AGAIN....WE'VE ALL BEEN STITCHED UP : TfL's Card Payment Recommendations.

On Friday, representatives from the Licensed Taxi trade groups plus carefully selected trade Orgs (UTG) were invited to a meeting with TfL. At the meeting they were told how TfL intended to mandate "Card Payments In Taxis". 

Below are the recommendations.

TfL will implement after they have recieved the rubber stamp from the TfL board on "Demo Day", the 3rd of December.

Although the paper (released on the 21st) carries the headline "this paper will be considered in public", again this statement has been made under TfLs own warped sense of interpretation. The consultation is over, that it.

The LCDC have previously made a statement, via Twitter, that TfL do not negotiate. When these recommendations are approved by the board, and have no doubt they will be,  the system below WILL be implemented.

This paper will be considered in public 

1 Summary

1. 1.1  The purpose of this paper is to update the Committee on mandating card payment acceptance in taxis.

2. 1.2  This matter was discussed at Surface Transport Panel at its meeting on 22 October 2015.

2 Recommendation

2.1 The Committee is asked to note the paper and recommend that the Board agrees in respect of taxis:

(a) the following changes to come into effect on 2 April 2016:

(i) to remove the existing surcharge of up to 10 per cent of the fare payable or £1, whichever is greater, that passengers currently pay when paying by debit or credit card (a card);

(ii) mandate a maximum card payment transaction fee to drivers of 3 per cent of the total sum payable for TfL approved card payment devices. This will be included in the TfL guidelines for electronic payment devices; and

(iii)the minimum taxi fare (flagfall) to be increased by 20 pence from £2.40 to £2.60 per trip to compensate taxi drivers for costs associated with accepting card payments;

(b) the following changes to come into effect on 3 October 2016:

(i) to mandate card acceptance in all taxis and as, a minimum, devices should accept Chip and PIN, contactless and magnetic swipe payments;

(ii) to mandate acceptance of VISA and Mastercard payments as a minimum but drivers may also choose to accept other cards, such as American Express and Diners Club;

(iii)to mandate that card payment devices will be required to be fixed in the passenger compartment of the taxi so passengers stay in control of their card details at all times. [This could be fixed

 equipment or handheld devices affixed to a cradle, approved by TfL to ensure passenger safety. Web payment devices, such as Hailo’s new payment solution are also to be permitted to co-exist alongside fixed equipment so drivers can offer hirers choice of payment methods]; and

(iv)to approve clear signage, visible from outside the vehicle, to make clear that all taxis now accept card payments. [This will be linked with a marketing campaign by TfL to make clear all taxis accept card payments]; and

(c) to investigate the feasibility of the following change coming into effect from April 2018:

(i) to mandate that all card payment devices are linked to the taximeter, noting that the industry needs to work towards standard solutions that integrate card payment devices with the taximeter.

Below is a link to the whole release. 

>CLICK HERE<

Please read and take note that in a number of topics, TfL took more notice of "supposed potential Taxi users", than they did from actual users and licensed Taxi drivers.

It appears as with every TfL consultation we've been involved in, we've been stitched up AGAIN.

Again the second biggest trade org were excluded from the meeting.

And again this whole issue stinks of collusion. 

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/1ngrKA9
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