South Gloucestershire Taxi Fares to Increase from April

Taxi fares in South Gloucestershire will rise by 2.55% from April, following a public consultation that received no responses. The increase applies exclusively to hackney carriages, which are taxis that can be hailed on the street or found at designated ranks. Private hire vehicles, such as those booked through ride-hailing apps like Uber, remain unaffected by the fare changes.

The fare adjustment was approved by the council’s regulatory committee on March 27. Under the new pricing structure, the starting fare will be £2.40 for the first 115 meters, with an additional charge of 20p for every 111.4 meters traveled or for every 26.7 seconds of waiting time. A surcharge of £1.70 will apply during evening and weekend hours, specifically from 6 pm to 6 am on weekdays and from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday.

Similar increases have been observed elsewhere, with taxi fares surging in other regions as operators contend with rising costs. The lack of public engagement in the consultation process was not unexpected. Lily Brine, a licensing service manager at the council, commented on the issue:

"Honestly, no I wasn’t. Based on our previous consultations on fees, charges and tariffs, we don’t usually get a particularly high response to the consultations."

Despite efforts to inform the public through local newspapers, the council’s website, and direct messages to taxi drivers, the response rate has been consistently low in recent years.

The number of hackney carriages operating in South Gloucestershire has significantly declined, with only around 50 remaining, compared to 350 in previous years. This reduction is attributed to several factors, including the rise of private hire services, fewer regulations for private hire vehicles, and the geographic layout of the district, which makes street hailing less common.

A further challenge for hackney carriage drivers is the upcoming requirement that all such vehicles be wheelchair-accessible by summer. Some drivers have expressed concerns that the cost of upgrading their vehicles is prohibitively high, leading many to switch to private hire. One taxi driver previously remarked on the issue, stating that this requirement was a key factor in their decision to transition away from hackney carriage services.

Brine highlighted the impact of these changes, noting how the industry has shifted:

"When I first joined licensing, we had probably had 350 hackneys. It’s now down to about 50. But with private hire vehicles, because of the way that society and technology has changed, it’s gone very much towards private hire and those pre-booked journeys rather than hackney carriages picking up at the side of the road."