Driving with Freenow: black cab and private hire

Freenow started life as mytaxi and became the main app for London black cabs before adding private hire. Lyft bought it in 2025 and it now trades as Freenow by Lyft. Lyft has also agreed to buy Gett's UK business, the other big black cab app in London.

Taxi or private hire

Freenow takes both. A black cab driver brings a hackney carriage licence, which in London means the Knowledge, and can also pick up street hails and use ranks and bus lanes, none of which a private hire driver can do. A private hire driver brings a private hire driver licence and a licensed vehicle, as for Uber or Bolt.

To join, you register in the driver portal, upload identity, vehicle and licence documents, add bank details, and do a short online training. Private hire drivers also book a 30 minute call.

Commission

Freenow charges commission only on jobs you complete, with no monthly fee, and you keep all tips. From 14 September 2026 the commission for London black cab drivers rises to 20% including VAT. Drivers carrying Freenow advertising on their cab, or who sign up for it before the end of 2026, stay on their current rate.

On-cab advertising

Freenow pays drivers to carry its branding on their cab, and says branded cabs get a boost to their priority score and twice the pre-booked offers. The payments are income of your business. If the deal is a lower commission instead of cash, your turnover is unchanged and your commission expense is smaller, which comes to the same thing.

The Knowledge subsidy

For private hire drivers who want a black cab licence, Freenow will pay a Knowledge school directly for up to 24 months, and reimburse one DBS application, one medical, the written exam, one appearance, one TfL licence application and one grant of licence. To qualify you need 50 Freenow trips in the last 12 months and a rating of 4.6 or more when you apply, and to keep it, 30 trips a month and active study.

Costs of training for a new kind of licence are not normally allowable against your current trade, and a subsidy that pays for them raises its own question. If you take it, keep the paperwork and ask an accountant how to treat it, rather than guessing.

Perks and cover

Black cab drivers get accident and sickness insurance with parental and bereavement payments through Onsi, a Shell fuel card worth 6p a litre, discounts on parts, charging with Octopus Electroverse and home chargers from Wallbox. Money off fuel reduces a cost; it is not income.

Tax

Fares and tips are turnover, the commission is an expense, and the vehicle is claimed either on the mileage rate, 55p for the first 10,000 business miles, or on actual costs. A cab driver who is also paid in cash and by card on street hails needs to record those fares too, because HMRC sees only what the apps report and expects the rest from your records.

The VAT threshold is £90,000 of turnover in any rolling 12 months. Metered fares are set by the licensing authority, so a cab driver who crosses it cannot simply add VAT to the fare, which makes watching your turnover in a busy year worthwhile.