Taxi rank plan for disabled parking baysDisabled parking bays will be turned into night-time taxi ranks if council plans go ahead.
The growth of nightlife in Lincoln combined with limited bus services means a large number of people use taxis to get home.
Now Lincolnshire County Council wants to increase the number of taxi ranks available in the northern part of the city centre to cope with the high demand.
Most taxis wait on St Mary's Street outside the railway station as well as an evening only taxi rank on Silver Street.
The councils wants to introduce extra taxi ranks at Mint Lane, Corporation Street and Clasketgate which will only be available for use in the evening.
The bays are currently disabled parking bays and limited waiting bays in force between 8am till 6pm from Monday to Saturday and a goods vehicle loading only bay in force all day every day.
The taxis would be able to use the bays from 6pm until 8am from Monday to Saturday.
The restrictions for disabled and limited waiting bays don't apply in the evenings so there would be no change in availability times for users.
The taxis can only be used by hackney carriage vehicles, which do not have to be pre-booked, unlike private hire companies.
One local taxi firm has objected to the plans that Corporation Street and Clasketgate are close to their premises and will have a detrimental impact on their business.
But the council says private hire firms have an advantage over hackney carriages in terms of cost and therefore the impact of the ranks will be minimal.
The plans will be discussed by the regulatory and other committee on May 9.
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