Agenda item
CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED VARIATION TO THE SCHEME OF HACKNEY CARRIAGES FARES
To consider the Head of Environmental Health and Housing’s Report No. EHH1723 (copy attached), which outlines proposals to vary the current scheme of hackney carriage fares which have been published for public consultation following approval by the Cabinet.
Minutes:
The Committee considered the Head of Environmental Health
and Housing’s Report No. EHH1723, which outlined proposals to vary the current
scheme of hackney carriage fares which, following the
approval of the Cabinet, had been published for public consultation, to
be concluded on 7th July, 2017. The
Committee was a specified consultee in the review process and was invited to consider the proposals and make comments or
recommendations for consideration by the Cabinet for any changes to take effect
from 1st September 2017.
The Committee was advised that
Section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1976 gave
the Council the power (a discretionary ability) to fix the rates or fares in
connection with the hire of a hackney carriage vehicle within its district by
means of a scheme of fares. The current
scheme had last been uplifted on 29th November, 2013
and the scheme was set out in the Report.
It was reported that the Cabinet
had noted that the process of setting hackney carriage fares was complex,
time-consuming and costly. Members had
also expressed concern as to whether the setting of fares best served the
public interest and/or supported wider transportation policies; particularly as other service charges in the private
and/or self-employed sectors were not similarly regulated. The Cabinet had therefore requested that
officers look at the efficacy of and options for the (de)regulation of setting
hackney carriage fares. As a consequence of this work, it had been considered
appropriate to develop and consult on a more simplified scheme of fares in the
first instance. This had resulted in two
separate variation proposals that had not found favour with the taxi trade and had subsequently been withdrawn in 2014 and 2015
respectively.
The Committee was advised that,
following this, the Cabinet had resolved that a cross-party task and finish
group should be established to make recommendations on all future changes to
the scheme. It had now been over three
years since the fare scheme had been uplifted.
To reduce the significance and impact of any fare increase following a
prolonged review and minimise the potential for challenge, it was proposed that
an interim increase of 4% should be applied, deferring any remaining uplift
amount to, and pending the next fare review and/or reworking of the
scheme. As an interim uplift, it was proposed that this should be applied as an adjustment to
the pull-off rate yardage (i.e. the initial distance to be travelled for the
initial engagement charge on the meter) and running mile unit (i.e. the
distance travelled for each meter tick-over charge after the initial pull-off
distance). This accorded with historical
methods of uplift application and the proposed fares scheme was set out in
Appendix B of the Report. The Report
also set out fare cost comparisons and a cost comparison of a number of local journeys. The Report also set out other relevant issues
and guidance to be researched when considering an uplift
to the scheme.
During discussion, Members raised issues concerning the
working of the Hackney Carriage Fares Working Group, benchmarking fares and
fouling charges.
RESOLVED: That, in response to the consultation, the
Cabinet be advised that the Committee supports the
proposals for an interim uplift of 4% to the hackney carriage fares scheme, as
outlined in the Head of Environmental Health and Housing’s Report No. EHH1723.
Supporting documents: