Free tool · for operators
Taxi tariff calculator
Enter a start charge, a rate per mile or kilometre, a waiting rate, a minimum fare and a night uplift, and this calculator prices sample trips by day and by night and builds a tariff card you can print. Use it to set private hire prices, or to check a council tariff before you load it.
Your tariff
Set the parts of the fare
The figures shown are an example. Put in your own; nothing leaves your browser.
Currency
Distance
| Trip | Day | Night / weekend | Per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mile | £6.10 | £7.70 | £6.10 |
| 2 miles | £8.30 | £10.40 | £4.15 |
| 3 miles | £10.50 | £13.20 | £3.50 |
| 5 miles | £14.90 | £18.70 | £2.98 |
| 8 miles | £21.50 | £26.90 | £2.69 |
| 12 miles | £30.30 | £37.90 | £2.53 |
| 20 miles | £47.90 | £59.90 | £2.40 |
Price one trip
night or weekend
Fare = start charge + distance after the covered part × rate + waiting minutes × rate, never below the minimum. The night and weekend uplift applies to the whole fare. Taxis (hackney carriages) must use their council’s tariff; see UK council fares per mile.
Table of fares
Your taxi company
| Start charge | £3.00 |
| Each further mile | £2.20 |
| Waiting time, per minute | £0.30 |
| Minimum fare | £5.00 |
| Nights and weekends | +25% |
Example: 5 miles with 3 minutes waiting, £14.90 by day.
How it works
How a taxi fare is built from a tariff
A tariff has four moving parts. The start charge (flag fall) opens the fare and often covers a short first distance. A rate per mile or kilometre is added for the distance after that. A rate per minute is added while the car waits or crawls in traffic. A minimum fare stops very short trips costing almost nothing. Night, weekend and holiday tariffs then raise the whole fare.
The calculator applies them in that order: start charge, plus the distance beyond the covered part times the rate, plus waiting minutes times the waiting rate; then the minimum; then the uplift; then rounding up to the step you choose. The “per mile” column divides each day fare by its distance, which is the number to compare against other tariffs: the start charge makes short trips dear per mile, and longer trips settle towards your mileage rate.
Council meters charge in small units of distance or time (20p every so many yards, for example) rather than a smooth rate per mile, so a council fare can land a few pence away from the same tariff priced here. For the published UK tables, see taxi fares per mile in the UK; for how to choose your rates, see how to set taxi fares.
Sources
Where the figures come from
- Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland): Maximum taxi fares to increase (10 November 2023) (read 2026-11-02)
- Brighton & Hove City Council: Maximum hackney carriage fares (read 2026-11-02)
- City of Edinburgh Council: Taxi fare table from 25 July 2026 (read 2026-11-02)
- legislation.gov.uk: Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, section 65 (fixing of fares for hackney carriages) (read 2026-11-02)
FAQ
Tariff questions
How do I calculate a taxi fare from a tariff?
Add the start charge, the distance beyond what the start charge covers multiplied by the rate per mile or kilometre, and the waiting minutes multiplied by the waiting rate. If the total is below the minimum fare, charge the minimum. At night or at weekends, apply the uplift to the whole fare.
What is a flag fall?
It is the amount on the meter when the trip starts, also called the start charge or drop charge. On UK council tariffs it usually buys a short opening distance; Edinburgh's tariff 1, for example, starts at £3.60 for the first 430 metres.
How much is a taxi per mile in the UK?
It depends on the council. On the daytime tariffs in our UK table, each mile after the opening stretch costs between about £1.86 (Northern Ireland's maximum, set in 2023) and £3.00 (Brighton and Hove), and night tariffs cost more. Private hire firms set their own prices.
Can a private hire or minicab firm set any tariff it likes?
Private hire fares are not set by the council in England and Wales, so the firm sets its own prices, usually quoted before the trip. Hackney carriages (taxis) cannot: outside London the council fixes their maximum fares in a table of fares under section 65 of the 1976 Act, and in London Transport for London sets them.
Can I load this tariff into TaxiDex?
Yes. TaxiDex prices jobs from your own tariffs, including a start charge, distance and time rates, a minimum, schedules for nights and weekends, and fixed or zone prices for routes such as airports. The tariff you build here maps onto those fields.
Put this tariff to work
TaxiDex prices every booking from your tariff, with night and weekend schedules and fixed airport fares, and shows the price to the passenger before they book.
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