Taxis and Private Hire

Taxis are a crucial part of Greater Manchester’s transport network.

There are two types of licensed vehicle:

Taxis or hackney carriages which can be hailed on the street or picked up at authorised taxi ranks; and
Private hire vehicles which can only pick up passengers through pre-arranged bookings through an Operator, either by phone, online, or via an app.

Alongside the Bee Network, taxis and private hire vehicles help local residents and visitors to our city region make millions of journeys every year.

They get you from A to B at times when public transport isn’t running. And for people without a car – or who need to make door-to-door journeys – they offer a vital public service.

We want to make sure Greater Manchester’s taxis offer a safe, accessible, reliable and high-quality experience for everyone.

Backing our taxis: Local. Licensed. Trusted.

‘Backing our taxis: Local. Licensed. Trusted’ is Greater Manchester’s campaign for a modern, fit-for-purpose taxi trade. One that’s run in the best interests of passengers, the trade and our city region.

Ride-hailing platforms have revolutionised the taxi market in the last decade.

Current laws mean that, not all private hire vehicles running in Greater Manchester are licensed with one of our ten local authorities. That means we can’t set standards for these services.

We want more private hire vehicles to licence with Greater Manchester. We also want to support drivers to make the switch to greener and more accessible vehicles easier.

Through the campaign we are calling on government for:

New laws to tackle out-of-area licensing.
More city-region control over granting licenses and enforcing conditions.
Local accountability to increase public confidence and trust.
A reduction in the cost of electric vehicle purchase and charging.
Extend the VAT exemption to new wheelchair accessible taxis.
Extending the national Plug-In Taxi Grant.
Reducing the rate of VAT on public EV charging.

Greater Manchester is also carrying out an independent review to:

Understand the issues shaping the industry, drivers’ experiences and the challenges facing the trade.
Engage with the taxi trade, local authorities and other stakeholders to find ways to incentivise more drivers to licence with GM local authorities.

Greater Manchester leaders have committed to ensuring the right financial support is in place for GM-licensed drivers to upgrade to lower emission vehicles.

Leaders are also endorsing plans to extend the emissions standards for taxis and private hire vehicles by at least a year to 31 December 2026 to give drivers time to upgrade.

Get involved

We want to hear from all black cab and private hire drivers to help us improve the trade together and make sure services work for everyone.

We'll be carrying out a 12-week engagement with the trade.

Sign up for updates

Keep up to date with the latest ‘Backing our taxis’ news.

How does taxi / private hire licensing in Greater Manchester work?

There are two types of licensed vehicle in Greater Manchester:

Taxis or hackney carriages which can be hailed on the street or picked up at authorised taxi ranks.

Private hire vehicles which can only pick up passengers through pre-arranged bookings through an Operator, either by phone, online, or via an app.

Each of the ten Greater Manchester authorities are a licensing authority and issue both hackney carriage and private hire licences.

Find information on the current standards and policies your council has in place for both hackney carriage and private hire licences.

What can I expect when booking a private hire?

You may have noticed that some private hires have licence plates and stickers from other council areas.

Current legislation means that private hire drivers and vehicles licensed in other areas can operate in Greater Manchester.

There are no national standards for private hire drivers, vehicles and operators or inspection of the licensing authorities that issue these licences.

That means Greater Manchester can’t guarantee the vehicle safety and driver checks of private hire vehicles licensed elsewhere.

When you book a journey through a private hire operator – through an app, online booking system or over the phone – you can ask for a driver and vehicle licensed by your local council or another council of your choice.

If you have a problem with a private hire vehicle, you should report it to the council it is licensed with. A council’s private hire policies can usually be found on its web pages.

Greater Manchester Minimum Licensing Standards

We want all drivers and vehicles licensed in Greater Manchester to offer the same safe, high-quality experience for everyone, every time.

That includes vehicles that meet high environmental standards.

Greater Manchester’s ten local councils, supported by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), developed a proposed set of common, minimum standards taxis drivers, vehicles and operators licensed in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester local authorities have been individually approving and integrating the standards into existing policies.

The standards focus on four areas:

Drivers

Frequent criminal record checks
Medical examinations
Local area knowledge tests
English language proficiency
Driver training (including on safeguarding and disability awareness)
Driving proficiency
Dress code

Vehicles

Vehicle emissions
Vehicle age
Vehicle colour
Vehicle livery (signage and stickers)
Accessibility requirements
Vehicle testing
CCTV
Specific standards for executive hire
Miscellaneous vehicle design requirements

Operators

Basic criminal record checks for all private hire operators and staff
A common set of licence conditions
More stringent booking records requirements

Local authorities

Ability for drivers and operators to submit licence applications up to eight weeks in advance of licence expiry
When approved, licence to be issued within five working days
Common enforcement approach and framework to which licensing fees are set
Training for councillors reviewing licence applications

Taxi and private hire emission standards

Greater Manchester’s proposed vehicle minimum emission licensing standards have been closely linked to developments with the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan.

That’s because of the important role taxis have to play in helping clean up our air.

In February 2025, the government approved the GM Clean Air Plan, approving £8m government funding GM-licensed hackney carriages upgrade to clean air compliant vehicles.

This falls short of the £30.5m Greater Manchester requested to support the black cab and private hire trade to upgrade to clean air compliant vehicles.

In April 2025, Greater Manchester leaders endorsed plans to:

Ensure the right financial support is in place for GM-licensed drivers to upgrade to lower emission vehicles.

Extend the emissions standards for taxis and private hire vehicles to 31 December 2026 to give drivers time to upgrade.

Give hackney carriage and private hire vehicle owners an exemption to the emission standard until the maximum age limit of the relevant licensing authority (or, for those without an age policy, until 31 August 2030), thereby providing the taxi trade with more time to upgrade their vehicles.

Find out more about the clean air plan.

Dedicated Be.EV taxi charging points 

We’ve introduced 60 new rapid charging points for electric taxis. We chose the locations across Greater Manchester following feedback from the trade.

The charging points are now available to use as part of the Be.EV charging network. To see locations and register to use them, both hackney carriage and private hire drivers should visit the Be.EV Taxi scheme webpage (external website).

Greater Manchester local authority taxi webpages

For information Greater Manchester councils’ current taxi and private hire licensing standards and policies, please visit: