HIGH TAXI DEMAND: Cabbies say PASSENGERS should now pay taxi booking fees
Nearly 70% of taxi drivers now feel the PASSENGER should pay commission fees for taxi app bookings rather than drivers.
Demand for taxi services has reached new highs due to a plethora of reasons. A shortage of private hire drivers, pent up demand and even shortages of taxi vehicles themselves have kept taxi drivers busy throughout 2022.
Users of taxi-hailing apps have struggled to secure a taxi as a result. With demand high, cabbies have been able to choose how they receive job offers.
Taxi drivers are charged between 10-20% of the metered fare to accept bookings. They may also be subjected to card payment fees on top of those booking fees.
According to 662 TaxiPoint readers polled, 69% thought the customer should pay the fees associated with booking a cab. Just 31% thought taxi drivers should pay the fees from the metered amount.
Street work and taxi rank demand is rocketing which provides drivers with the full fare as revenue. The immediate nature of the hail also reduces high fuel costs and negates dead-mileage travelling to pick-ups.
The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) has also received enquires about the rules around customers paying booking fees, rather than the driver.
Lloyd Baldwin, LTDA Executive SO, said in TAXI Newspaper: “I’ve taken several calls lately from members enquiring if they can add £2 extras when accepting a job from an app company.
“I think this goes back to the days when some of us were on radio circuits. I myself was on Dial a Cab and when someone called them ordering a cab and they wanted to pay for the cab in cash (remember that), it meant that because the person ordering did not have an account with Dial a Cab, they did not get a booking fee.
“So, to get some income from the booking Dial a Cab charged the driver £2 per cash job and took it from the credit work for that week. This was then passed on to the customer by the cabbie with him or her adding £2 on the extras.
“We have enquired about the legality of this with TfL who came back advising drivers to look in the terms and conditions of which ever app they use.”
