On Sep 14, 2:38*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

So that's the tip gone to the credit card company not the driver!

As noted, I see no reason for tipping a taxi driver any more than a
bus driver. The price should be fixed and realistic.

So, if fares are to be rounded up to the nearest £2, or whatever,
that's what the tariff should define.

Strange how Taxipay say their service is "Free, easy to set up". 6.5%
doesn't sound very "free" to me. It also seems to circumvent the usual
C&P controls.

Free, presumably, to set up rather than to use.

As for C&P controls, those are at the option of the retailer, not the
card company. The retailer is liable for fraud on the transaction if
they do not use C&P for it. Some other retailers still choose not to
use C&P - airport car parks and the M6 Toll are two examples of this,
where C&P is not used because throughput is more important than fraud
risk.

But given that it is possible to produce a card reader that can verify
a PIN and use the card's encryption so cheaply that the banks throw
them out like there's no tomorrow, and a good number of people these
days have smartphones (most of the minicab companies seem to use a
smartphone app for dispatch these days rather than a radio), it would
seem there is a gap in the market for someone to make an inexpensive
USB device for accepting Chip & PIN payments in connection with a
mobile app.

On the other hand they have a C&P terminal which they say comes with a
5% surcharge, while recommending drives to claim the surcharge is 10%.
It gets worse and worse!

Like Ryanair the taxi driver is at liberty to surcharge what he likes,
though I think a claim that he is charged that is immoral. To me,
actual cost plus usual overall profit margin %age is reasonable.

Neil