Taxi Driver Online

Is this app available to private hire and or chauffeur drivers as its a pre booked hire ?

You're looking for UBER........I think

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

C'mon Skull.

Even you can't be in favour of droves of taxis, licensed out of the cheapest area or the area with the highest tariff then heading straight for the city to work from their apps.

Punters choice? How happy are they going to be hailing in Edinburgh and getting a Fife taxi. Assuming its a WAV because it's Edinburgh but it's a saloon. In fact WAVS are all but extinct now.
Ok so you love the idea of the Edinburgh trade getting it right up them ( we all suss that) but your always keen to take the moral high ground.

So be objective.

Legislation is not just about restriction it's about protection too. Everything you buy as a punter leaves you open to abuse from a bottle of water to the house you live in which was built to regulations that protect you.

Even if you think you don't need it!

Think he's on commission

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Whats the difference to these to Ots there all the same

These are very fair points but consider it from the punters point of view. He just wants a taxi/ph to take him from A-B. No queueing at ranks or phones ringing out just the push of a button and guess what...? And how about a national tariff along with a database of licensed drivers?

Of course drivers are going to work their natural area but why shouldn't they go where the work is? The technology exists to make these apps a seamless logistical solution for the customer transport market.

Think Eddie Stobbart...

If you got a job to Glasgow and there was someone looking for a taxi back to Edinburgh, why shouldn't the punter have the choice of your taxi to make the return journey? I'm not saying these apps should not identify the Cab and its licensed area but it's the punters the choice.

Oh and in case you haven't noticed taxi/ph from neighbouring areas have been working Edinburgh at the weekends for years?

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I did agree cross border hires and street pickups already happens but nothing like the scale we will see.

National tariff might work, but so would consistent licence fees throughout.

But what do you do for a taxi in hick town on a Saturday night when all the taxis are in Honeypotburgh!

This is not exactly guesswork, Highland is a huge land area same fees and same tariff from Oban to Wick and beyond.
Taxis work the town during the week and make enough in Inverness at the weekend to pay for digs.


Would be no point in enforcing the Equality Act either, majority of taxis would be in the cities.

I think it's doable.

The majority of taxis would hit the city when the work is there and that would be decided by the punter, a bit like it is now??? You are not going to get droves of taxis from neighbouring areas driving into the City for jobs unless it is worth their while. I think the financial constraints placed on working out-with there own areas at off peak times would put paid to that and when the work is there you stay where the work is. Oh and don't forget, it works both ways...

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

You might be right.

Though there is not a two ways about it. If we all pay the same fees and charge the same tariffs we leave the house and go to the nearest hot spot, probably get an app job on the way. Wherever that takes us we just carry on from their always veering towards the most populated areas.
Till it's time to start heading home. [edited by admin] I am 3hrs from home but not to worry there's an app job going my direction.

We will soon find out if either

The Scottish govt doesn't wake up and smell the coffee
Or
They do but agree with you it's the best option to have a free for all
Or
They wake up smell the coffee but can't get out of bed.

It certainly seems to be going your way down in Englandshire where it appears a booking office licence in cheapotown will let you give bookings to any operator anywhere in the country. I might be wrong though.


For me I'd prefer It if they left the current legislation in place and let the LA deal with the booking offices till they all died out.
The LA would also continue to licence all taxis and operators at a set fee throughout. No more faked up accounts to justify charges.

However new legislation is introduced where
App providers and anyone who wished to applied for a national licence to operate anywhere but that included booking control systems to ensure taxis or PH were limited to their own licence area.
Because I think that could be just and fair and a free for all would not be.

But if not c'est la vie

Listen, when you have Uber/google or Get Taxi clout, you have your lobbyists in there making sure legislation is being rewritten in your own image. Nothing is left to chance. And if there is one thing the big boys do know, it is how to represent their own interests.

We are talking Uber/Google it doesn't get any bigger... this is FU*K YOU with one MASSIVE COCK!!


Personally, I'd be doing a deal or ring-fencing Edinburgh until they came up with a better offer???

You cannot stop Uber/Google/Get Taxi but you can make them pay.........

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

How could anyone ring fence Edinburgh? Cab companies - no chance. Little point waiting for legislation it won't happen.

Anyway the infamous Inspectors office is going to get washed aside too. They can' do diddly squat to me with my badge and plate from hick town picking up my app punters. And I've got a cheaper tariff on my meter so who's complaining.

For the avoidance of doubt I am not intending to do so nor advocating , supporting , encouraging or condoning it.

It is just the nature of the business.

The ease of use and access will be the rock some apps will fall on unless they block your phone from installing rival apps.

But I can't see even google doing this.

So it's win win for taxi trade.

cabhappy I spoke to the girl from Get Taxi about different areas , as we see where all the bookings are you can plan your day with the future bookings , regardless of what area they are in IE Edinburgh to Glasgow followed by East Kilbride to Coatbridge followed by Cumbernauld to Edinburgh Airport . Not a bad start to the day , also about being in a radio company her reply don't tell them , if it's your cab you can do what you want ???? she really doesn't know the politics of taxi's .

Got to make it clear I have a vested interest in another app which IMO is 'doing the right thing'

But speaking as a driver ...... Even as a driver, in a small town outside a large city I see it like this.
Exclusivity for licensing areas is within the current legislation to protect the trade and the public. Ensuring the hot spots are not flooded by taxis day and night and outlying areas have a poor service. Leaving PH et al out of the debate.

If apps are to operate and be set up creating a taxi trade free for all, taking hires wherever you go then the whole licensing system is In jeopardy.
Holyrood had better get up to speed and create a single national fee and national tariffs to balance it.

But then, for the moment why would City centre taxis take on and promote an app that is allowing out of town taxis to take their trade?
(Enter here Skull and tell us about it)
However assuming that the City taxi trade are better than that and give such apps the elbow leaving them to scramble for sign ups from out of town taxis. Is there enough to justify the app marketing and promotion costs once the capital outlay is recovered?
Can Holyrood for that reason sit back and let the trade sort itself out.

Get Taxi and Uber are in it for their profits alone, nothing else! The strategy is to market and promote heavily and recoup it from the drivers. Give or take a few add ons taxi tariffs are set and the public won't pay much more. But drivers can be held to ransom.
It is rather poignant that these app twin towers have concentrated on the city centre trade.

Alternatively apps can be forced by law to operate using their most basic asset and primary feature to protect the trade and public - gps and location services.
The technology is now available to readily empower enforcement of the existing legislation that has been largely ignored since it was laid down.

Interesting times!

Cabhappy writes:



Here’s the rub, the current legislation needs a political will to protect the restricted market. However, apps are the future and they solve all of these problems at a stroke by linking towns to Cities and vice versa. An app is an app is an app … you get the picture? This flooding the market and protecting the public nonsense is all bollocks as long as regulations and licensing conditions are adhered to.



I would see this as a freeing up of the market by allowing a seamless logistical solution driven by customer choice to take over. Why should anyone have their choice of app (service provider) fettered by some tin pot council dictatorship or some daft wee bowling club committee trying to run a taxi company?



There is no, “their trade”. There is only a global community travelling and working across imaginary lines drawn on a map. You are now dealing with global technology platforms and not antiquated street corner operators at a local level. I think it is time to look at the bigger picture.


You are looking at this through the prism of a small town or city and not a global communications network linking people with taxis across the world. The marketing and promotional cost is insignificant at a local level to what these companies spend globaly to promote their services.


I really don’t think Holyrood has much of a choice. Is it really their job to protect obsolete business models operating outmoded technologies locally?



Let’s be quite clear, Get Taxi and Uber might be in it for the profits but so are your committees. These so called co-operatives have not been run for the benefit of the owners or drivers for years. And if you want proof, there should only be one co-operative operating in Edinburgh but the committees have always worked to keep these companies apart. Oh and the time for any merger is long gone...

Once again you seem to be going down the route of placing restrictions on the competition to keep Dinosaurs the likes of City and CRT in business. Is this really how free market competition is supposed to operate by stifling the opposition? You snooze you lose . ..me auld chum. And City Cabs and CRT have been snoozing and losing for years...

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I can see where you are coming from Skull even if your viewpoint is warped by the burnt fingers you poked into Edinburgh market.
But recent history should demonstrate that the free market does not regulate itself!

As a wise man once declared "no rules where would we be? France ! Too many rules where would we be? Germany"

We are neither! TF!