Had the misfortune to pay a London taxi fare by card and got hit will an outrageous surcharge (fairly sure it was 12.5%), making a 45+ quid fare into a 50+ quid one.

I didn't spot it immediately, because the driver said something along the lines of "you'll be rushing to catch your train (Guv), I'd better get your card pre-authorised" meaning that he could immediately print the receipt with the surcharge on it (never having shown up on the meter).

Anything that reduces the highway robbery surcharge to something sensible would do. Pity this is only planned for low value fares.

Little taxis?

We shouldn't move to electronic money while we have to pay a surcharge to spend our money.

I don't see this taking off, you would be lucky to have a fare that cheap unless you are making a trip so short as to not be worth sitting in a stinking traffic jam.

Is absolutely disgusting.

I'm sorry you want me to pay you MORE for the privelidge of paying you in the first place.

I've been going to germany for years and never had an issue paying with my card there - every cab takes cards and non of them add a mark up.

RBS approved this? No wonder the country's finances are in such a mess if a major bank thinks that your cab can crawl through the capital for anything less than double that. Still, they bought ABM Amro and thought it a good deal...

Simple answer to that -- fares should be FAIR and tips shouldn't be necessary.

Why tip a self-employed person anyway? What does that achieve?

The markup is payed by the seller but as they so love to pass the buck you get the privlege of

paying it. I know this from experience. The banks around here tend to charge 4% for card payments.

So any time I see a discount of 4% cash-only it means the seller is passing the buck to me for other payment methods... Lucky for me I prefer cash only transfers...

Is it just me? I thought London already had a perfectly good contactless payment system? (Apart from the encryption on the chip being useless)

Surely TFL can extend the existing system to taxis rather than develop a whole new one?!

why would anyone pay a cab far by card in the first place? what's wrong with good old cash?

Didn't you know? Cash is so yesterday!

PayPass is the MasterCard trademark for its contactless payment system, TfL had bugger all to do with its development.

I think its mental that banks/card issuing finance firms can charge anyone an additional charge for using the facility, dont they make enough in interest?

fair enough, charge a montly fee for the the terminal but that should be it, gratuity should be outlawed too.

Don't imagine this system will be used that much, when I was in London a couple of years back, none of my fares was below a tenner and I paid in cash each time.

Ease off the black cabbies though, on quite a few occasions they knocked a few quid off because of the traffic, better than the theiving bastard private hire drivers up near me.

You cant get around the corner in london for under a tenner !

The whole point of tips is that they're not *necessary*, they are optional if you get a particularly good service and wish to thank the operator.

And I'm not sure why you're querying what the point of tipping a self-employed person is - would you rather send your tip to a profitable multinational company?

The recipe for no free taxis:

Ingredients:

1 taxi driver;

1 black cab;

1 Oyster-card hacker;

1 rolling-road;

Dutch-English dictionary (according to taste).

Method:

Roll;

Pay;

Re-charge / hack card;

Repeat until retiral.

Hey El Reg. Be glad you don't live in Dallas.

Where even black holes are considered Racist.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,380143,00.html

A black cab journey from Heathrow to my place (approx 12 miles) costs 45 quid. A private hire costs 20. You do the maths!

And the black cabbie keeps grumbling throughout (he would rather go to Central London and earn even more money). If a private cabbie makes a reasonable living by charging 20 quid, then the 45 quid shoud keep the black cabbie happy enough for him to go where the customer demands!

And what is the tip for? It's not as if the black cabbie would ever get down and help with the luggage etc. Tips should be for people in the service industry, who earn low wages and can make up by getting 'tipped' for good service provided. Not for black cabbies who earn a decent amount anyway.

Also read about black cabbies who fleece tourists by deliberately NOT going into bus-lanes (which they are allowed to), during peak traffic hours, seems it is more profitable for them to prolong a journey rather than take on new passengers.

Maybe it is just my experience, but the only reason I would ever take a black cab is if I had no other option (and to be fair, also for security reasons late in the night).

is waving bye bye to your cash

As a former licenced London taxi driver perhaps I can make informed comment!

The driver gets nothing from the add on charges made by a third party. If it is "peak hours" what would be gained by not going in the bus lane as there is another fare just around the corner? (It's more profitable to make many short "runs".) Taxis are NOT allowed in all bus lanes!Have you never heard of self employed hairdressers? Fares are fixed by the public carriage office and not by the drivers so complain to them! FINALLY I clearly remember once going right around one whole corner for only "nine quid guv"