Glasgow City Council's Licensing and Regulatory Committee meets at the City Chambers at 9.30am on Wednesday 11 November 2026 to consider whether taxi drivers must accept card payments for fares. A report by the Director of Legal and Administration asks members to note a public consultation and to consider licence conditions requiring drivers to take credit or debit cards. Under any such condition, a passenger who wanted to pay cash could still do so.
What the consultation found
The committee ordered the consultation on 3 December 2025. It ran on the council's online hub from 4 February to 1 June 2026, both dates included. The link also went to the Glasgow Taxi Owners' Federation, Unite the Union Glasgow Cab Section, Glasgow Taxis Ltd, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Police Scotland and the city's elected members.
The council received 1,666 responses. Members of the public accounted for 72.39% and taxi drivers for 15.23%. On whether taxi drivers must accept credit or debit cards, 99.1% of respondents answered. Of those who answered, 83.16% agreed, made up of 77.95% who strongly agreed and 5.21% who tended to agree. A further 14.53% disagreed, made up of 10.90% who strongly disagreed and 3.63% who tended to disagree, and 2.06% had no opinion.
The report summarises the case put by supporters. A card would no longer leave people without a way home late at night. Waits at ranks would fall if every taxi took cash and card, and cherry-picking on the ranks would stop if every vehicle took cards. Consumer habits have changed since the pandemic, passengers expect a non-cash option, the service would be better, a card payment would give a record of the driver and vehicle and was linked by respondents to safety, fewer people carry cash, and card is more convenient.
Objections from the trade
The same summary sets out why others disagreed. Drivers are self-employed and should choose how they are paid. A card reader costs the driver money, so a mandate would be unfair. Readers fail when they cannot get a network connection, and a failed reader could mean more unpaid fares. Drivers are charged a fee or a percentage of each transaction and would lose part of the fare. Not everyone uses a card, so cash should still be allowed.
Every respondent answered a further question on concerns. The themes were that a driver who did not want a card would claim the machine was broken; that cash would be lost as a way of paying; that a lost signal or a flat battery could leave the driver unpaid; that technology fails; that drivers would set a minimum spend or a minimum journey time; that a passenger might have no funds; that a customer might ask their bank for a chargeback; that fares would rise to cover the machines; that the public tip less on card; that a card can be declined at the end of the trip; that drivers might still force passengers to pay cash; and that the council might insist on one supplier of card machines.
Asked whether conditions could deal with those concerns, 87.1% of respondents answered. Of that group, 31.63% answered no and 22.33% answered yes. Where the answer was yes, the suggestions were a clear sign that card payment is available at all times; a driver with a broken machine not being allowed to work; a receipt on request; a plan for a widespread network outage; permission for drivers to charge for taking a card; the fare shown on the machine so the passenger can see it matches the meter; the machine linked to the meter; the machine visible and within reach in the vehicle; a quick way to report a driver who refuses a card; a receipt giving the driver's licence number and the vehicle plate number; and pre-authorising the card before the journey, as at a pay-at-pump petrol station.
Other comments included the view that the taxi trade was the only self-employed business being told how it may be paid, that the change would push a cashless society, that the council has more pressing problems in the trade, and that the council should buy card machines in bulk and give them to drivers. Some wanted mileage reports checked against meter data so a meter could not be switched off. The licensing authority can review and amend licence conditions under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
Draft conditions
If members are minded to act, the report invites them to consider conditions on payment by credit or debit card, receipts when requested, problems with card payments, and network outages. The appendix gives two draft taxi driver licence conditions.
"The driver of a taxi, while in charge of a taxi as such, must at all times, accept credit/debit card and contactless payments via a card payment device and provide a printed or handwritten receipt for those payments upon request.
"The driver of a taxi shall ensure that the card payment device is fully working before accepting any fares. Should there be a network outage affecting card payment devices or any other technical issue with the working of the card payment device, the driver of a taxi shall inform passengers as soon as they become aware."
Any implementation period, for new taxi driver licences and for renewals, would be for the committee to set. The licensing authority would face no cost. Operators and drivers who do not already have a card device would have to buy one. The authority does not propose to recommend a supplier, or to require any particular provider, so a choice of devices would remain.
Taxis are used by disabled and elderly people and by visitors to Glasgow, and those groups would benefit from being able to pay by card in every licensed taxi. Passengers with no card, or who preferred not to use one, could still pay cash. The draft conditions are for taxi driver licences.
When the consultation was ordered
The December 2025 report that led to the consultation recorded 1,217 licensed taxis, no Glasgow policy or condition requiring a card reader, and readers already fitted voluntarily by some operators. No Scottish licensing authority had yet required card devices in taxis. Several English authorities had, by conditioning operator licences, driver licences, or both. Licensing staff had taken queries from the public. Operators had also asked for a mandatory facility to be explored, because passengers were asking to pay by card, and it had become commonplace for people to carry no cash and to rely on a card or a wallet on a phone.