If you use London’s black cabs, one, we wanna know how you afford it and two, we’ve got some bad news.
Cab fares are set to rise by an eye-watering 7.6% – but don’t worry, it’s all in the name of women’s safety! Hooray...
Let us explain.
The new rates, which will be in action every weekday, weekend and at night from next month come as a result of inflation and the fact that running a cab in London is no cheap task (more so now than ever).
The 7.6% price increase isn’t even the worst case scenario, as cabbies originally wanted an 11.6% increase, in line with inflation.
So where’s does women’s safety come into it? Well, the night rate of London cabs has actually been frozen since 2016 to try to ensure fares remained affordable for women who don’t want to use late trains services, Tubes or buses to get home.
However, TfL has reported now realised that, it needs more cabs out on the streets of London in order to provide this service – since March 2020, the number of licensed taxis in the capital has dropped by a whopping 21%.
TfL hope that the increased rate will get more cabbies working at night and reckon that more cabbies will equal more ways home for women which will result in more safe transport options.
TfL said: “We believe this option strikes the most appropriate balance between taxi drivers being fairly paid and taxi users getting fair, reasonable and affordable fares.”
However, the issue is that the rate increase is larger than the 5.9% increase in tube and bus fares approved by Mayor Sadiq Khan, so now the cheapest option is to take the public transport many are concerned about using at night in the first place.
Don’t worry, we’re as confused as you are – and so are people on Twitter.
One user tweeted: “But how am I meant to get this safer option home if I can’t afford the taxi now it’s gone up in price?”
“Well, I’m more likely to get the tube home now anyway – I can’t afford this increase, or I’ll just use Uber,” added another.
HuffPost UK have reached out to TfL and Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association for comment.