Taxi fares in East Devon won’t be going anywhere for the moment, but potential routes for possible rises look set to be explored.
Maximum fares for Hackney Carriage taxis are set by council decisionmakers, and cover all charges such as the initial fee that appears on a meter when passengers get in, all the way through to soiling charges for those unfortunate incidents in the back of a cab.
In spite of all East Devon’s 140 Hackney Carriage drivers being contacted for their views, just eight responded to the council, with only two of those stating they felt a rise was required.
Raymond Borkowski, who runs Sparky’s Taxis in Honiton, told East Devon District Council’s enforcement and licensing committee he was “not in favour of a rise”, mainly because customers were complaining about the amount on the meter when they got in.
“Having said that, if we have to have a rise, then I would like to see the move-off charge not changed, or not changed upwards.
“It could be that the move-off charge applies to a shorter distance, so when customers get in, they’re not seeing an increased move-off rate, but the metered rate starts sooner.”
Mr Borkowski said passengers had been complaining since the last rise about the figure on the meter when they got in, albeit he stated few understood that this covered passengers for a certain distance and helped pay for taxi overheads.
However, he noted that the last fare rise had cost him around £1,000 in total – when including fuel and driver wages – because of the cost of getting all his 15 taxis to Torquay for the compulsory meter calibration.
George Shorters, chair of the East Devon Taxi Association, told the meeting that his organisation had met recently and a vote was passed in favour of a 5 per cent rise in November, but acknowledged Mr Borkowski’s suggestion could be a legitimate alternative.
“The reason for a pay increase is many fold, as electricity bills have gone up around 13 per cent, and according to motor organisations, it is costing an extra £24 to fill up a vehicle, and the average taxi fills up at least twice a week, and so drivers have been finding it hard.”
A report prepared for the committee proposed a range of possible options – including no rise – and there was a brief suggestion that a decision could be deferred until an assessment of the suggestions given in the meeting had been made.
But Councillor Ian Barlow (Independent, Sidmouth) took issue with that.
“I’m surprised the taxi association has come here and mentioned a 5 per cent increase even though they haven’t bothered to reply to [the council’s survey],” he said.
“I’m just staggered, and if they can’t write in to say they want a rise, and they’re the association, I would go with the information we have in front of us.”
Fares were increased by 2 per cent last year, a report to the committee stated, but this time, councillors opted for no rise, but asked officers to consider two other factors for its next meeting – notably whether 25p extra per person above four passengers could be considered, and also Mr Borkowski’s suggestion of amending the flag drop fare.
For passengers, the decision to freeze maximum fares will be a relief given East Devon is ranked as the 39th most expensive place for taxis out of 341 licensing authority areas.
However, officers stressed that it was difficult to compare councils as like-for-like, given areas such as East Devon were more rural, and so higher fares helped account for elevated ‘dead mileage’ – whereby drivers are returning to their home base without fare-paying passengers.
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