Taxi passengers in Aberdeenshire could be faced with increased fares and airport drop-off charges under new council plans.
A number of proposals for possible price hikes will be discussed by councillors on the local authority’s licensing sub-committee next week.
Five options have been drawn up for changes to the initial fare – either keeping it at the current £2.60, or increasing it by 3%, 5%, 8% or 10%.
This would also affect the £3.60 late night and £3.90 festive baseline fees.
The other costs associated with each journey – the fee for every 10 seconds of waiting or every one-eleventh of a mile travelled – would not change.
It means that, at most, journey costs will rise by 30p.
In addition, it is proposed that the wording of the council’s policy is changed to allow drivers to pass on any extra charges incurred when dropping off or picking up people from Aberdeen Airport.
Ordinarily, face-to-face consultations are held with members of the taxi trade over any proposed changes.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been suggested online questionnaires and phone surveys could be completed instead.
After this stage, the council will open up a one-month public consultation for others to air their views.
Under the current timeline, the new fare scale would come into force on Friday, August 7, but officers have acknowledged that this may need to be pushed back in line with changes to social isolation measures.
