The Irish News priced an off-peak journey from Belfast Grand Central Station to east Belfast at £11.60 on Freenow by Lyft and £7.80 on fonaCAB's own app, a difference of £3.80, or 49 per cent. Journeys booked on Freenow are carried out by fonaCAB drivers in fonaCAB cars. The same check found similar gaps at other times of day, without publishing those fares. For this journey, Value Cabs was between £6.20 and £7.50 and Uber was £7.95. Those two firms are separate operators. The report puts fonaCAB's admin fee on account bookings at 10 per cent. Irish News fare check
The account fare
fonaCAB treats Freenow as an account customer, in the same way as hotels, restaurants and other businesses that book taxis for someone else.
Stephen Anton of fonaCAB said: "We have Freenow as an account customer in the same way we have other business account customers across Northern Ireland.
"The way it works with account customers is that they book a taxi with us, and at the end of the journey the meter says £10. We have to add VAT to that, which makes it £12. And because we have to pay the driver straight away, but we might not get the money from an account customer for a month, we add an admin fee on top of that as well.
"When you get into a Fonacab and it's £10 on the meter, that £10 is what we as Fonacab get, and that £10 is what the taxi driver gets paid. He gets paid the metered rate. If Freenow then charge the passenger more than that, we haven't made any more money and the driver hasn't made any more money on that booking.
"The difference comes from the small admin fee, the VAT, and then Freenow deciding to put a margin on top of that.
"If you're an existing Fonacab customer in Northern Ireland, we still want you to use the Fonacab app, we still want you to book on the Fonacab telephone numbers, and we still want you to just pay what you pay Fonacab on a normal booking."
The £10 on the meter and the £12 with VAT are his example of how an account booking is billed, separate from the Grand Central quote.
Lyft on the price
A spokesperson for Lyft said: "Freenow by Lyft is proud to have launched in Northern Ireland. The launch has been a major success, bringing new customers to our taxi partners across Northern Ireland and offering the widest coverage of any taxi app across the island of Ireland.
"Trip prices are set directly by our partners. The Freenow passenger app includes a standard service fee, which can account for variance between the price quoted in our app and a booking made directly with an operator. Additionally, Freenow is pleased to offer a range of promotional discounts to users in Northern Ireland, helping ensure passengers receive great value on their journeys."
On fonaCAB's account, the difference is VAT, a small admin fee, and a margin added by Freenow. On Lyft's account, partners set the trip price, and a standard service fee can explain the gap between the app and a booking made directly with an operator.