Hackney licences to go up by $10,000, route taxi licences $3000 effective Monday

Persons seeking to obtain a new hackney carriage licence from the Transport Authority will have to pay $10,000 more to receive the permit.

The transport regulator advised this afternoon that the fees for a new licence as well as a renewal will move to $25,000 effective Monday, October 1.

Currently, it costs $15,000 for a new hackney carriage licence and $13,500 for a renewal.

The cost of a route taxi licence will also increase come Monday.

The prices for new and renewal permits will both move from $12,000 to $15,000.

The authority says the increases are to offset the mounting administrative costs associated with the agency's operations.

Meanwhile, the transport regulator is reminding prospective licensees that hackney carriage road licences are now available in St James, St Ann, Westmoreland, Trelawny and Manchester and that some 1,260 routes have been opened across the island under the liberalisation pilot project for both rural stage and route taxi licences.

Applications for licences opened on September 10 and will close on November 30.

The authority is urging unlicensed public passenger operators to become compliant to avoid prosecution.

Applicants are also being cautioned to conduct business directly with the transport authority and refrain from transacting business with individuals purporting to be agents of the agency.

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