Taxicard Scheme: Reviewing the Impact of Changes Made in 2011

Overview

Over the last ten years the London Taxicard scheme has grown considerably year on year and it was anticipated that in 2010/11, the 96,000 Taxicard members would make almost 2 million subsidised Taxicard journeys in London costing almost £20 million.  As the scheme has grown, so has the scale of funding that this scheme requires.  It was also announced that Transport for London's (TFL) would be unable to continue funding the Borough's overspend.

This scheme continues to be highly valued by LBRuT, however, we did need to consider options to address the issue of the budget being exceeded.  If this was not done the long-term future of the scheme would be placed in jeopardy.  A consultation was held in April 2011 to review the charges made to customers with a view of dealing with the growing costs of the scheme.  Following the consultation, changes were made to the London Taxicard scheme in July 2011 in order to prevent the projected overspend and to help the scheme's future.  

The following three Cabinet decisions were implemented to the Taxicard scheme on 1st July 2011.  

1)      Increase the minimum member charge per trip by £1.00 from £1.50 to £2.50

2)      Reduce the maximum subsidy per trip by £2.00, as follows:

           o  During the day (6am-8pm Mon-Fri) from £10.30 to £8.30

           o  Evenings and weekends (8pm to 10pm Mon-Fri and 6am – 10pm Sat and Sun) from £11.30 to £9.30

           o  At night (10pm to 6am Mon-Sun) from £12.30 to £10.30

3)      Maintain the number of trips per Taxicard member at 104 trips per year pro rata, but reduce this to 52 trips per year pro rata where the member is able to use public transport and has a Freedom Pass.

Cabinet however requested at the time the decisions were made, that the impact of these changes be reviewed in 2012 to evaluate how service users have been affected.  As such a survey was put together to give service users the opportunity to feedback on how these changes have impacted them.  A postal survey was sent to Taxicard service users for their feedback.