Jasbar wrote:
I've no doubt that PH was flourishing at any point of dereg. That's the problem, Pandora's box has already opened.
And with the advent of technology I've no doubt people will sit in the pub and fone a cab, hack or PH.
But the problem is that PH is inherently inefficient.
Jobs called 10-15 mins before due. Customer not turning up, particular from pub or club calls. Then on the to the same next time. And all while fares are being driven down in order to compete.
I've no doubt there are PH companies who make it work. Not my experience. It's a pell mell rush to the bottom of the pond, with the serf bearing the brunt. This mentality will always hold PH back. It will always be a fringe affair.
Some in the companies who are given special treatment will survive. But the vast hinterland will always be drivers struggling to make it work, ensconced only by their desperation, cannon fodder for those making the money.
What this means is that quality will never be there. If LAs had real customer interests at heart they would recognise the failings and promote a real taxi service, based on properly funded tariffs and real vehicle and driver controls.
Tell me I'm wrong.
I'd love to have a little go, but the majority of your words I agree with in respect of PH, and certainly in respect of PH operators with little regards towards the number of vehicles they have on their radio circuits and the amount of work they have for those vehicles.
Whether I like it or you like it, the words borrowed by Darryl Biggar as his own, were that those companies that were largest would invariably survive, the biggar a company is, the faster the response times, the more work it attracts from other companies and invariably it leads to it becoming bigger.
To paraphrase something Naomi Klein pointed out in her book 'the shock doctrine', Numerous ph businesses are similar to corporations such as 'Nike', who basically have a hollow shell of a business, no true costs such as employees....save for office staff, no costs in respect of cars......just a phone number and a dispatch system, advertising / marketing.
The success of the business is dependant upon the number of cars, giving a faster service than rival companies.....who it must not only attract custom from, it must attract vehicles and drivers from........as skull once said borrowing a phrase from a Scots socialist, 'rats feeding on rats'.
Eventually the company eats up all the competition, leaving no rivals, then we have a monopoly, but it isnt a monopoly in the sense that nobody can enter the industry, its just that those that do will end up very bankrupt......and before people say this wont happen, it has, when buses deregulated Mrs Thatcher had a really nice idea about all companies competing......how many bus companies do we currently have now? Four maybe??
We now have two here, which is about 3 less than we had 10 - 15 years ago and 1 more than last year - but it wont last, it cant because a little outfit from a village cannot compete with a multi national which owns train companies.