Taxi fares rise plea

Published Date:
01 May 2008
By Martin Herron
TAXI drivers were today meeting with a South Yorkshire council to ask for an emergency fare increase as the price of fuel reached a 20-year high.
And one major South Yorkshire bus company said a rise in ticket prices was "inevitable" as the cost of petrol soared to unprecedented levels.

Today's meeting is between Sheffield Council and the city's drivers.

Though no approach has been made to Doncaster Council by cabbies yet, local operator Ivan Batch, who owns Abacus Cars, told The Star: "The fuel increases have had a very definite effect already.

"I've got to have two jobs - I also work part-time for the council as a carer - and the only reason for that is the cost of fuel.

"You can pass the increase on to the customer but everyone's feeling the pinch and they've only got so much money as well.

"Up to now I've not had to increase my prices but if things go on like this I'll inevitably have to. Luckily everyone's in the same boat so the customers should understand."

Stagecoach, one of the region's biggest public transport providers, admitted bus fares would need to go up while bus company First said it could not rule out rises.

Members of Sheffield Taxi Trade Association were due to meet with council licensing chiefs today for a general meeting, and confirmed one of their top priorities was to ask for an emergency fare increase to help them cover the spiralling cost of driving.

"The price of petrol is affecting us all and there are a lot of worried drivers out there," said Hafeas Rehman, from the association.

"The patch we work is fairly quiet and there are quite a lot of drivers, so we are encouraged to drive around looking for trade - obviously this means we are burning more fuel which costs more money. The meeting with licensing officials had been organised to discuss a number of issues but this is certainly one we will now be raising. It is a serious problem and we have to consider asking for a fare increase."

Paul Lynch, managing director of Stagecoach Yorkshire based in Barnsley, said: "We have arrangements in place across our transport operations to minimise the impact of rising fuel prices.

"However, there is no doubt that the continuing high price of oil has significantly increased our fuel bill, which is one element we consider when setting ticket prices.

"We continue to work hard to minimise the impact of these factors on our customers, particularly regular travellers. While it is inevitable that prices for bus travel will rise as a result of the significant increase in costs, we have a very good track record of offering a range of discounted tickets across our bus operations."

Last night prices for unleaded petrol in Sheffield and Rotherham ranged from 106.9p per litre to 112.9p per litre while diesel ranged from 116.9p to 123.9p.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/doncaster/Taxi-fares-rise-plea-.4039816.jp

big mistake dont put up fares bad enough as it is

They've been told to put a request in writing and it will be considered by the licensing chair. It turns out that it wasn't an emergency meeting about fares but fares were mentioned as a side issue in a consultation trades meeting held with town hall officials held regularly. It seems the STAR are trying to make a bigger issue of it than it deserved.

Can confirm i checked on the meetings agendas on the Council web site no meetings between Cllr and trades listed. In fact the star should ahve realise that it was election day and there were no Councillors to be seen at the Town Hall,.

Good point vulcan, thanks for pointing that out, maybe we should all have realised that for a start, but the Star isn't going to let something like this stand in way of creating a news story are they?