Maximum surcharge for non-cash taxi payments set for review

The Essential Services Commission has released a consultation paper as it prepares to look at the maximum fee paid by taxi users when paying by non-cash methods.

The state transport regulator is seeking feedback on its proposed approach and methodology to reviewing the maximum surcharges.

The surcharge is currently set at maximum of four per cent for most non-cash payment methods, like credit and debit cards. It is six per cent when using Cabcharge.

The commission’s director of pricing Marcus Crudden said the scheduled biennial review will aim to ensure taxi users paying by non-cash methods are only charged reasonable costs to process these transactions.

"Our objective is to promote efficiency and the long-term interests of Victorian consumers, while also allowing taxi payment processors to recover the reasonable cost of processing those transactions,” he said.

The commission proposes to use a similar methodology and approach we employed in the last review current surcharge. This included calculating the reasonable costs incurred by taxi payment processors and benchmarking them against the cost of credit and debit card transactions in the rest of the economy.

Interested stakeholders can submit feedback through the Engage Victoria website until 26 July 2022.