New automatic receipts for taxi passengers
Passengers in all taxis in Flanders will be issued with official receipts from 1 July. The receipt contains information on the trip – pick-up and drop-off times and places – as well as the name and license number of the driver.
All taxis in the region have been fitted with onboard computers since January, but the rules gave owners six months to install the additional equipment required.
The computer works using satellite navigation, so it can work out for itself where the journey started and ended. It is also able to provide the phone number of the closest police station in case of trouble. The driver is obliged to hand over the receipt without the passenger having to ask.
The document is not only handy for passengers claiming expenses, it is also a fiscal control on drivers’ incomes and a record of their working hours. The onboard computer stores all details for seven days and can be kept longer if downloaded to another drive, for example, by the taxi company.
In another change, municipalities now have a wider choice of fares, which will allow them to tailor prices to the needs of certain target groups, such as the elderly and the disabled. The national taxi association fears the tendency will be to reduce fares for those groups, putting profitability in danger. Until now, maximum fares were determined by federal law, restricted to a pick-up charge, an hourly rate for waiting, a nighttime supplement and two mileage rates – one for inside and one for outside the taxi’s home zone. The new rules allow 26 different rates to be applied.
