Taxi Driver Online

The first of these articles appeared last week. The second one is more recent.

But articles about taxi ranks in Glasgow are like buses - you wait ages for one, then two come along at once

And the two are about different things, but both will be familiar to most who know the trade, I suspect. Particularly to HC drivers - even the most recent ones who won't know so much about these things

Anyway, the first is about those 'active travel' sort of things, ie widening pavements, shoehorning-in cycles lanes and giving priority to buses, all while sidelining the HCs

The second piece is perhaps the more traditional type of piece about double-parking, overranking, dangerous u-turns and noise and anti-social behaviour from punters etc


Cutting space at city centre rank will lead to more queues, say taxi drivers

https://news.stv.tv/west-central/cuttin ... xi-drivers

Unite the Union objected to Glasgow City Council plans to relocate the taxi rank on Stockwell Street.

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Taxi drivers fear cutting spaces at a city centre rank will lead to more queuing for old and disabled passengers.

Unite the Union objected to Glasgow City Council plans to relocate the taxi rank on Stockwell Street.

The move, which has been approved by the city’s licensing committee, is part of the Avenues programme to upgrade city centre streets.

At Stockwell Street, work includes installation of a two-way segregated cycle lane and widened footways.

A council official said a bus stop needs to be moved as a result of the project, meaning the taxi rank will be shortened. But drivers claim there has been a lack of consultation over the proposal, and say access will be reduced for those who rely on taxis.

There has been a taxi stance for four taxis on Stockwell Street between Stockwell Place and Osborne Street. There will now only be space for two.

The council is planning to install a camera focused on the two-vehicle rank and a monitor at a six-vehicle rank on Osborne Street so drivers can see when a space becomes available.

Seven objections to the change were received by Glasgow City Council, including from Unite the Union Glasgow Cab Section.

Michael Meehan, from Unite, said: “We don’t believe there is adequate equality assessment at that rank, reducing it two means there is going to be more queues for passengers, especially the old, frail and the disabled passengers.”

He added the union had “no records at our office of any consultation” and the planning stage had “gone through prior to the covid period”.

“The taxi service operates 24 hours a day, and it’s a door-to-door service. Buses finish generally speaking about 11pm,” Mr Meehan said.

“The idea of the Avenues project is to encourage people to use public transport. Taxis provide the door-to-door service that customers are going to need when there are fewer cars coming into the city.

“We need to have more taxi ranks, rather than less taxi ranks, because there are complaints at the moment that we can’t get enough taxis onto the ranks at the peak times.”

He said the council could get the design right with “a little bit of tweaking”.

Henry McKean, from the union, said it was “unfair” to reduce the capacity by 50% and would be detrimental to passengers trying to access taxis. Another objector argued the rank has been in place for years and is well known.

Another council official said the Avenue scheme had been in design for six to seven years. “Consultation has been carried out extensively throughout the design and development process of this particular Avenue scheme,” he added.

He said Unite had been included in contact lists and an equality impact assessment had been undertaken and was published in 2024/25.

Work on Stockwell Street was delayed by the Union Street fire, to help with traffic management, but is now under way.

The official said there would be cost implications and delays to construction if the taxi stance changes were not approved.


'Vital' Glasgow taxi rank retained after backlash over 'dangerous' complaint

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glas ... d-34472610

A neighbour wanted the west end taxi rank to be revoked but taxi drivers argued it should be retained.

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A prominent taxi rank in Glasgow’s west end will remain in use after a bid to remove it faced huge backlash from drivers.

Glasgow City Council was asked to revoke the rank on Queen Margaret Drive — between Ruskin Lane and Great Western Road — by a resident who claimed it is “overcrowded and not fit for purpose”.

The complaint added the rank is “really dangerous”, with taxis double parking and carrying out U-turns across four lanes of traffic.

But the request sparked a strong response from the city’s taxi trade, with more than 30 objections to the application. Drivers said the rank is vital and any road traffic offences should be dealt with by Police Scotland.

Councillors were told the rank, which operates 24/7, has been in use for over 70 years.

A representative for the applicant told Glasgow’s licensing committee that taxis double park on Queen Margaret Drive, which is “not only illegal but can be hazardous for other road users, pedestrians and residents”.

“Today’s taxis are so long that the rank cannot accommodate four taxis in the space provided,” she added.

The rank is in a “purely residential” area, with flats at street and basement level, and there are “often anti-social behaviour issues… given people are drawn there in the early hours”, the committee heard.

“In summary it is only a matter of time before a serious accident happens due to the position of the rank.”

The neighbour suggested a rank between Oran Mor and Kitty O’Shea’s bar, on Great Western Road, would be better, although the request was not for relocation.

Dougie McPherson, of Glasgow Taxis, told councillors the rank is in “an area of high footfall” at a “major intersection” near to popular venues and attractions.

“Other than the city’s rail stations and bus station, I cannot think of a single location that requires or justifies a rank more than Queen Margaret Drive,” he added.

“From a trade perspective, public hire taxis operate in challenging times and they are a key part of the city’s culture infrastructure.”

He said they are “designed to be easily identifiable” and “unmistakable to the public”, with ranks at “key significant points”.

Another objector, Robert Finlayson, said: “The taxis are serving that part of the city, they are serving the nightlife. It is a vital part of the infrastructure.

“Whilst there may be objections to drivers committing road traffic offences, I don’t believe that is an issue that should be up to the licensing committee. That is something that should be taken to Police Scotland.”

Michael Meehan, from Unite the union, added: “This is a historic rank, it has been there for many years. It is a major junction, if you remove the taxi that’s not going to remove the commuters, the passengers that are going to be around there.”

Councillors on the city’s licensing committee refused the revocation request at a meeting last week.