What is Taxi 'Waiting Time' fee?

Roy1234

A few times recently, since using an App to book a local (England) private hire Taxi firm, we've noticed a 'Waiting Time' fee displayed & invoiced in addition to the metered fare.  In all cases we have been waiting outside for the Taxi, not the other way around.  Quizzing the Taxi firm, they reply:

'During the journey there was 125 seconds of stationary waiting time, which is time when the customer is in the vehicle but travelling at no speed such as junctions, traffic lights and so on. Stationary waiting time is charged at 10 pence for every 24 seconds.'

Is this correct? What has raised our suspicions lately is the habit of the 'Your Taxi has arrived' automatic call happening a minute or two before the taxi has really arrived.  Whether caused by the driver pressing a button too early, or the App/tracking system's fault, it creates confusion as we start hunting for a car which isn't there yet.

It also gave us the perhaps unjustified suspicion that a falsely early arrival time might make the system charge us for keeping the taxi waiting when we did not.

So, is the taxi firm correct?

Alderbank

You can see the accumulated charge on the taximeter.

My experience is that it reads zero when you get in then the driver pushes a button and it starts clocking up.

If a charge was showing when the cab arrived the time to query that is before setting off.

MSE_James

There are different types of 'taxi' - hackney carriages and private hire vehicles - with different licensing and charging regimes.

Have a look at the local council website for wherever the firm is based, and look for the tariff for licensed hackney carriages as this may shed some light on matters.

user1977

Roy1234 said:

'During the journey there was 125 seconds of stationary waiting time, which is time when the customer is in the vehicle but travelling at no speed such as junctions, traffic lights and so on. Stationary waiting time is charged at 10 pence for every 24 seconds.'

So, is the taxi firm correct?

They're correct in saying that a normal taxi meter will clock up time when the taxi is stationary (or slow-moving). That's always been the case (or since taxi meters were invented anyway!). Whether it ought to have applied in the case of your journey, we don't know.

la531983

About to say, the concept of "waiting times" seems to be a Hackney/black cap concept.

If a private hire firm was using these I would be voting with my feet and going elsewhere. 

peter_the_piper

I always thought the meter still ticked over whilst moving or stationary so waiting time whilst moving was already charged for.

PHK

peter_the_piper said:

I always thought the meter still ticked over whilst moving or stationary so waiting time whilst moving was already charged for.

It's at a different rate  

la531983

PHK said:

peter_the_piper said:

I always thought the meter still ticked over whilst moving or stationary so waiting time whilst moving was already charged for.

It's at a different rate  

It should still be accounted for on the meter though.
If they have stopped the meter and then whacked on this waiting fee at the end though, that doesn't seem right to me. 

RefluentBeans

la531983 said:

PHK said:

peter_the_piper said:

I always thought the meter still ticked over whilst moving or stationary so waiting time whilst moving was already charged for.

It's at a different rate  

It should still be accounted for on the meter though.
If they have stopped the meter and then whacked on this waiting fee at the end though, that doesn't seem right to me. 

Depends if it’s a physical meter or app now. Apps can determine when the vehicle is moving significantly easier than the physical meters could. So not implausible to have two rates - one per mile for moving and one per time unit (24seconds here). On the old physical meters I’d say it’s very hard to make sure they’re accurate.

tedted

what app is that then??

RefluentBeans

tedted said:

what app is that then??

Literally any app that acts as a meter for taxis? Over 100 of them, and many of them integrated to drivers apps.