Black cab drivers in Liverpool will now have to accept payment by debit and credit cards.

It comes after Liverpool City Council backed a proposal at a meeting this morning.

The move means Liverpool will follow in the footsteps of cab drivers in London, who already accept card payments.

The proposal originally came before the city council’s Licensing Committee in April of this year.

Members deferred a decision on the plan, following concerns from drivers about where the card payment reader should be located in the cab.

It was originally proposed that the reader would be placed in the passenger compartment but drivers feared this could lead to it being damaged.

A revised report to the committee now recommends that the reader be placed in a plastic holder in the partition between the driver and passenger.

The card payment readers cost about £60, and the drivers will have to meet the cost of the installation. Drivers now have six months to make sure their cab is fitted with a card reader.

SRC= https://www.itv.com
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South Cambridgeshire District Council has published a draft new licensing policy for consultation which would, if adopted, make the Council’s licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles greener.

The draft policy would build on the existing policy, implemented in early 2018 in a bid to ensure passengers’ and drivers’ safety and thought of as “one of the most stringent taxi licensing policies in the country”.

If adopted, the proposed policy changes would see drivers and operators making the move to zero and ultra-low emission vehicles, in line with South Cambridgeshire District Council’s pledge to support an ambitious target of cutting local carbon emissions to zero well before 2050.

To support the transition to an electric fleet, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council have secured joint Government funding to establish new electric car charging points across the district by the end of 2019 for exclusive use by taxis.

In addition to new licences no longer being granted to vehicles older than four years, the policy would see licences no longer renewed for: petrol or diesel vehicles older than seven years; ultra-low emissions vehicles older than 12 years; or zero emissions vehicles older than 15 years.

New conditions have also been added that would see all first-time vehicle applications be zero or ultra-low emission by December 2021, and all licence applications be zero or ultra-low emission by December 2028.

SRC=www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk
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 LONDON

All 1,250 payments of £10,000 for taxi drivers to take their diesel vehicles off the road have been awarded.

It means around £30m of the wider £42m delicensing fund has been spent.

Taxis are currently responsible for 25% of harmful NOx emissions and next year they will be the biggest source of transport pollution in central London. TfL has a target to reduce emissions from taxis by 65% by 2025.

Black cabs are exempt from London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

An electric taxi costs between £50,000 and £100,000, though running costs are around £100 per week lower than diesel.

Alex Williams, TfL’s Director of City Planning, said: ‘The air quality crisis means it is imperative to reduce the maximum age limit for taxis.

‘We will continue to support taxi drivers in making the transition to zero-emission with a range of grants and an ever-expanding rapid charge point network.’

In January, The Mayor of London increased the size of the green fund to £42m, meaning that £10,000 payments were available to the first 1,250 taxi drivers to sign up.

Payments to encourage the uptake of zero-emission capable cabs will continue on a sliding scale and are made on a first come, first served basis, with payments at the £8,000 threshold still available.

https://airqualitynews.com

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