They may be the best taxis in the world (and that’s according to a survey for the website Hotels.com) but they are also the world’s most expensive.
This is set to get worse from this week as taxi fares in the capital defy the pay freezes in place elsewhere, and rise by 2.3%.
Transport for London say that the average cost of hailing a black cab will increase to £10.39 during the day and £14.15 at night. The fare rise, the lowest annual increase since 2004, is intended to take into account the rise in average national earnings. It will also help taxi drivers cover the increased costs of insurance and fuel, which reached record price levels this week.
Boris defended the increases, saying: “The capital is blessed with wonderful cabbies and we’ve deliberated long and hard to come up with an increase we think is fair to everyone during these tough economic times.”
Bob Oddy, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “We welcome this small but important increase. Like everyone else, London’s cabbies continue to face significant challenges.”
Cab drivers are great, because they are very independent thinkers. Because they are self employed and harding working, they nearly all vote Conservative and are huge Boris fans. I love cabbies and always chat them up to see who they vote for. I have only once found a cab driver who voted Labour.
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