SHARING taxis with other passengers for a flat £1 fare is the latest idea to be considered by councillors looking to ease traffic congestion in York.

The revolutionary plan has been sent to every member of City of York Council by taxi driver Richard Jackson, who said if the Taxibus idea works in York, it could be extended to serve rural communities.

He said: “The Taxibus will be able to offer the trip into town or out of town on any selected route for £1 per person, so it would not matter which route you travelled, your fare would be no more than £1.

“The terminus points would all be in the city suburbs, if the idea worked and was successful it could be expanded to the local villages around York with a different pricing policy.”

Mr Jackson, 53, said: “For congestion and pollution and all the other problems we have in this city, it would be ideal.”

The scheme would be voluntary and would not run late at night. Drivers would be able to decide if they were in “Taxibus mode” according to demand. Mr Jackson suggested drivers would wait for a maximum of ten minutes once the first person had entered the cab.

Set routes would initially serve well populated areas such as Acomb and South Bank and ranks would be situated at existing taxi stopping places in the city centre, such as Piccadilly and Duncombe Place.

So far Mr Jackson’s plans have had a positive response from city councillors.

The Lib-Dem head of city strategy, Coun Steve Galloway, said: “We are interested and I have looked before at the concept. It’s an idea worth exploring.

“We will be reviewing the use of Taxibuses, but less from the view of augmenting high-usage bus routes and more from the point of view of filling in gaps on less-used bus routes.”

Coun Ian Gillies, chair of the licensing and regulatory committee, welcomed the idea but said it would not be simple to deliver effectively.

“I think because of costs and timings it’s more appropriate for rural areas,” he said.