Review of taxi (black cab) fares and tariffs 2025

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 can 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 considers changes in taxi drivers’ operating costs and changes in average national earnings. You can read more about the Cost Index here.

The Cost Index shows that taxi driver operating costs and average national earnings have increased by 4.01%.

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

Taxi 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
• Tariff 3 covers journeys made at night time and on public holidays

Tariff 4 covers any part of a journey over six miles.

You can find the current tariff rates on our website.

There is a minimum fare, which is currently £4.20.

Minimum fare and Tariffs 1, 2 and 3

We are considering three options for the minimum fare and Tariffs 1, 2 and 3 and would like to hear your views on these.

We want you to rank the options below, you can let us know what you think by completing our survey.

Option A

• Tariffs 1, 2 and 3 increased by total Cost Index figure (4.01%)
• Freeze the minimum fare at £4.20
• Tariff 4 rates to be the same as the Tariff 2 rates

Option B

• Minimum fare increased by 20 pence from £4.20 to £4.40
• Increase Tariffs 1, 2 and 3 by 2.88%
• Tariff 4 rates to be the same as the Tariff 2 rates

Option C

• Freeze the minimum fare at £4.20
• Freeze Tariffs 1, 2 and 3
• Tariff 4 rates to be the same as the Tariff 2 rates

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

Please visit our website for further details on the current tariffs.

London City Airport

London City Airport drop off/pick up fees

At present there is no extra charge for passengers when they take a taxi (black cab) to or from London City Airport.

Taxi drivers currently pay £2.00 when using the taxi rank at the airport but this cannot be added to the metered fare and passengers are not charged extra.

At present taxi drivers do not have to pay extra when dropping off passengers at the airport.

London City Airport is planning to:

• Increase the fee taxi drivers pay when using the taxi rank at the airport from £2.00 to £3.00
• Introduce a drop off fee, all vehicles, including London taxis, must pay when dropping off at the airport terminal. London taxi drivers will be charged £6.00 when dropping off passengers at the airport terminal

London City Airport have asked TfL to make changes so that taxi drivers can add the following extra charges to the metered fare, so they are paid by passengers:

• Taxi passengers would pay an extra £3.00 when taking a taxi from the airport taxi rank
• Taxi passengers would pay an extra £6.00 when taking a taxi to the airport and they are dropped off at the airport terminal

London City Airport are requesting these changes because:

• They have a target for 80% of passengers to use public transport when travelling to the airport
• To reach this target they need to implement a range of measures to encourage greater use of public transport
• An amended pick-up charge for taxis and drop-off charges for all vehicles, including taxis, is one of the measures they plan to implement
  
  

Taxi fares policy

When we review taxi fares and tariffs, we try to strike an appropriate balance between drivers being fairly paid and taxi passengers getting fair and affordable fares.

We regulate taxi fares and tariffs in order to protect passengers and ensure the fares and tariffs are consistent, regardless of whether passengers hail a taxi in the street or hire a taxi from a rank. It is not our policy to try and make journeys in taxis prohibitively expensive with the aim of deterring people from using taxis.

Your views

We are interested in your views and if you think:

• Taxi passengers should pay extra when taking a taxi from London City Airport?
  
• Taxi passengers should pay extra when being dropped off at London City Airport?
  
• If you think passengers should pay extra, how much should they pay? (e.g. part of the fee taxi drivers must pay London City Airport? £3.00 when using the taxi rank and £6.00 when being dropped off? Half of the fees charged by the airport? Some other amount?)
  
• If you think there will be any impacts on taxi passengers or taxi drivers from London City Airport’s charges or taxi fares potentially being increased and what these impacts might be?

We would also like to know what you think about charges for taxi drivers picking up or dropping off at London City Airport. Please tell us what you think and what are your reasons for having this opinion? Do you have any information that supports your view?

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

We are aware that Heathrow Airport Limited is consulting on potentially increasing their drop off charge. No changes to the extra charges London taxi drivers can add to the fare when dropping off passengers at Heathrow Airport are proposed as part of this consultation.

Impacts and Taxicard

The Taxicard scheme provides subsidised journeys, usually by taxi, 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.

More information is available here in our Taxicard document and on our website.

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 document, and in our Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA). In summary:

Impacts

If we increase taxi fares there could be negative impacts on taxi passengers, Taxicard members and taxi drivers, including those who share a protected characteristic (e.g. disabled, or older passengers, older taxi drivers).

These impacts could include:

• If taxi fares are increased taxi passengers and Taxicard members could experience a negative impact because:
  • The fares they pay would increase
  • This could mean that they are not able to travel as often or are unable to make some journeys. This in turn could affect travelling for work and leisure and potentially increase their feelings of isolation
    
• Increasing taxi fares for taxi journeys to or from London City Airport could mean taxi passengers and Taxicard members experience a negative impact as they would pay more if they used a taxi to travel to or from the airport
  
• If taxi fares are increased taxi drivers could experience a negative impact if fewer people use taxis and drivers’ incomes decrease or they need to work longer hours
  
• 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. A decrease in the number of taxis could mean there are no taxis available when passengers or Taxicard members want to travel
  
• Taxicard members could face negative impacts if fares increase as this could mean that they would not be able to travel as far before the capped fare amount is reached, or that they would not be able to make as many subsidised journeys
  
• 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, there could be a negative impact as taxi drivers may choose to do jobs other than Taxicard journeys, as they only receive 90% of the Taxicard fare. This could result in fewer taxis being available for Taxicard members, with longer waits for an available taxi

Some passengers and Taxicard members may be disproportionately negatively impacted as they may need an accessible vehicle or door-to-door service or may face barriers with using public transport.

We would like to hear Taxicard members’ views about this. You can let us know your views by completing our survey.

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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 Sunday 14 December 2025.

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Next steps

These proposals are subject to the outcome of our consultation. Once consultation ends on Sunday 14 December 2025, we will spend time considering all the responses we receive and will prepare a consultation report. The TfL Finance Committee will then be asked to consider any changes to taxi fares and tariffs.

A copy of the report will be available to everyone that takes part in the consultation and a copy will be published on our website.

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