Unless you have been very fortunate, it is quite possible that you and your taxi business have been affected in a negative way as a result of both the pandemic and the current economic situation here in the UK. Of course, taxi drivers will not be alone in this respect with so many other industries struggling financially.

As a lot of people in the UK “batten down the hatches” and cut their spending on such things as eating out and going to clubs and the theatre this has no doubt resulted in people not using a taxi to drop them off and pick them up. This has probably reduced the income of taxi drivers.

It is interesting to read that a council covering South Cumbria has agreed that taxi fares can increase by around 7% at some point before 2023 ends. Some may feel that 7% is not enough but one has to bear in mind that many people in the UK are struggling to pay some of their household bills.

One of the reasons why a number of taxi drivers are struggling from a financial perspective at the moment is the huge increase that has been seen in the cost of insuring a taxi in the last few months. Taxi drivers will either have to bear the brunt of this increase themselves or pass on all or part of the rise to their fare paying passengers. Such a rise would not be welcomed by a large number of taxi users.

Should this fare increase be introduced it is going to be interesting to see if this results in some users of taxis having second thoughts and instead making alternative arrangements when it comes to getting from home to say the pub and back again.

These are indeed difficult times that many people living in the UK are having to endure. Let us hope that we see an upturn in the UK economy sooner rather than later resulting in more people returning to using a taxi.