Sussex wrote:
Socrates wrote:
Where there are too few taxis...
Drivers can demand higher fares, spend less time waiting around for customers, work more sociable hours and get away with lower standards.
Other than maybe London, could you give examples of the above?
Pick any major city... Liverpool for example has been in the news of late, and comments from consumers posted on the online articles often speak of a bygone age (presumably the 70s and 80s) when HC held on to a small cartel of licence holders ... Lack of competition led to sharp hikes in regulated fare structures, resulting in higher cab rental charges and plates changing hands reportedly for £60k. Stranded consumers complained of being held to ransom by cherry picking drivers, some failed to flag down cabs simply because they were on the wrong side of the road (heading away from the drivers' central honeypot).
Fast forward 30 to 40 years and PH now dominate with low fares that are matched by increasing numbers of competitors, customer satisfaction is at an all time high ... HC driver moral is at an all time low and increasing numbers of them resort to illegal plying in neighbouring zones, wearing plates that have plummeted in value.
The pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other, from driver focused to consumer focused, a trend no doubt seen to varying degrees in any major city where PH grew up in the suburbs before strangling the town centres.