Cabbies will be allowed to insist on being paid fares in cash in Brighton and Hove after the rules were discussed by councillors.
Pressure is growing for taxi and private hire drivers to take card or app payments, with many already doing so.
But councillors said that poor phone and wifi signals in parts of the area meant that it was not the right time to insist on the change.
Local policy was debated by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Licensing Committee at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 12 March) .
Members were concerned that some people did not have ready access to cash.
Conservative councillor Dee Simson said: “I agree that cashless payments are great for security and great for drivers as they carry less money on them. It’s a security and safety issue.
“But this is not the right time to force this on the drivers.”
Councillor Simson said that drivers would realise that it was in their interest to have card readers when they started to lose trade.
Green councillor Lizzie Deane said that eventually drivers would move to cashless payment, adding: “Now is not the time to make it compulsory.
“If this was made compulsory, then drivers without them (card readers) would be in breach of their licence. If this was the case, it would be draconian.”
Labour councillor Chris Henry agreed that cashless payment would happen, adding: “We do not need to interfere. Cashless payment is evolving all the time.
“In five years, we could be paying with our eyeballs.”
Green councillor Marianna Ebel was the only member of the Licensing Committee to vote for compulsory card readers, citing concerns for wheelchair users.
Fellow Green councillors Steve Davis and Clare Rainey abstained.
The move to make it compulsory for cabbies to accept card payments was suggested by members of the Independent Drivers Brighton and Hove (IDB&H) group.
But opposition came from other IDB&H memberes as well as the Sudanese Taxi Forum, United Taxi Drivers Association, City Cabs, Radio Cabs, Streamline, Unite and the GMB.
GMB taxi trade rep Andrew Peters welcomed the decision on behalf of his members.
He said: “While we will always encourage all drivers to have card readers to make it easier for customers to use the local trade, we believe the council has made the right decision to not make these compulsory.
“Additionally we hope that the mobile network in the city will vastly improve to enable guaranteed connections for the card readers.”
