If you have ever been inside one of London’s iconic black cabs you might find yourself wondering why most of them don’t accept credit cards or contactless payment services, that’s because the required framework has not yet been put into place, but there has now been a development which makes it quite likely that taxis in London will start accepting contactless payments from next year.
Following a consultation launched earlier this year London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London have decided to push the proposals forward and expect to introduce this by fall next year.
However before taxis in London can be kitted with hardware that supports these payment methods, Transport for London’s board first has to approve these proposals and only after that will it become mandatory for all taxi drivers in Britain’s capital to accept card and contactless payments from October 2016.
It has taken this much time before Transport for London has been negotiating with card companies to bring the processing fees down, the fees are now expected to be three percent or less instead of ten percent, and there will not be any additional charges for the customer if they are not willing to pay in cold hard cash. TfL instead seeks to increase the basic fare of all taxi rides by 20 pence and bring it up to £2.60, that’s what all riders will absolutely have to pay when their taxi ride starts.
Filed in . Read more about London and Mobile Payments.