Taxi Driver Online

More taxis set to operate on York’s streets

MORE taxis are set to be allowed to operate on the streets of York – despite claims from drivers that there is no need for them. Licensing bosses at City of York Council are expected to approve issuing two new hackney carriage permits when they meet next week rather than putting their current policy surrounding the vehicles on hold.

It follows a review of the taxi licence situation in York after a survey showed there was “no unmet demand” and organisations representing drivers in the city asked for a block to be put on introducing more cabs, saying it would lead to a scramble for business amid the recession.

In May 2008, the council adopted a policy to release 15 new hackney carriage licences, followed by two more every six months, but agreed last summer to look again at whether these were still needed. However, a report which will go before the licensing and regulatory committee on Friday has recommended continuing with this approach and issuing a brace of new permits in January, saying it would benefit York’s economy.

But it also says the authority is currently dealing with an official complaint made to the Local Government Ombudsman about its waiting list from a long-standing hackney carriage driver, who claims he was not given enough opportunity to reapply for a licence and has now dropped down the order.

“If the Ombudsman finds in the driver’s favour, we will have to re-examine our policy in its entirety, as he is not the only one who claims to be in that position,” said the report by Richard Haswell, the council’s head of licensing and safety.

“Since the issue of the new vehicle licences, there have been no complaints from the public about over-provision of taxis, nor of a deteriorating service. There still remains a healthy trade in the sale of existing vehicle licences, which attract high premiums.

“The issue of additional vehicle licences will increase business opportunities supporting York’s economy and strategy objective of being a thriving city.”

At the time of the survey, which was carried out by consultants Halcrow, average passenger waiting times were shown to have dropped by several minutes, while the time taxis spent standing at the city’s ranks had risen.

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IDFIMH

Did anyone expect the public to complain that there were more taxis available? Would the public even notice?

So York encourage the re-sale of their plates!

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Grandad,

So York encourage the re-sale of their plates![/quote]

On the contrary, the City of York Council were incensed at the prices being charged for the sale of licenses so they issued more to lower the price, this has had their desired effect as they now sell for 30% less than before the new plates were issued.