Issue - meetings

Following the decision taken by the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee in April 2016 not to mandate all Epsom & Ewell licenced Hackney Carriages to be fitted with credit/debit card payments, it was also agreed to review the decision one year on.  The Committee is therefore asked to review if it should be mandatory for all Epsom & Ewell Borough Council licensed Hackney Carriages to have the facility to accept card or other cashless payments for fares

The Committee considered the recommendation and agreed that it was not necessary to introduce a mandatory requirement for Hackney Carriages licensed by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council to have the facility to accept payment by card or other cashless methods.

The Committee were informed that all Hackney Carriages licensed by the Transport for London (tfl) were required to have a mechanism to accept card payments for fares.  The Authority had a long standing agreement with the tfl that enabled certain drivers the right to be dual licenced and apply the tariffs set by the tfl.  In April 2016, the Committee were asked to consider if it should be mandatory for drivers licenced by this Authority to accept card payments and it was agreed that a period of monitoring be undertaken to assess the demand. 

Subsequently, the Committee received a report detailing the findings and noted that extensive consultations had led to the conclusion that the majority of drivers could not see any reason to impose a mandatory requirement.  It was noted that the main ranks are all situated in close proximity to ATM cash dispensers.  In addition, the Council had not received any complaints from taxi users about the lack of the facility.

The Committee noted that the ten drivers operating in the borough who held a dual licence would not be disadvantaged in any way by this Authority not introducing mandatory card acceptance facilities.

Accordingly, the Committee agreed that it was not necessary to introduce a mandatory requirement for Hackney Carriages licensed by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council to have the facility to accept payment by card or other cashless methods.