2
Under reference to item 2 of the Minute of the meeting of this Board held on 19 August 2020, there was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to a review of taxi fares within Renfrewshire.
The report advised that, at that meeting, the Board agreed, after considering responses to an initial consultation, to advertise a proposal to fix a new fare scale. The agreed proposal involved an increase to the minimum fare from £3.30 to £3.45; increased the additional fare per distance, by introducing a reduced distance of 315 yards (or part thereof) while maintaining the existing 30p charge; and increased the waiting time charge from 34p to 36p per period of two minutes (or part thereof). The Board agreed that the proposed scale would be advertised, allowing representations to be made within one month.
The Board also agreed a proposed date of 14 December 2020 for the proposed fare scale to come into effect and that a report would be submitted to a future meeting of the Board to allow a taxi fare scale to be fixed.
An advertisement detailing the proposal was advertised in the press on 5 September 2020 and provided that any person wishing to make representations on the proposal must do so in writing no later than 5 October 2020. The advertised proposal was appended to the report.
The Board was advised that, in response to the advertisement, no further representations had been received. The Board was therefore required to fix a taxi fare scale for Renfrewshire, and in terms of Section 17 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, to determine a date for the scale to come into effect. It was recommended that the scale comes into effect on 14 December 2020, as previously proposed by the Board.
DECIDED:
(a) That a new fares scale for Renfrewshire, in accordance with the advertised scale, be approved;
(b) That it be approved that this fares scale shall come into effect on 14 December 2020;
(c) That thereafter officers be authorised to give notice to (i) all operators of taxis operating in Renfrewshire and (ii) the persons and organisations appearing to the Board to be representative of the operators of taxis operating within Renfrewshire, being the parties initially consulted, of the fares scale fixed and its effect, the date on which it is to come into effect and the rights of appeal against the scale, all as set out in Section 17 of the Act, as amended; and
(d) That officers be authorised to publish the fares scale, as soon as practicable following expiry of the period for appeal to the Traffic Commissioner, or, if appealed, as soon as practicable after determination of the appeal, by giving notice of the scales in an advertisement in a newspaper circulating in Renfrewshire and to specify therein that the scales shall come into effect on 14 December 2020, all in terms of Section 18A of the Act.