A proposal for how much black cab taxi fares could go up by in Reading has been agreed.

Periodically black cab taxi fares charged by the town’s licensed drivers are reviewed to take into account inflation, fuel prices and other pressures.

The drivers have the power to propose fare increases for the council to consider.

At a recent meeting, Reading Borough Council’s licensing applications committee considered four options for how much fares could be increased by.

Drivers can charge through four tariffs: a day fare from 6am to 10pm, and a night fare from 10pm to 6am and these periods on public holidays including Christmas and New Year’s.

Each journey has a flag drop then charges accumulate depending on the amount of ‘yardage’ which is at 20p for day and night journeys.

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Amir Riaz, the vice chair of the Reading Taxi Association, proposed two options for consideration, which involved reducing the chargeable yardage, with charges effectively kicking in more often.

Two alternative options put forward by cab driver Imran Ali proposed more substantial reductions to the chargeable yardage.

Mr Riaz voiced fears that higher fare increases could scare customers off.

He said: “We don’t only look after our drivers, we look after our customers.

“It’s a medium that we’ve seen, somewhere we can meet.

“Hopefully it’ll be something that can lead us to be a better situation later on.

“A big jump might make us land nowhere.

“Yes we need an increase, but not one big jump.”

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Meanwhile, Mr Ali argued more substantive increases would rebalance fares, stating that the RTA had failed to propose incremental fare increases for years.

But Mr Riaz stated that fares could not be decreased after more substantial increases.

He said: “I don’t want it to jump up and then not be able to come back down.”

However,  councillor Simon Robinson (Conservative, Emmer Green) disagreed with that view, arguing that fares could be decreased if they are not working out.

Reading Chronicle: Black cab drivers queuing at a taxi rank in Garrard Street, Reading town centre. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting ServiceBlack cab drivers queuing at a taxi rank in Garrard Street, Reading town centre. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

A hybrid option combining fare proposals from Mr Riaz and Mr Ali was floated by Mark Groves, a senior licensing officer for the council.

Although Mr Groves was praised for being diplomatic, cllr Richard Davies (Labour, Thames) voiced concerns that numbers were being “thrown in the air” and that any proposals should be written down.

It was agreed that such a hybrid option could be considered in the future if it is written down and has support from the relevant parties.

Ultimately, the licensing applications committee unanimously decided to accept the RTA’s ‘option 1’ for fare increases.

You can view tweets from the meeting as it happened here: 

The changes would effect an eight per cent increase for day fares and 10 per cent increase of night fares.

After the flag drop, a 20p charge would come into affect every 123 yards, rather than the 133 yards at the moment.

Instead of a 50 per cent surcharge for journeys on public holidays, RTA’s option 1 instead charges a £5.40 flag drop and 20p yard charge for day fares, and a £6.90 flag drop and 30p yard charge for night fares.

The increases have not come into affect yet.

The committee agreed to hold a statutory consultation into the proposed increases, which are set to be discussed again later this year.