The Transport for London (TfL) Board recently agreed to the freezing of all taxi and private hire licence fees with driver licensing fees being frozen for a second year running.

The Board also approved two changes to taxi and private hire fees which will come into effect today.

Taxi and private hire licence fees are reviewed annually and all funds generated are used to cover licensing and administrative costs. 

The taxi and private hire driver, operator and vehicle licence fees remain frozen at 2010/11 levels however, there will be increases in both the Knowledge of London appearance and written test fees.

These changes continue to reflect the cost of administering the Knowledge of London examination process including the back office administration activity, managing the written test and the knowledge appearances themselves. 

The current and revised Knowledge of London fees are provided in the table below:

 Description  2009/10 fee (£)  2010/11 fee (£)
 Knowledge appearance - taxi driver applicants  200  250
 Knowledge written test - taxi driver applicants  50  100

John Mason, TfL's Director of Taxi and Private Hire, said: 'We have taken into account the difficult economic conditions drivers are facing and, combined with the back office cost savings we are striving to make, have been able to freeze the majority of fees this year. 

'The increases to the Knowledge of London fees reflect the cost of administering this process and therefore not passing these costs on to other licensees.'


Notes to editors:

TfL's Taxi and Private Hire is responsible for licensing and regulating London's taxi and private hire services
  • Taxi fares and licence fees are reviewed annually
  • The proposed fees with effect from 4 April 2011 are detailed below:
  •  Fee Type    2009/10 (£)  2010/11 (£)
     Taxi Vehicle  Application Fee  101  101
       Licence Fee  53  53
     Taxi Driver  Application Fee  50  50
       Licence Fee  199  199
     Knowledge of London  Appearance Fee  200  250
       Written Test Fee  50  100
     Private Hire Operators  Application Fee  703  703
       Licence Fee (small)  550  550
       Licence Fee (standard)  1,707  1,707
     Private Hire Drivers  Application Fee  157  157
     Licence Fee  105  105
     Private Hire Vehicles  Application Fee  87  87
       Licence Fee  27  27