Cab bosses vow to fight cheaper fares

Paying your taxi fare by Cabcharge card whacks on a 10% surcharge. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

Taxis in Brisbane. PIC: Peter Wallis Source: The Courier-Mail

TAXI companies have vowed to fight "to the ends of the earth" planned government changes that would make many fares cheaper.

New regulations to be imposed from next March by the Reserve Bank of Australia would limit surcharges by merchants to recover "reasonable costs" for fares paid by card.

The RBA has made specific mention of the taxi industry as part of its plans, but a just-completed inquiry in Victoria concluded a fair surcharge for electronic payment in taxis should be no higher than 5 per cent of the fare.

Cabcharge - which has a virtual monopoly on in-taxi electronic payment machines - currently imposes a 10 per cent surcharge for all fares paid using its system - much higher than the usual surcharges applied by shops, cafes and other services for EFTPOS and credit card payments.

Consumer group Choice's head of campaigns Matt Levey said the change could not come soon enough.

"Bring it on - it is the most outrageous surcharge in Australia," he said.

"There's obviously a lot of cream on top of that cake."

Halving the surcharge would cost Cabcharge about $45 million a year across Australia in lost revenue.

Both they and the large cab companies - which take a cut of the surcharge - are gearing up for a possible legal battle.

In a statement yesterday, Cabcharge company secretary Andrew Skelton said he doubted the RBA changes would extend to the taxi industry.

But an RBA spokesman confirmed a request to regulate Cabcharge had been received and was being considered.

Yellow Cabs managing director Neill Ford, also a director of Cabcharge, said levying the full 10 per cent surcharge was critical to the industry.

"Cabcharge has been integral to what we've done since the start (more than 30 years ago)," Mr Ford said.

"It would not operate on 5 per cent."

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