A meeting next week will consider a proposal to increase taxi fares in the City by 4%.
A new fares chart is proposed (see below)
If no objections are received the new fares will be implemented on 1st May 2021.
The meeting will also receive an update report on the controversial issue of private hire vehicles – including UBER – which are licensed in another local authority area and who are picking up fares in York. The committee is being advised that this is not unlawful.
From 26 March 2017 there will be a number of fare changes introduced on York’s Park & Ride network.
The Council claims, “These changes have been introduced in line with national inflation and earnings data and to help meet the operational costs of running York’s high-quality Park & Ride service”.
There was of course no fall in fare levels when the price of fuel plummeted 2 years ago.
The future of the park and ride service remains unclear following the failure of the Council to attract any bids to run the services under strict new contract rules. First has had its contract extended for a short period of time.
New fares are:
How taxi fares are calculated. click to enlarge
A freedom of Information response has confirmed that a reduction of taxi fares in York is necessary to reflect falling fuel prices
In 2014 fuel costs fell by 8% while last year the drop was a further 13%.
An overall reduction in taxi fare levels of 0.77% was due from April 2015 (which was never implemented) with an further 0.96% drop now required.
The reductions do not reflect only the drop in fuel prices as other factors including wage increases (+4.5%) and the costs of maintenance and insurance, are included in the fare calculation.
No statements on taxi fares – or indeed bus fare costs on subsidised services – have been made by the York Council.
The Councils offer to provide free bus travel at weekends during January and February appears to have flopped.During the first weekend in January, fewer than half the number of young passengers travelled by bus than had done so on the equivalent weekend in 2015!
The floods were blamed for a downturn in bus travel generally.
However, the following two weekends were also a disappointment for those who thought that cost was discouraging bus travel.
Figures revealed that a similar number of young people travelled by bus as had done so in January 2015.
The low take up means that only £28,000 of the allocated £100,000 budget has been used.
A meeting on 11th February is being recommended to terminate the trial at the end of February. It is likely that a survey of young people will be undertaken to try to better understand their transport needs.
