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Plans for all London black cabs to accept card and contactless payments by next October

The move by Transport for London comes amid increasing competition faced by black cab drivers from the likes of Uber

Hardeep Matharu
Thursday 26 November 2015 16:57 GMT
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The proposal will come before the Transport for London board in February
The proposal will come before the Transport for London board in February

All of London’s black cabs are due to accept card and contactless payments by next October.

The city’s mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) confirmed today that they will take forward proposals requiring all black cabs to accept the new payment style.

The plans have been drawn up after a TfL consultation earlier this year found that 86 per cent of those asked backed proposals to be able to pay for black cab journeys using a card, while 68 per cent agreed that they should be able to pay using contactless.

If approved by the TfL board in February, the change would come into force next April, with all cabbies being required to accept card payments from October 2016.

Mr Johnson said the change would “boost business for cabbies” – at a time when London’s black cabs are facing increasing competition from the likes of app-based taxi service Uber.

London Mayor Boris Johnson believes the change would boost business for black cab drivers

He said: “This is great news for the millions of people who use London’s world famous black cabs.

“This move will boost business for cabbies and bring the trade into the 21st Century by enabling quicker and more convenient journeys for customers.”

TfL said it had “negotiated with the credit card industry to bring down the cost for drivers of accepting card payments” and that this would reduce the transaction fees paid by cabbies from up to 10 per cent to three per cent or less.

Customers would not pay any surcharge on their fare.

But taxi drivers would recoup their transaction costs through a proposed 20p increase in the basic fare, which currently starts on the meter at £2.40.

Garrett Emmerson, TfL's chief operating officer for surface transport, added: “We are seeing more and more people use contactless payments on our network, and mandating card payments in taxis will mean customers no longer have to consider how they might pay for a journey before getting into a taxi.”

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