Agenda item

Hackney Carriage Tariff Increase

The Service Director Legal Services will submit a report on a request receivedfrom the Barnsley Hackney Carriage Association for an increase in the currentHackney Carriage Tariff.

Minutes:

Further to Minute 11 of the meeting held on the 8th September, 2021, the Service Director Legal Services submitted a report on a request received from the Barnsley Hackney Carriage Association to increase the Hackney Carriage Tariff.  It was noted that the proposal had been refused at the previous meeting as originally submitted pending the supply of additional evidence to support the request for an increase.

 

The report indicated that a further four submissions providing additional information had been received in support of the original application and these were summarised within the report and outlined in detail within Appendix 3. 

 

Mr R Taylor (Secretary of the Barnsley Hackney Carriage Association) and Mr S Smith (Member of the Barnsley Hackney Carriage Association and Chair of the Barnsley Private Hire Association) attended the meeting and, with the permission of the Chair addressed the meeting in support of their proposals.

 

In summary, the request for the increase in the tariff was because of:

 

·         The increased cost of fuel, insurance and maintenance costs and the need to purchase replacement vehicles more often due to the large mileage

·         The need to incentivise drivers to come into the trade and particularly to work nights and at weekends

·         The increasing disparity between Private Hire and Hackney Carriage fares (given that the Hackney Trade was usually the higher of the two which was no longer the case) and the fact that this was leading to increasing recruitment difficulties as more drivers were opting to work for Private Hire Companies

·         The need to encourage drivers to work late into the evenings and work unsociable hours and thereby support Barnsley’s growing night time economy

 

Members were reminded that the proposal sought an increase of 40p for the first 1760 yards or part thereof.  It also sought to change the times when tariff 2 would become effective from 11pm to 8pm in order to encourage more drivers at unsociable hours, and bring the super rate from 1am from 3am, giving an incentive for working unsociable hours, which in turn would help reduce queuing.

 

If the Board approved the proposals, they would be advertised in the local press.  If there were no objections the increase would be implemented.  If there were objections, however, they would then be considered by the Board at a future meeting.

 

After lengthy debate during which Members discussed whether the proposal was sufficiently evidenced it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

(i)            that the request for an increase in the Hackney Carriage Tariff as outlined in Appendix 1 to the report now submitted be advertised and, subject to no objections being received, be implemented from 00:01 on Saturday 16th October, 2021; and

 

(ii)          in the event of objections being received, a further report on those objections be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee.

Supporting documents:

 

A - Z Directory