Taxi Driver Online

I always give credit where due Jasbar. You have made some valid points in the above.

PH have expanded in recent years and of course the inevitable was that they would take work away from the Hackney Taxi Trade.

Cabbies falling behind with their mortgages etc is down to their own doing I would presume. A lot would have taken out big mortgages, HP on fancy cars, spent thousands on nice holidays and lavished themselves with luxury items when the good times were here. What they forgot to do was save a little nest egg for when the bad times came. Instead of the luxury cars, holidays and gadgets they would have been better to pay more to their mortgage and they wouldn't find themselves in this predicament today. I must say I haven't heard of any taxi drivers saying they can't pay their mortgages.

As for tipping. Due to the downturn in the economy at present a lot of people don't have pockets full of disposable income. What should the cabbie be getting tipped for? Rolling their eyes in disgust when a wee auld grannie wants to go to George St from the Waverley? or moaning because cabbies can't be bothered getting off their ar€e to help with bags or the door. You may find you will get tipped if you go that extra little bit for the customer, take their shopping to the door, get out and help the customer with cases, bags etc.

I find the customers don't mind the cost of a Hackney if they get the service they are looking for and should expect. Do you think they will tip a cabbie unshaven, jeans and trainers on with half of their mince n tatties down their top, I don't think so.

And you think more taxis is the answer Jasbar. I think the way forward is to change the way we work. To treat the customer as they should be. Remember it is a service we are providing and if that service is sub standard then it's no wonder we're slipping down the slippery slope.

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Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Kaiser, you appear to be looking for a solution when you and people like you, are the problem. You pass the knowledge and buy a taxi, and you believe this makes you a businessman when it couldn’t be further from the truth. And because you bought in, you want to perpetuate the plate value myth by fettering a driver's access to the tools of his trade, in the hope that someday someone will buy you out to keep the madness going. Meanwhile, the Ph model of operation is ripping your trade to pieces.

You need a complete change in the taxi model of operation. You need a united trade, not a divided one. And the only way to do that is for everyone, owner or driver, to be equal and all pulling in the same direction. And that means no restriction on licence plates other than through quality controls that are used to raise the professional bar for anyone wishing to become a taxi driver.

You need a union or an association with membership dues to fund 24/7 legal representation for the whole trade. You also need to lobby government to create legislation, which forces Ph drivers to be qualified to the same standard as taxi drivers making it a level playing field for all concerned.

Oh and Kaiser, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any of the above to happen, as it would take a huge leap of faith, for all of these pretendy business types to get into the real world.

Interesting slant Skull. I still disagree with you on parts but some of your points make sense.

It is my intention to sell my plate on when the time comes but if all has changed then and they are of zero value I won't lose any sleep over it. After all it was my decision and I took the risk, no point crying over spilt milk as they say.

I don't claim to be a business man but I am in business!!

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Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Listen, wouldn't you prefer to have control over your own licensing conditions, and fare tariffs, along with Ph, and the fleet size of both transport types, while being able to increase your earnings year on year due to your trade's professionalism in running its business by raising standards?

You are operating a "business" in name only, and that's the illusion you've bought into. And that's why your trade is heading for the gutter, with every other low paid industry in this country.

You make it sound a very appealing option Skull but unfortunately I don't see it happening for a number of reasons. One major reason would mean that the laws for PH would have to be equal to Hackney Taxis including passing the knowledge test which will never happen.

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Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Kaiser, there is nothing stopping your trade lobbying government to force Ph to sit the same knowledge test or to meet the same standards.
Councils already have the power to set standards for both Taxis and Ph.

The problem is, you have a bunch of idiots running taxi companies in their own interests, and that's why, every man and his dog, is fu*king your trade over.

You don't matter because they don't need to care.

Please don't tell me skull you and jasbar plans for the taxi trade would involve a reduction on the meter!!??
That's chapter one in business decisions for dummies!

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"I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork."

Artur and molshy writes:


What are you talking about? I think you are hallucinating, Artur.

Control over fare tariffs?? I'd bet my taxi plate that if your plans were put in force you'd ask for a reduction on the meter.
Kaiser is right, it's all about delivering a first class service to the customer.

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"I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork."

Absolute quality Gusmac.

Respect!

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Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Which means you believe PH customers don't have a right to be driven by a qualified driver who knows where he's going and can communicate clearly in in English.

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Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Control over tariffs is about conducting your own surveys into how fares should be set and having the influence to get the tariff charges you want. It has nothing to do with a reduction on the meter.

That's not what I mean. I believe PH customers should be driven by professional drivers that know where they're going. I'm saying that the knowledge test will never be enforced by the council therefor it will never happen. The customer has the choice at the moment by taking a Hackney in stead of a PH, but they choose to take a PH possibly on price if being offered a 20% discount. However the customer is never going to get the quality of driver or the service provided by the majority of the Hackney drivers in Edinburgh.

I feel that the tariff at the moment is fair and certainly hasn't increased as much as inflation. Fuel and insurance continue to rise year in year out but only an 8% rise in 3 years for the Hackney drivers.

Your views are interesting though Skull.

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Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

If your trade had enough unity to create an inexhaustible war chest, not only could it finance its own PR machine. It would be able to take whatever direct or indirect action it felt necessary to protect its interests, politically, through the courts or into the streets. With that kind of power, your council would be reluctant to want you as an enemy. And if that meant taxi and ph drivers being required to sit the knowledge test it would be the quickest policy decision you have ever seen.

The tariff isn't fair, because our customers are voting with their bums on others' seats. They don't think its fair or the discounters wouldn't be taking our work.

You can reduce your insurance costs by driving safely, rather than trying to race other cabbies to the next fare, and driving dangerously. Don't say it doesn't happen, I see it every night.

Even a huge 10% increase in fuel represents less than 2% cost against income. Well within the 8% quoted. And if fuel does cost more, its because we have to drive further to get a fare.

But if you think its bad then consider what its like for private hire. To get their 20% discounted fare they can be dragged long distances, from one side of the town to the other at busy times. Sorry, I forgot what the guru said, there are no drags in private hire, just next jobs.

Of course his income is assured because drivers pay it whether they're making money or not. It's not him and his cronies, (they even increased their demands on drivers in the depths of this recession by hiking their "tax" on contract jobs which are already heavily discounted and are precisely what the circuit fees are supposed to cover already) nor his controllers who are pulling drivers all over the town, who have to pay 25 pence per mile to drive to a 20% discounted fare that may just have hailed a black off the street because he took too long to get there.

In short, the tariff should be set at what the market will bear. That's market forces. It's what customers are prepared to pay.

And if the tariff is too high, and customers drift to the competition, then it needs to be reduced and the garages and insurance companies and fuel companies need to reduce their prices accordingly or, like us, they lose the work. That's market forces and what needs to happen in recession.

But our trade is unique. We hike fares beyond what our customers bear, we lose work, our income goes down, while those who charge us rentals don't reduce them, radio dues increase even though the jobs return diminishes, repairs still get to cost more rather than less and insurance costs increase too. Everyone's income is ring-fenced - apart from we serfs'.

Of course, we're at the bottom of the pile, aren't we? And, unfortunately, the ingrained subservience among drivers suggest we're just gonna languish there.

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Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"