NIGHTTIME taxi fares will be reduced in the city at weekends in a move to encourage revellers to use black cabs.

Prices will begin at £4.40 – rather than £5.50 – as city licensing chiefs try to help traditional taxi firms compete with rising competition from private hires and app-based firms such as Uber. 

The new rate will start at £4.40 from 11pm until 6am instead of £5.50 from 12am until 6am.

The current rates were originally introduced to encourage taxi drivers to work overnight at weekends, but changes to market conditions have led to calls for the reduction. 

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The changes – which are still subject to a four-week consultation period – were announced at a meeting of Glasgow City Council’s licensing committee, and have been widely welcomed by taxi bosses and union chiefs. 

Addressing the board, chairman of Glasgow Taxis Stephen Flynn said: “I think this [reduced rate after 11pm] will bring back trade to the taxis.”

Calum Anderson, chairman of Glasgow Cab Section at Unite the Union, said: “The increase of private hire cars in the city has had an effect on the taxi trade. I hope these measures will help.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Anderson added: “Many years ago a lot of drivers didn’t want to work on a Friday or Saturday night because of the grief they would get from members of the public abusing the service.

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“The council allowed us to charge extra from 12am until 6am to encourage more drivers to work and earn some extra cash. What was a problem then isn’t now. 

“People don’t go out as much as they used to on a Friday night.”

He added: “We hope this will encourage more people to use a taxi service late at night rather than a private hire car.”

The new weekend rates were revealed as it was confirmed general city taxi fares will rise by more than 10 per cent.  This means the maximum charge for a journey of 939 yards or less lasting no more than three minutes will be £3.30.

The cost will rise by 20p for every 167 yards or 34 seconds spent in the taxi. A further 10p will be added for more than two passengers and an additional charge of £1.10 will be implemented between 11pm and 6am.

The new fares are expected to be in place by the end of next month provided no objections are submitted.