Council officers in Midlothian have apologised after a taxi fare review was delayed by more than a year leaving them facing rising costs.
A meeting of Midlothian Council’s general purpose committee today heard taxi fares should be reviewed every 18 months to ensure operators are able to charge fair rates.
However they said it was now nearly three years since the last review and representatives of the industry were now calling for increases of up to 20% to meet the increased operational costs.
Midlothian Taxi Owner’s Association (MTOA)has called on the council to consider introducing fares which mirror colleagues in Edinburgh as they look to meet costs.
The proposed new fares would see initial hire charges during the day go up to £3.50 from £3, with the evening charge going from £3.80 to £4.50 and festive holiday rates going from £4.50 to £5.
It proposed additional time and distance charges of 25p go to 30p – a 20% increase, across all tariffs.
Councillors asked officers why the review had been delayed for so long leaving operators facing significant increases in their running costs.
Derek Oliver, the council’s head of place. said: “There have been changes in licensing and we have had a number of work themes to go through.
“We can only apologise that is has taken this long to get to where we are now.”
Councillors agreed to put the proposed changes out to public consultation as the first step in considering them with the results due to be brought back to them in at least a month’s time, however they acknowledged this would mean almost a three year gap between the last time fares were increased and any possible increase approved.
By Marie Sharp local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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