Taxi Driver Online

Letter to the Council Solicitor

Dear Mr Millar

I refer to the proposed 7 % increase in taxi fares in Edinburgh.

While I acknowledge that such an increase may be desirable, I write to formally object to this increase at this time and require that my objection be lodged and noted.

I would remind you that as the regulatory body, the council has a duty to act in the public interest.

It is widely recognised that the economy is in recession. As such it is neither in the public's interest, nor the trade's for that matter, for any fare increase to be adopted at this time. I request that this fare increase be set aside and further considered in 6 months time, or other appropriate period, when the current volatile economic situation may have settled with a more positive economic outlook.

I also note that the reason given by the trade to support the increase is to help drivers hard pressed by the fuel price increase. Two things apply.

First, the fuel price increase has already been dealt with through the recent temporary 20p per fare increase, and fuel prices are currently falling. This excuse no longer exists to hike fares at this time.

Second, any increase in the tariff will merely be fed through to higher taxi rentals and taxi company radio dues. It is unlikely that, given the anticipated drop in demand because of the fare hike, drivers will be any better off. They will still have to work longer hours to meet the increased rentals, with all the attendant safety concerns that brings. Meanwhile, the trust of the public for the trade will have been sorely dented through this extraordinary hike in fares at a time when they are being asked for restraint and belt-tightening.

I also note the following published in the Evening news:-

A report by Jacobs Consultancy, the firm that was appointed in 2005 to undertake three consecutive taxi tariff reviews, says the overall costs of taxi operations in the city have increased from £39,300 in 2007 to £42,000 this year. Of the £2700 increase, 55 per cent is attributable to fuel, Jacobs said.

I find these figures quite extraordinary. My calculation is that a new, leased or purchased single-shifted taxi can be operated at a running cost around half of the figures quoted above. Indeed, this is one of the major reasons for my argument to de-limit taxi licence plates, where an owner/driver can operate his taxi more flexibly and with greater cost control - a point I have made previously and which you are well aware of.

In view of this, I formally request, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, that you supply me with a copy of the report from Jacobs highlighted in the news article, along with the specific formula and data used to arrive at these figures.

At a time of market recession, it is clear there is even more imperative that de-limitation be introduced in the public interest. Such a measure, through bringing more flexibility to drivers and taxi provision generally, will allow costs to be better controlled and fares maintained in the public interest, not that of the council sanctioned cartel controlling the trade.

This would also help slow the drift away from the trade by drivers who - unless they are prepared to pay up to £50,000 for a taxi licence plate that the council says has "no intrinsic value" and according to the Law is supposed not transferable in the first place - can see no possibility of ever driving their own taxi and controlling their own costs.

Drivers have been sorely represented by this council that has stoically maintained the restriction demanded by the cartel operating the trade. It has stifled enterprise and allowed costs to soar, forcing rentals punitively high, along with the taxi company radio dues which rise inexorably to support the poor business expertise of the amateurs controlling them.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

When is a "good" time to increase fares?

Why not accept the increase, and offer a discount?

You'll be run off your tiny little jockenesian feet, with all the extra business

_________________
Former taxi driver

You're having a laugh. The public already thinks we're greedy scumbags.

Anyway, it will be too late. The damage will have been done. Getting a 7% hike when everyone else is being asked to take much much less will decimate our trade. And, I know there has been no hike for 2 years and the increase may be "justified", but the public won't see it that way.

And, who wants to work in a trade giving out discounts. We all know where that leads. Customers walking up and down ranks playing one off against the other, the most desperate pricing the job way below the 7% level of the increase. Who needs to work in such tension. Or even hailing you in the street, then rejecting you because you won't discount.

The saving grace of the job is that everyone, public and trade knows that the fare on the meter is what's being charged and paid.

Offering discounts willy nilly will kill us all.

So putting up fares will kill the trade, and discounting fares will kill the trade?

Have you never been asked for a discount? I find that unlikely.

Have you never had a "chisit" as in "chisit to Glasgow?" for instance, to have them asking " yeel no be havin' a sale willyea?"

I had one about ten minutes ago, "chisit to Leicester"

_________________
Former taxi driver

Does Mr Millar work on TDO?

FFS

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Why?

Jasbar has lodged an official objection to CEC's proposed fare rise, which he is perfectly entitled to do. He has chosen TDO to publish his letter of objection so that anyone with an interest can see what he put in it. Whether the rest of the Edinburgh trade agree or not doesn't matter, CEC now have at least one objection and must legally consider it. That could delay any implementation.
That may not be of interest to you but it will be of interest to those in Edinburgh who will be affected, whether they agree with him or not.

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Not quite. Putting up fares at this time will kill the trade.

And a culture of discounting becoming the norm will equally kill the trade.

Seems simple to me.

I know that we need an increase in the tariff. The PH monthly league table is proof of that. But incase you hadn't notice our economy is on its arse end. We've just taken the unprecedented move to drop interest rates by 1 and a half per cent to 3%, the level they were in the 50s.

From an MPC of the B of E that has been cautiously manipulating rates to keep them as high as the market would bear, that is one powerful statement. And the trade wants a 7% increase on this backdrop?

It doesn't wash with me.

If you take into account the time elapsed since the last rise in the tariff and add on another eighteen months until the next review it means that the Edinburgh taxi trade has had an increase of 1.75% each year.

Considering that the current CPI inflation rate is now at 5.2% and the RPI at 5%? is an 7% increase in four years plus really excessive.

Taxi drivers/owners are not immune to the increasing cost of living, they still have to feed and clothe their children, pay their mortgages and everything else.

I think you have become confused about the methodology they use in the tariff calculation Jasbar, infact the figures you quote would require a much larger increase than the one being proposed!

Try and keep a steady nerve, it sounds like you are panicking about this, perhaps unnecessarily, who knows what will happen.

You can't change your fixed costs, you do not have any control over externalities like the price of fuel, tyres, licences etc so the only thing you will achieve is a reduction in the one variable left out of that lot and that is our own earnings so no 7% rise really equates to a 7% decrease in our earnings so not only do we not get a rise we take a cut of 7% in real terms.

Any person is entitled to object stu.....and they normally do, but thats the system.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Of course I meant we would have an 1.75% increase for each year only if the rise goes through, if not no rise in four and a half years.

I know CC but I can't believe that he doesn't know the formula for the tariff calculation.

I cant believe you cant believe that

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

For the record Jim,not all drivers are putting the 20p on the meter.
Off course you will try and paint the blackest picture,that is what you do
It does look like another letter from you is going where the rest of them go......in the bucket.
The icing on the cake though is you say,"the anticipated drop in demand",then followed by"even more imperative that de-limitation be introduced",just goes to show us all again how much of a t*t you really are.
NO UNMET DEMAND..

Quality.

There are still queues for taxis. Fares are still walking half way home. And we all know that any increase in demand is met with private hire.

But forget that. The fact is that, to me, the important people here are the drivers and the customers. No one else. Not the owners. Not the taxi companies. Not the politicians denying us our rights to prop up their heavily subsidised transport policy and their own vested interests - Cardownie being just one name to conjure with who is deeply involved in private hire.

As for stu, I told you that I realise that an increase is desirable. I know the equation. But we are driven by the market, and to hike our prices by 7% now is economic suicide. The public aren't interested in the logic of a tariff increase, all they will see is the hike at a time when they're not getting the same hike and they're tightening their belts. It is only us who will suffer.

All I'm saying is that the current tariff increase should be delayed, although I'm well aware that this will store up even more grief when the increase is ultimately applied, the gap getting even wider.

However, I know that by running my own vehicle, single shifted, doubling as my private, I can better contain all of the costs you highlighted.

Drivers wouldn't be driving elsewhere for changeover. Drivers wouldn't be driving a vehicle driven more harshly by someone else. Buying a new vehicle buys a warranty.

And, does anyone outside of the clique know what the formula is? And how can it possibly be true that it costs £42,000 just to operate a taxi? Each vehicle would need to generate £90,000 of turn over, through two or more drivers, to justify that.

Yet, there are many taxis in the city that are owner driven, single shifted. Are you suggesting that they are all turning over £70,000 to make an average living? Someone is telling porkies here. The basic formula is clearly flawed and needs to be scrutinised.

Meanwhile, the trade should be approaching the council and demanding more reasonable licence and test fees. If we're tightening our belt, they should be too.

And, if the taxi examination centre can't be run on a sensible fee basis, then it's time to close it and subcontract to MOTEC.

It is the fundamentals of this trade that are wrong. No one is addressing them, because the only imperative is to maintain the status quo. It's always been done like this, so must it always.

The trade desperately needs modernisation, new thinking, fresh ideas. The current "representatives" have none. They're little better than Mark Twain's Uncle Tom.