Londoners could soon be paying more for a black cab. Transport for London has opened its annual review of taxi fares and tariffs, with one of four proposed options pushing average fares up by 7.07 per cent to reflect the soaring operating costs cab drivers now face.
The consultation, which runs until 22 November, follows TfL’s Cost Index — the measure it uses to track changes in taxi drivers’ operating costs and average national earnings — rising by 7.07 per cent. That figure is now the starting point for everything else in the review.
Under Option A, the minimum fare would stay frozen at £4.40 but average fares during Tariffs 1, 2 and 3 would increase by the full 7.07 per cent. Under Option B, the minimum fare would go up by 20 pence to £4.60 — a 4.55 per cent rise — with average tariff fares increasing by 5.97 per cent. Option C splits the rise differently: a 40-pence increase in the minimum fare to £4.80, up 9.09 per cent, and a 4.87 per cent average rise across Tariffs 1 to 3. Under all three options, Tariff 4 rates would be brought into line with the new Tariff 2 rates.
Option D would change nothing at all: the minimum fare would stay at £4.40 and tariffs would remain as they are. It is there because TfL says it wants to hear honestly whether the trade and the public think fares should move with the index this year or stay put.
It is important to say plainly what this is and is not. This is a consultation, not a decision. None of the four options is a done deal, and TfL normally finalises the changes in the spring — it aims to bring revised fares in each April. Whatever is decided will only come after the consultation closes on Sunday 22 November.
What the tariffs actually mean for passengers
Black-cab tariffs are the meter rates applied at different times, and most passengers will never have looked at the fine print. Tariff 1 covers weekday daytime travel — the rate most people pay most of the time. Tariffs 2 and 3 apply to evening and night-time journeys, when the rate rises, and Tariff 4 covers public holidays such as Christmas Day and New Year.
The minimum fare is the floor of what any journey costs — currently £4.40. Under Options B and C it would climb for the first time in a while, which matters for the shortest hops: the quick dashes to the station, the late-night half-mile home. Longer journeys would instead feel the tariff-rate rises under Option A, where the minimum fare is left alone.
The booked-taxi extra would disappear
Beyond the four headline options, TfL is also proposing to remove the booked taxi extra — the surcharge that currently applies when a taxi is booked in advance rather than hailed. It says it will also specify exactly when the taximeter must be started and stopped for booked journeys, and change the fares that apply to longer taxi journeys.
For passengers who phone or use an app to book a cab, the extra’s removal could soften the impact of any tariff increase on the final bill, though the exact arithmetic will depend on which option TfL ultimately picks and what it does with long-distance fares.
Why TfL says the trade needs the money
The language from TfL is unusually direct this year. It says the changes are intended to help taxi drivers cover their costs, ensure fair compensation and keep taxi driving a viable career. Behind that is a recruitment problem: TfL says it wants to maintain the number of licensed drivers in the trade and attract new applicants.
The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association and other driver groups have long argued that drivers’ costs — from vehicle maintenance and insurance to fuel and the eye-watering price of new electric cabs — have outpaced what the meter pays. Private-hire rivals such as Uber, Bolt and Addison Lee, whose fares move with the market and surge pricing, have kept poaching both drivers and passengers.
That is the real context of this review. The black cab remains the only road vehicle in London allowed to ply for hire, and TfL regulates both the drivers — through the famously demanding Knowledge — and the fares. When fares fall behind costs, the trade shrinks, and TfL clearly does not want that.
A difficult year for travelling in the capital
The fare review lands in a week when getting around London has felt harder than usual. Commuters endured severe delays on the Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Northern lines as Storm Austen battered the capital, while a points failure at West Drayton disrupted services between Paddington and Reading. Even when the trains run, the broader picture is one of constant pressure on fares — something TfL’s £1.79 million funding for safer roads in Croydon is meant to address on a smaller, borough-level scale.
Have your say
The consultation is open on TfL’s Have Your Say platform until 22 November, and TfL says it wants views from passengers as well as the trade on all four options and on the proposed changes to booked-journey rules. Drivers, passengers and anyone who relies on a cab late at night now have a month to say whether fares should rise, freeze or fall — and by how much.
One thing is certain: with costs up 7.07 per cent and the trade warning of a driver exodus, this year’s review will not be a quiet one.
