TAXI fares in Denbighshire won’t go up – at least not yet – after a public consultation found opposition to a 5% tariff increase.
Denbighshire Council’s licensing committee met to discuss a request from a taxi firm to increase the maximum tariffs a firm can charge for a journey within the county.
A request was made in mid-June when some drivers feared the new default 20mph speed limit introduced in September could hit profits.
Other escalating running costs associated with inflation included wage rises, garage charges and electric bills.
The taxi company suggested a 10% rise, but at a meeting in September, councillors instead voted for 5% based on the retail price index for motoring.
This then went out as part of a public consultation.
If there had been no objections, the new increased tariff would have been introduced on November 1.
But the council received 64 responses, with 37 against the 5% increase, 14 in support, and four neutral.
An additional nine respondents wanted an increase of more than 5%.
At the committee meeting at Ruthin’s County Hall, Cllr Hugh Irving proposed the committee voted against the rise.
“This is a difficult issue. One or two things I’ve taken from the report are that I know the request to review the fares on this particular occasion didn’t come from a fare review calculation,” he said.
“It came from an approach from one operator.
“A large proportion of the taxi companies seem to be against an increase on the basis, I would imagine, that they are destroying their own business model.
“Taxis aren’t cheap, and there is a view it’s actually a negative issue because people make less journeys in their taxis.
“So in a way, it becomes the law of diminishing returns.”
He then said he feared increasing the tariff could end up costing the council at a time when budgets were tight, citing the use of taxi for home-to-school transport, but this was debated, and it wasn’t clear how this would affect fixed-term contracts.
The matter will be re-debated at a future licensing committee following a fare calculator review of the current needs and costs of the industry.
