Review of taxi (black cab) fares and tariffs 2023
Consultation has concluded
Update 15 March 2024
On 13 March 2024 the TfL Finance Committee decided to approve our recommendations and we are able to publish our consultation report which includes our responses to the issues raised during the consultation.
The changes will take effect from 20 April 2024 and the formal notice of the changes has been published on the Licensing and Regulation website.
-update ends-
Update 7 March 2024
We have now considered all the consultation responses, and used these to inform our recommendations to the TfL Finance Committee. We received 1,487 responses and would like to thank everyone who took part.
The Finance Committee will consider the recommendations at its meeting on 13 March 2024. We will publish our consultation report following the meeting. This will include the decisions made by the committee and next steps and our responses to the issues raised during the consultation.
-update ends-
This consultation has now closed. We are analysing your feedback and will publish our Consultation Report in the coming months.
We are reviewing London taxi (black cab) fares and tariffs and are interested in your views on whether these should be increased.
Overview
Options for shorter journeys by taxi (Tariffs 1, 2 and 3)
What are we proposing for longer journeys by taxi (Tariff 4)?
Other potential changes – booked taxi extra, Heathrow extra and Wimbledon Tennis Championship fixed fares
Why are we considering these changes?
Taxicard scheme
Other considerations
Information to help you respond
Tell us your views
Overview
We are considering increases to the fares for shorter taxi (black cab) journeys (Tariffs 1, 2 and 3) and making the fares for longer taxi journeys (Tariff 4) higher.
We are also proposing changes to the extra charge for booked taxis, the additional charge for taking a taxi from one of the taxi ranks at Heathrow Airport, and the fixed-fare shared-taxi scheme that operates during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
We review taxi (black cab) fares each year. The fares were last increased in 2023. You can see current fares for using a taxi on our website.
When we review black cab fares, we take a number of factors into consideration. We do this by using the Cost Index and this takes into account changes in costs for taxi drivers, and how much general earnings have changed over the past year.
Options for shorter journeys by taxi (Tariffs 1, 2 and 3)
When we review taxi fares and tariffs, we try to strike an appropriate balance between drivers being fairly paid and taxi users getting fair and affordable fares.
- Tariff 1 covers journeys of less than six miles made during Monday to Friday day times
- Tariff 2 covers journeys of less than six miles made during weekday evenings, and daytimes and evenings at the weekends
- Tariff 3 covers journeys made during the night
We would like to hear your views on whether we should increase taxi fares to take into account increased taxi driver costs, increased national earnings, or a combination of both. We would also like to know if you think we should not change the fares.
We have given some examples for these proposals. For example, the fare for a one mile journey on Tariff 1, based only on distance but not time, is £6.80. This would change to:
- £7.20 with Option 1
- £7.00 with Option 2
- £7.20 with Option 3
What are we proposing for longer journeys by taxi (Tariff 4)?
Tariff 4 relates to any journey, at any time of day, any day of the week, which is longer than six miles. Once six miles is reached the tariff will change from 1, 2 or 3 to Tariff 4 automatically.
We have not increased Tariff 4 for four years, and the rate for Tariff 4 is now lower than for Tariffs 2 and 3.
We are proposing making Tariff 4 the same as Tariff 2. This means that the cost of trips which are longer than six miles would increase for journeys made during the day times (Tariff 1) would stay the same for journeys made during evenings and in the daytime at weekends (Tariff 2) and decrease for journeys made during the night (Tariff 3).
Other potential changes – booked taxi extra, Heathrow extra and Wimbledon Tennis Championship fixed fares
Booked taxi extra
There is an additional charge for taxi journeys which are booked by phone, online or via an app. This is currently £2.00.
We would like to hear your views on whether you think this extra charge should be increased, and if so by how much.
Heathrow extra
Taxi drivers who use taxi ranks at Heathrow Airport have to use a ‘taxi feeder park’ for which the airport charges a fee. A charge is added to the fare to help drivers pay for this. Until recently Heathrow Airport charged taxi drivers £7.20 to use the feeder area, and the additional charge taxi drivers can add to the fare is currently £3.60.
As Heathrow Airport have reduced the costs of using the feeder park to £3.60, we propose reducing the additional charge taxi drivers can add to the fare to £2.00.
Wimbledon Tennis Championships fixed fare scheme
A fixed-fare scheme for people wishing to share a taxi between the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and Wimbledon and Southfields stations operates during the annual Championship fortnight.
The current cost is £2.50 per passenger. The shared taxi scheme can result in a shorter wait for a taxi to or from the station. During the most recent Wimbledon Championship it was reported that there was a lack of taxis available, especially during the evening peak for customers travelling from the tennis to the stations.
We are considering whether to increase to the fixed fare per passenger and would like your views. This could be in both directions, or in the morning or evening only.
Click here for more details about these proposed changes.
Why are we considering these changes?
It is important that taxi drivers are able to cover their operating costs and are fairly paid. This helps ensure that working as a taxi driver remains an attractive choice of career.
Taxis provide an important service, including for people who are less able to use public transport. They also provide an alternative to using a private car, which can contribute to improving congestion and air quality.
When we review taxi fares and tariffs we try to strike an appropriate balance between drivers being fairly paid and taxi users getting fair and affordable fares.
Taxi drivers’ operating costs have increased by 5.2%, partly as a result of increases in vehicle costs, electric/charging costs and insurance costs.
We also consider changes in average national earnings. This year, this has increased by 3.7%.
Click here to find out more background information and further details about why we are reviewing taxi fares and tariffs.
Taxicard scheme
T
he Taxicard scheme provides subsidised taxi journeys – usually made by black cabs – for Londoners who are mobility or visually impaired. It is managed by London Councils and funded by TfL and the London boroughs. Taxicard members pay a contribution to the cost of the trip and the remainder – up to a maximum value - is subsidised. Members are allowed a fixed number of journeys per year which they can make on their Taxicard.
These proposals could affect you if you are a Taxicard member as the costs of some journeys may increase. Depending on how you use the scheme, this may mean you cannot make as many trips using our Taxicard.
You can find more detailed information on Taxicard here.
Other considerations
We have carried out an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) to ensure we are carefully considering the needs of groups with protected characteristics. We have also provided further information supporting the assessment. We are keen to hear from you if you feel you will be impacted by these proposals.
As well as our EQIA we also assess other factors and whether our proposals will have a positive or negative effect. These include economic and environmental impacts, for example whether increasing fares has a positive or negative impact on drivers and the public, and the impact on vehicle emissions and air quality.
You can read more about the factors we take into consideration here.
Information to help you respond
We have provided a range of background documents in PDF and Word format in our Document library (including details of how we calculate taxi fares and our role in the regulation and licensing of taxi service.
You can use the question tool on this page during the consultation period. We will respond your questions as soon as we can.
We want our consultation to be accessible to everyone and have provided:
- An Easy Read version of our consultation materials and survey
- A copy of our consultation survey in PDF and Word format, in case you would prefer to print a copy to complete and return by post.
Connecting with London's deaf community on our consultations
- British Sign Language video of the proposal and survey
To further enhance how we engage and consult with London's deaf community we are trialling a British Sign Language (BSL) consultation conversation service for this consultation. This service will allow the TfL consultation lead to have a two-way BSL translated discussion on any aspect of this consultation with a BSL speaker.
To request a BSL consultation conversation please contact us at haveyoursay@tfl.gov.uk and we will be in contact to arrange this at a convenient time. Following this trial, we will evaluate the service to determine if this is something we are able to offer on other consultations in the future.
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