We regulate hackney carriage fares and approve fares for private hire:
- all hackney carriages must clearly display a council-issued fare card inside the vehicle
- all private hire vehicles must clearly display a fare card inside the vehicle, which must be used.
If you are pre-booking a private hire vehicle, check the cost before the journey starts.
The fare meter should not start until all passengers and their belongings are safely in the vehicle.
No additional charges can be added by the driver if payment is made by debit or credit card; the fare card is currently being updated to remove this wording.
When fare meters are used
All vehicles are fitted with a fare meter, which must always be used unless a journey finishes more than four miles outside the boundary of the City of Manchester. In this case, the fare must be agreed with the driver before the journey starts. This is an agreed fare between you and the driver. It is custom and practice for drivers to quote fares for these journeys at meter fare plus one third.
We call the area within the four mile boundary the compellable area.
If you're not sure if the area you are going to is in or out of the boundary, ask to see the driver's copy of the compellable area map. The inner line is the city council boundary and the outer line is the limit of the compellable area.