can be found at:
https://publicprotectionpartnership.org.uk/licensing/consultations/
Residents are being urged to make their views on these proposals known. If any objections are received and not withdrawn they will be discussed at the next Licensing and Appeals Committee on the 02 March. If no objections are received the revised fares will come into operation on the 18th February 2022.
