09 Aug London more expensive than New York for airport cabs
Using a taxi in a foreign country can be a daunting experience particularly when it comes to pricing. Whilst some cities have a fixed price system, others will have had horror stories about being charged huge amounts for a short journey.
But after a long flight and with heavy luggage to transport, who really wants to get on a local bus to their hotel and work out the complexities of another country’s public transport system, even if it is a lot cheaper?
Carspring have done an index of taxi prices in various cities across the world, and it may surprise some of you, although for anyone who regularly take taxis in London you may guess that the city comes up fairly high on the ‘expensive’ list.
It’s ranked 75 out of 80 for a three kilometer (just under two miles) journey; more expensive than, well virtually anywhere including New York, Sydney and anywhere in Germany. In fact, only Switzerland, whose standard car is a Mercedes, Tokyo, Helsinki and Copenhagen are more expensive.
But it’s better news for passengers in other UK cities, including Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. In fact the Northern City, where zoom.taxi are based, is the best value in the country according to the survey.
Chief Operating Officer Fareed Baloch said the average journey of three miles is only £7 in Manchester and in the surrounding areas like Bolton, Bury and Oldham there are slightly cheaper rates.
“The overall cost of living is lower in Manchester but there is also more competition up here which keeps prices low,” he said.
“But the private hire market here is also very competitive, with lots of small and large operators meaning prices are low and availability is good.
“We started our product in conjunction with a company here who wanted to fight back against Uber dominance and word has spread as more and more companies here have been signing up to us.
“Passengers can book their ride using the cloud based app which we tailor for each specific company, and it means they know they are getting a good value, safe, reliable taxi.”
There are two fare regimes in the UK: a regulated fare for black cabs decided by local councils or Transport for London and an unregulated fare structure for private hire vehicles.