Review of taxi (black cab) fares and tariffs 2024

Why

We regularly review taxi (black cab) fares and normally make changes once a year, following a public consultation. Taxis are an important part of London’s transport services. They provide an accessible option for people who may find using public transport difficult and offer an alternative to the use of private cars, which can contribute to improving congestion and air quality. We want to ensure that taxi drivers are able to cover their operating costs and are paid fairly for their work. This helps ensure that being a taxi driver remains an attractive career option.

The number of licensed taxi drivers has been falling for several years. So it’s important to try and find a balance between taxi drivers being able to cover their costs and be paid fairly, and the public not using taxis as the fares are too expensive.

When we review fares and tariffs, we use the Cost Index which takes into account changes in taxi drivers’ operating costs and changes in average national earnings. You can read more about the Cost Index here.

This year taxi driver operating costs have increased by 4.17%, with average national earnings increasing by 3.31%.

We try to strike a balance between drivers being fairly paid and taxi customers being charged a fair and affordable fare.

Fares and Tariffs

Taxi fares are calculated using different tariffs. There are three tariffs covering shorter journeys (six miles or less). Tariff 1 covers journeys made during Monday to Friday day times, Tariff 2 covers journeys made during weekday evenings and the daytime on Saturday and Sunday, and Tariff 3 covers journeys made at night time and on public holidays.

Tariff 4 covers any part of a journey over six miles. In all the options, Tariff 4 would be amended to be the same as Tariff 2.

You can find the current tariff rates on our website.

There is a minimum fare charged, which is currently £3.80. We are considering changes to both the minimum fare and Tariffs 1, 2 and 3, and would like to hear your views.

Minimum fare

We would like to know if you think we should:

• Freeze the minimum fare at £3.80
• Increase the minimum fare by 20 pence to £4.00
• Increase the minimum fare by 40 pence to £4.20
  
  

Tariffs 1, 2 and 3

We are considering seven options for Tariffs 1, 2 and 3 and would like to hear your views on what we should do so. If you think we should, do you think we should base the increase on the full Cost Index figure of 7.48%, or the driver costs component of the Cost Index figure of 4.17% instead, or even that we should keep the fares as they are?.

Find out more about the Cost Index.

In all these options, Tariff 4 would be increased to be the same as Tariff 2.

Please click on options for further details.

Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Extra

Taxi drivers have to pay a fee in order to enter the taxi ‘feeder park’ at Heathrow Airport before they can proceed to one of the taxi ranks at the Heathrow terminals. Drivers are able to add on a ‘Heathrow Extra’ to the fare to help them cover this additional cost. Usually the ‘Heathrow Extra’ will cover around half of the full cost of accessing the taxi feeder park.

Heathrow Airport can decide to increase or decrease the fee it charges taxi drivers to access the feeder park.

The Airport have reduced the amount drivers pay from £3.60 – the cost in 2023 – to £3.00.

We are accordingly proposing to reduce the Heathrow Extra from £2.00 to £1.60 and would like to know what you think about this.

Heathrow Terminals Drop Off Charge (TDOC)

Since 2021, Heathrow Airport have charged drivers, including taxi drivers, a fee when they are dropping off passengers at one of the airport terminal forecourts. We have accordingly allowed drivers to add a charge to fares and pass on this cost to their customers.

The TDOC is currently £5.00, and Heathrow Airport have advised that they intend to increase this to £6.00 from January 2025. Taxi drivers can currently add up to £5.20 to their customers’ fare.

We would like to know your views on whether we should:

• Increase the amount drivers can add to fares when dropping off at the airport from £5.20 to £6.00
• Decrease the amount drivers can add to fares when dropping off at the airport to less than £5.20
• Freeze the amount at £5.20
• Remove the additional charge altogether

You can let us know what you think of these proposals by completing our survey.

Taxicard

The Taxicard scheme provides subsidised journeys, usually by black cab, for Londoners who are mobility or visually impaired. The scheme is managed by TfL and the London boroughs. Taxicard members pay a contribution towards the cost of their journey and the rest – up to a maximum fare – is subsidised. Members are allowed a fixed number of journeys on their Taxicard per year.

If you are a Taxicard member the proposals may affect you as taxi fares could increase. This may mean you are able to use your Taxicard for fewer journeys.

We have assessed the potential impact of our proposals in our Impact assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) document. In summary:

Increasing taxi tariffs/minimum fare

• Increasing the minimum fare and/or tariffs could impact negatively on Taxicard members as this would increase fares. This could mean that Taxicard members would not be able to travel as far before the capped fare is reached
  
  
• This could mean that the capped fare would need to be increased, or that Taxicard members would not be able to make as many subsidised journeys. It may also lead to less availability of taxis for Taxicard journeys
  
  
• However, increasing fares could have positive aspects for Taxicard users if this ensures that more drivers continue to work and more people want to be taxi drivers, as it could increase the number of taxis available, including for Taxicard members
  
  

No change to taxi tariffs or minimum fare

• Freezing the minimum fare and tariffs could be positive for Taxicard members, as it means fares would not increase and they would have the same number of Taxicard journeys available for them to use
  
  
• However, this could also be negative for Taxicard members as taxi drivers may choose to do jobs other than Taxicard journeys, as they only receive 90 per cent of the Taxicard fare. This could result in fewer taxis being available for Taxicard members, with longer waits for an available taxi
  
  
• Not increasing fares when taxi drivers’ operating costs and average national earnings have increased could result in taxi drivers choosing to leave the trade, and fewer people becoming taxi drivers, leading to a decrease overall in taxis being available, including for Taxicard members
  
  

We would like to hear your views about this, including from Taxicard members, please complete our survey.

More Information

We have provided more information to help you respond.

You can also use our question tool during the consultation period. We will respond to your questions as soon as we can.

You can also contact us by email, via our telephone call back service (020 3054 6037) or in writing (FREEPOST TFL HAVE YOUR SAY).

Accessible Information

We want to make sure everyone is able to take part in our consultations. To help make it accessible to everyone we have provided:

Tell us your views

You can reply by completing our survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete or if you are short on time, you can submit a quick response.

The closing date for comments is Monday 2 December 2024.

Next steps

This consultation closes on 2 December 2024. We will use the feedback from the consultation to develop our recommendations for any changes to taxi (black cab) fares for the TfL Finance Committee. The committee will consider our recommendations and make a decision at their meeting on 26 February 2025. Any changes will then be implemented in April 2025.