London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · October 24th 16, 09:58 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On 2016-10-23 22:48:00 +0000, said:

I live within the city centre in Cambridge so have always used the meter
in taxis and hire cars but from cases that came before me as a
councillor I can see that the usual arrangement with out boundary fares,
which have to be agreed before travel and aren't metered, is payment at
the end of the hire. However, from the problems brought before us, I can
see why drivers might want up-front payment.

I do see that, but it's no excuse not to use the meter. The drivers
will have a good idea of what the metered fare is for most common
destinations, so have no practical need to overcharge.

To be honest, I'd rather see the system move to a zonal one in large
cities, then payment could validly be up front.

The, as far as I can see, main reason for not using the meter is to make
costs of long journeys outside the city cheaper than they would be on the
meter and predictable at the outset. Imagine the meter rate for a trip from
Cambridge to Heathrow for example!

--
Colin Rosenstiel