Gwynedd Council look to raise taxi fares

Cabbies ask council to revisit proposed increase

A request to revisit a proposed price increase for taxi drivers in Gwynedd has been made after the local council received a number of emails asking for a "rethink".

Taxi drivers, who have not seen an increase since 2011, have seen their fees for driver and taxi vehicle licences increase as the council attempts to recover the costs of processing and administrating licences. 

The council recognised that although there had been no increase in fuel costs on average since 2011, the appropriate insurance cost for licensed vehicles has increased.

The proposed increase for a taxi journey maximum fare had been calculated by adding inflation at an average of 2.6% per year to the price of a journey per mile that was fixed in 2011. However, following a consultation on the maximum fare, a number of emails were received from individuals within the taxi industry, and also a member of the public. One respondent raised the point that he did not feel that the maximum price of £45 for cleaning the inside of a taxi vehicle if a vehicle was soiled by a customer was sufficient to recover the true cost. It was suggested that the maximum fee should be raised to £70. The point was also raised that it would be difficult to find spare change if they operated the proposed maximum fare. Another respondent from the taxi industry noted that he was of the opinion that the price of the first mile should be re-calculated. The one respondent who was not from the taxi industry stated that better integration was required between the various forms of public transport, and that consideration should be given to subsidising taxi journeys. The recommendation was made that the Committee considered the responses, and approved the proposal to increase the maximum fare that the taxi industry can charge for journeys in the County's taxis.

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