Taxi non-cash payment surcharge review 2022

The surcharge applies when a taxi passenger pays for a fare using non-cash payment transaction options, including credit, debit and charge card.

In Victoria there are non-cash payment processors who facilitate the acceptance and processing of non-cash payments.

From 1 February 2021, the maximum non-cash payment surcharge for taxi services in Victoria is:

• four per cent (including GST) for most non-cash payment methods.
• six per cent (excluding GST) for commercial passenger vehicle specific instruments (like Cabcharge).

Our benchmarking and bottom-up cost assessment suggested that these amounts are enough for taxi payment processors to recover reasonable costs.

Most passengers would have paid less when making non-cash payments as a result of this decision.

We must ensure that persons facilitating the making of non-cash payment transactions are able to recover the reasonable cost of accepting and processing such transactions.

Reasonable cost includes any fees payable for the acquisition of transactions involving the use of debit, credit or charge cards.