Edinburgh Airport taxi fares may increase under new plans

Black cab fares from Edinburgh Airport may increase under plans going before Edinburgh councillors.

Next Monday’s regulatory committee meeting is set to consider launching a consultation on a review of taxi fares that was carried out by consulting firm Jacobs.

The firm has recommended that trips to and from Edinburgh Airport’s paid pick up/drop off area next to the terminal increase from £6 to £7, as long as the total price of the journey is equal to or greater than this.

Passengers will still be able to request to be dropped off at the free pick-up and drop-off area, which is located further from the terminal.

In addition to the airport charges, they are proposing changes to charges and fares for taxi trips made anywhere in the city, not just at the airport.

Fares for private hire cars are not controlled by the council, and as such are not subject to the review.

Additionally, most private hire trips to and from the airport arrive and depart from a separate area where the rates for the paid pick up and drop off area do not apply.

Jacobs proposes the charge for pre-booking a taxi anywhere in the city go from 80p to £1, and the charge for cancelling a pre-booked ride to go from £2.20 to £3.00.

They further suggest that fares increase by 5% to account for inflation.

This means that a two mile trip during the daytime period would go from £9.00 to £9.30, and for the nighttime period would go from £10.20 to £10.50.

And for a five mile trip, the price would go from £17.40 to £18.00 during daytime, and £18.60 to £19.20 during nighttime.

Increases would also apply to the higher fare rates charged during the festive period.

Finally, they suggest the extra passenger charge, applied for rides with more than three passengers, go from 40p to 50p.

No changes to the cost of soiling a taxi – when one must be removed from service for cleaning – is proposed from the current £50 rate.

By law, the council must review fares and charges for the taxi trade not more than every 18 months.

If councillors approve a consultation, the proposed rates would be advertised for at least a month, providing members of the taxi trade a chance to make representations about them.

After this, councillors at the regulatory committee would receive a report including any representations made, and make a final decision on the fares.

Fares for taxis were last reviewed in September 2024, and went into effect in December of that year. It resulted in a 9.5% increase across all tariffs.

A report before councillors on Monday, as well as a document produced by Jacobs, says that representatives of the taxi trade were warm to the proposed changes.

Since 2023, the cab rank at the airport has been exclusively used by private hire firm Capital Cars.

Prior to this, black cab firm City Cabs held the contract from the airport to use the rank.