What's particularly interesting about this article is the sheer breadth of the terminolgy used, which I've highlighted. The article certainly 'gets' the HC/PH split, and readers on here will understand what all this means. But, in particular, for the average reader of a newspaper the way it interchanges 'taxi' and 'cab' to mean either HC or PH will just confuse things.
Another obvious confusion is 'black cab driver', which in Bath actually seems to mean HC saloons of any colour, rather than what we normally understand by the term. And the mixed HC/PHV circuits in Bath obviously just add to the confusion.
(Did this at the time, and clicked the wrong thing and it all disappeared, but just remembered about it again for some reason
)
Bath taxi crisis explained by the cabbies themselveshttps://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/loc ... es-6263937Bad traffic, lack of customers and the pandemic have caused problems
Image: Artur Lesniak/Reach/Somerset LiveTaxi drivers have explained what is going on amid reports of people being "stranded" late at night after cars fail to turn up.
Over the last few months, Somerset Live has been told how residents have been having difficulties securing a taxi late at night, with some having to call friends to rescue them.
But
hackney carriage drivers say the problem is down to many
private taxi drivers leaving the profession during the coronavirus pandemic.
They said many
private taxi drivers left when Bath was a "ghost town" during the pandemic lockdowns.
They added that the city's terrible traffic problems and companies having difficult booking systems is making the situation worse.
Cab driver Aamir Sroya, 47, said he thought the problem was caused by drivers leaving the
private hire game.
He said: "It is true, a lot of those
private drivers left in the pandemic. We are struggling because of that.
"Some of them went home as they got fed up with lack of work and not much support."
Another
black cab driver, Phil Weisberg, 57, said it was due to a lack of customers.
He said: "There was a lack of customers when everything was shut down.
"That's why so many of them quit. There are 80
black cabs down here by the station - this is a prime spot for us and we're all still here. But there have been a lot of
private hirer guys that went away for the simple fact there was no living, it was a ghost town.
"For new drivers who still had large overhead costs for their cars and licenses they couldn't afford to do it, but us older lot have already paid those costs so it was okay."
Paul Smith, 65, has been a
cab driver in Bath for 20 years.
He said: "A lot of the
taxi drivers have gone home to Poland or Romania.
"We still have got quite a few here but there was loads."
But
cab driver Darth Speede, 50, said he didn't think there was a lack of drivers at all.
He said: "One would think that if there was a lack of drivers I should be absolutely rushed off my feet but I'm not.
"I so wish that were the case but even on a weekend it's not the case.
"There definitely isn't a lack of drivers but I know some company systems could be better. I had noticed a few problems a couple of months ago and took action with one company myself but it appears to be better now.
"I personally don't see a lack of drivers, there are still loads sat out the front of the station, only perhaps when it's a peak time during trains would there be a gap.
"I'm
private hire now but have been a
hackney driver before too. Perhaps a few of the drivers went after Brexit but not many, we still have a ludicrous amount of non-English drivers around."
Bob Hollingdale, 66, a
retired driver who still does some private hire jobs said he thought the traffic was the main problem in Bath.
Mr Hollingdale said: "I don't think there is a lack of drivers, it's more the problem with terrible traffic.
"It is horrendous at the moment in Bath. Saturday before last it took me 45 minutes to get from Monmouth Street to the station, another day it took me 20 minutes to go 200 years on Dorchester Street.
"When the traffic is so bad you can't get back to the stands. I think some drivers are put off by that."
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