TAXI passengers in Stafford Borough are facing an eight per cent fare increase after council bosses rubber stamped a proposal from the town’s cabbies.
The proposal to increase fares in the borough to help meet rising operational costs for drivers was agreed at a meeting of Stafford Borough Council’s cabinet on Wednesday night.
The increase, the first in the borough since 2008, will see passengers pay up to an extra 20p per mile on their journey.
Councillor Frank Finlay who presented the report to the cabinet said: “We are proposing that the prices increase by around about eight per cent this year, with no increase planned for 2013 and a further three per cent increase in 2014.
He said the proposal took into account rising costs of petrol and diesel costs and a rise in the cost of insurance, which has seen a hike of nearly 35 per cent in recent years.
“There is an upside and a downside to this of course,” said Councillor Finlay. “The upside is that people haven’t had an increase in over four years, but the downside is when an increase does come it’s over and above the cost of inflation.
Councillor Finlay said he didn’t think taxi use in the town would be affected, adding prices in Stafford Borough continued to compare very favourably with those in neighbouring authorities.
Councillor Finlay said: “I think the increase will be acceptable to the taxi operators, they did originally ask for a rise of around 25 per cent.”
