Cost of living: Cardiff taxi fares set to rise after vote

Taxis in Cardiff will cost up to 32% more during the evenings and weekends

Taxi fares are set to rise in Cardiff after a proposal from drivers was approved by councillors.

Cardiff Council's cabinet agreed to the application put forward by the Cardiff Hackney Alliance and Unite for a number of price hikes.

The proposal included increasing the starting tariff from £2.50 to £3.50, as well as higher time-wasting charges.

Council leader Huw Thomas described the plans as "balanced" but others said they were too high.

It is anticipated the new fares will start on 1 September.

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The variation in the tariff will be advertised for 14 days to give the opportunity for people to object, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

During the meeting, Mr Thomas said: "This feels like to me a balanced proposal, not least in response to the time since the last increase as well."

The application by The Hackney Carriage Alliance is above the rate of inflation since the previous increase, but the association argued its operating costs over this period had increased significantly due to rise in the cost of fuel.

Based on these proposals, the cost of an average three-mile journey will increase by 21.8% during the day, 32.1% during the evening and weekends, and 28.4% during the night and bank holidays.

Taxi rides could rise by up to a third in Cardiff if the proposal is accepted without objections

Labour's Dan De'Ath said the proposals were fair and it had been a "tough time" for taxi drivers due to the Covid pandemic.

Conservative Adrian Robson welcomed the different tariff rates for different times of the day, but said some of the rises were "a little bit high".

He said: "Some of them are going up by a third and I think that that is too much, particularly in one go at this current time."

He also said that some taxi drivers from outside Cardiff could compete with those in the city, but Mr De'Ath argued that the market also offered other options for customers such as Uber.