A HIKE in Fife taxi fares in time for the festive period has been defended, with councillors saying that the rise will go a long way in taking pressure off operators.

The 20p increase on the flag fare – the initial charge from hailing a taxi – comes on the back of a small rise last year and a freeze in 2012 but will see Fife fares almost 50p higher than the national average.

Stage one fares (between 6am and 10pm) will rise from £3 to £3.20, while stage two fares (between 10pm and 6am) will go up from £3.75 to £3.95. The changes will come into effect from Monday 8th December.

The new prices are higher than Perth and Kinross, Edinburgh and the Lothians, as well as the Scottish average of £2.71 but taxi operators say the rise is necessary as they are faced with high costs of fuel and insurance, while trying to maintain a high standard of taxis and being able to pay minimum wage to full-time drivers.

John Aitchison, chair of West Fife Taxi Owners’ Association, believes that the small increase is reasonable and will help operators cover essential costs. “The feeling in the trade was that we didn’t want a huge rise in fares,” he said. “We know people’s money is still tight but we need a little bit more to keep us moving as costs for us are still rising. It’s a small amount which keeps the cars up to the standard which is required of them.

“It will help – 20p is a small rise but it helps us as prices as are still going up.” Councillor Billy Pollock, one of the members of the taxi fare scale review sub-committee which approved the rise, backed the operators. “This 20p increase on the flag fare enables operators to cover the cost of the minimum wage with the people directly employed by them,” he said. “It takes pressure off them so that’s a good thing.

“In the past the Association has worked well with us and if there has been no need for an increase there hasn’t been one.

“This 20p increase is ultimately a good thing – it allows operators and drivers to help with maintenance on vehicles.” Cllr Pollock also believes that passengers will accept the small hike in the fare, adding, “I’ve spoken to members of the public in my constituency about this and nobody is up in arms about it, they understand the reasons behind it.” Committee chair, Cllr Bob Young, pointed out that they had chosen the flat 20p increase as an alternative to increasing fares on the journey itself, which would have hit taxi users travelling longer distances.

“There’s not going to be any roll-on effect on mileage,” he explained. “It’s not going on the mileage because that would have been a big increase but 20p is not bad.

“We require the operators to renew their cars after eight years and it can cost them a lot of money and insurance costs are going up as well.

“In the end, 20p isn’t a huge sum of money – if it had been on mileage we’d have seen a huge increase in taxi fares but in this case an £8 journey is now going to cost £8.20 so it’s not bad.”