Glasgow's lack of taxis, Ubers, and private hires put under the spotlighthttps://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/196 ... spotlight/SARAH Smith had just finished working a 10-hour shift at her Jamaica Street bar when she got out her phone. Like any other night, she opened an app, put in her address and destination, and then waited for the taxi to arrive. Seconds turned to minutes and these soon turned into hours. Before she knew it, it was nearly 1.30am.
Out of desperation she opened another app, booked an Uber, and took the near triple fare hit. Within an hour she was finally home.
For anyone who’s been out in Glasgow in recent weeks, Sarah’s will be a familiar tale. Booking a taxi or private hire home at the end of a night out has become “a nightmare”.
“I have noticed getting really bad since lockdown ended with drivers going off to other employment,” the 25-year-old, whose name we have changed as she asked to remain anonymous, said. “It seems to be getting worse more recently.
“I don’t have any option but to wait on a taxi and some nights I am waiting in the street an hour for a taxi.
“It’s a nightmare and it makes you feel helpless. You can’t do anything but wait or pay the price.
“Some of my colleagues even have to ask family members or friends to come and get them. It’s so bad.
“There is obviously the demand there for taxis with nights out coming back and all that.”
A glance on social media on any given day paints a familiar picture. Glaswegians, many of them working in the city’s pubs, bars and restaurants, left stranded as firms struggle to meet the demand.
One message seen by the Glasgow Times read: “The taxi problem in Glasgow is genuinely scary. Especially being a girl and finishing at 4am and being unable to get home.”
Another added: “Trying to get a taxi in Glasgow right now is the most infuriating thing ever.”
For those who are able to get a cab, they often find themselves paying well over the odds for the ‘privilege’.
But those within the trade are facing similar problems and, while it would be easy to point the finger at Covid, they say the reasons for the shortages of cars have been brewing under the surface long before the pandemic.
Not only were firms dealing with an ageing workforce but the pressure of meeting Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone – due to be brought in by June 2023 – pushed many over the edge.
While no one can put an exact number of the amount of drivers who have left, it’s suspected to be significant.
Dougie McPherson, chairman of Glasgow Taxis, said: “On the surface people see lockdown and drivers leaving as causing this but it’s much deeper and more multi-faceted than that.
“The easy parallel to draw is between us and lorry drivers.
“We weren’t affected by Brexit but lorry drivers were. But where the similarities are are very much in the age of the drivers.
“Our average age is about 56 or 57. For the last three years we have been warning Glasgow City Council of an impending shortage of drivers coming through.
“Our assertion was that the public hire trade would cease to exist within 10 years.
“The other reasons that lie behind it are a number of pressures on the trade. The gig economy undermined the traditional taxi companies in Glasgow.
“You then have the low emission zone coming in and for a driver who is nearing their 60s it isn’t the most appealing idea to splash £60,000 on an electric car.
“This was all happening then came Covid. It has been the catalyst to the speeding up of these processes.”
Next week drivers will meet council leader Susan Aitken to discuss their concerns and the pressures they are under.
And Mr McPherson sees it as an opportunity to put things right.
He added: “We are delighted and thank her for giving us her time.”
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