Taxi Fares 2025

01 - Taxi Fares 2025

Review already significantly delayed
Rising costs and trade responses ignored by committee
Produces half-penny fares
Some meters may fail calibration
Creates inconsistent fares across vehicles
Drivers forced into non-compliance or guesswork
Expert warnings dismissed

Serious Concerns Over Approved Taxi Fare Scale

Fife Council has approved a new taxi fare scale. Part of the approved tariff produces half-penny values. Taxi meters used across Fife operate in whole pence only. They cannot display or calculate fractional pennies, and in some cases may reject calibration altogether.

This issue was raised during consultation and again at committee, but the proposal was approved regardless.

That creates a clear conflict:

Taxi meters must be calibrated to exactly match the council’s authorised tariff
The authorised tariff, as approved, cannot be implemented exactly on those meters

This leaves drivers and operators in an impossible position — either approximate the fares (and risk non-compliance), or be unable to calibrate their meters at all.

Test the approved fare scale

This tool lets you test the approved Appendix 3 fares across any distance.

It shows the exact values the tariff produces, including where half-pennies occur, and compares them to the current scale.

Fife Fare Scale Proposal Tester

Internal testing tool for distance-only fare modelling. Uses the current Fife rates and the approved Appendix 3 proposal so you can drag a slider from 0 to 250 miles and see the fare across all four stages.

Input

Distance model

Selected distance

0.0 miles

0 yards

050100150200250

Set exact miles Quick presets

Assumptions: this tool is distance-only. It ignores routing, dead mileage, and waiting time for now. Stage 3 is modelled as Stage 1 × 1.5 and Stage 4 as Stage 2 × 1.5. Fares are shown as the raw mathematical value, so where the proposal produces a half penny the tool shows it explicitly to three decimal places.

Meter warning: some meters may reject calibration where the approved scale produces half-penny values that cannot be represented exactly.

Increments after first 600 yards: 0

Proposal

Appendix 3 fare output

Stage	Rule	Fare
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

Current scale

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Increase vs current

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Survey Responses

Our survey of East Fife drivers and operators is now closed. A total of 44 responses were received, with 84.1% supporting a fare increase in the 2025 review.