GLASGOW commuters could see their taxi fares increase for the second time in just over a year as proposals were approved by the council’s licensing department. 

A report was presented to committee yesterday morning (Wednesday) to increase the existing fare scale by 3.08 percent after a rise of 1.71 percent came into effect in October last year.  

Members agreed to the recommendation by Dr Cooper and have voted to take steps to increase the taxi tariff.

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A spokesman for Glasgow Taxis said: “We support the review as it stands.

“ It comes at the tail end of a global pandemic and the impact of what that has brought over the course of this year.

“This review is based on figures prior to any pandemic knowledge and I think it is the right thing to do, set at the right level and we would support it.

“I think this is a reasonable increase. The travelling public have not been penalised and probably in reality hardly notice it.

“There is no perfect model or solution. You can’t just add on any given percentage. I think it hits exactly where it has to be at the moment.”

Steven Grant of Unite the Union also expressed his support for the proposal.

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He said: “There’s no perfect solution to this but it is good as we will probably get. We would also like the soiling charge to be considered which is currently set at £23.50. That does compensate a driver for cleaning costs, but it does not take into account lost hours.

“That can be quite costly in terms of lost earnings. We would like the implementation of the new tariff to be delayed given the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in at the minute.

“We would also like economic activity to return to the trade as it would be punitive at the moment to increase the tariff in terms of public perception.”

Following the presentation members retired to consider the proposal. The proposals will now be advertised with the local media and follow the correct process before being implemented.