Taxi Driver Online

Reading taxi drivers ask for more time to replace old vehicles amid Covid pandemic

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news ... -pandemic/

Taxi drivers in Reading have asked for extra time to dispose of older and higher-emission vehicles due to Covid-19.

In October 2019, the council passed a new policy which means all licensed black cabs will have to be electric or Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) by 2028.

Reading Taxi Association (RTA), which represents around 90 per cent of licensed drivers in Reading, has requested a delay in the implementation of the policy.

Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) will decide what changes to make, if any, to the policy next Wednesday, December 9.

The RTA states Reading drivers are currently running at a loss of 70 -75 per cent of their work in the daytime and up to 95 per cent after 10pm, with only 50 per cent of the fleet currently working.

In a letter to Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Transport and Environment, RTA chairman Asif Rashid said: “The situation looks very bleak and it is almost certain that there will be further lockdowns possibly lasting until summer next year.

“Since these new rules came into effect it has become almost impossible to earn a living. It is highly likely that some of us will not survive.

“We are working up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week but still struggling to pay the bills and support our families. Under such pressures, how are we meant to buy new vehicles?”

The policy, agreed in 2019, sets out when drivers need to upgrade their older vehicles, with a gradual move away from high-emission vehicles.

Fourteen vehicles have since upgraded to meet the guidelines, with a further five upgrading ahead of schedule.

Taxi drivers have asked for a three-year pause in the policy, while officers are recommending allowing drivers up to an extra two years to take old vehicles off the fleet, from now until 2022.

This would mean 139 vehicles need to come off the fleet by 2022 in one go rather than incrementally over the next two years.

But all vehicles would still need to be ULEV by 2028.

Officers have also recommended that any ULEV or 100 per cent electric vehicle that has never been on the fleet before receives a free licence for its first year on the fleet, to encourage greater use.

They say there has been an absence of financial help from the government and RBC and they cannot afford to upgrade their vehicles.

Taxi drivers have been entitled to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and in the first tranche received 80 per cent of their average trading profit over the past three tax years and 70 per cent in the second tranche.

But, under the new scheme they will only be entitled to 40 per cent for the period of November 2020-January 2021, with another grant to be announced for the following three months.

Well at least this article mentions the SEISS grants, but figures a bit out of date.

On the other hand, maybe not the best article for actually mentioning SEISS, because that's more about living expenses rather than trade costs and overheads, especially as regards expensive replacment vehicles.

The world will have changed a lot from what it is now to what it will be in 2028.

And it has been recently announced that all vehicles from 2030 must be 100% electric or hybrid, so I'm wondering what the Reading trade are hoping to achieve.

If it had been next year for the change then maybe they have a point, but in seven years?

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IDFIMH

That would only apply to new vehicles sold and not vehicles sold prior to that date.

I think it is now more than ever the case that councils and prime ministers have to get it into their thick skulls that trying to brow beat motorists into buying electric is NOT the solution to the problem!

Electric cars are expensive to manufacture but also very profitable for the manufacturers who have their eyes on the solution which suits them best not the consumers who want an affordable vehicle that also does what a petrol or diesel can do today.

These stupid politicians can't see the wood for the trees every other country on earth is following a path of gradual evolution cars are getting cleaner and will continue to do so if developed

The infrastructure needed for electric cars is far more expensive in the long run

In 2030 we will have electric cars which cost a fortune to run because the cost of the infrastructure has to be recouped and every other country on earth will have Hydrogen fuel cells

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Reading taxi drivers given lifeline as council acknowledges ‘disastrous’ impact of pandemic

Taxi drivers in Reading have been given an extra two years to replace old high-emission vehicles, with the council acknowledging the ‘disastrous’ impact of the Covid pandemic on the trade.

In October 2019, the council passed a new policy which means all licensed black cabs will have to be electric or Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) by 2028.

This policy has remained in place, but drivers of the oldest and most polluting vehicles will now be given until 2022 to get their taxis off the fleet.

Asif Rashid, chair of Reading Taxi Association (RTA), which represents around 90 per cent of licensed drivers in Reading, said: “We worked with the licensing officers and committee in agreeing the previous emissions policy.

“We were quite happy with that but Covid has come along and had a huge impact on us.

“We have all lost work for the whole year and we cannot see that improving in the near future.

“There are fields full of cabs because nobody wants to rent them.”

RTA, which represents around 90 per cent of licensed drivers in Reading, requested a delay in the implementation of the policy, asking for a three year reprieve.

However, at the meeting Mr Rashid said the taxi association would accept council officers’ recommendation of a two-year pause.

Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Licensing Applications committee backed officers recommendations at the meeting on Wednesday (December 9), with the break taking place from now until October 2022.

Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Transport, said the taxi trade has been “trashed comprehensively” by Covid and said the council is “very understanding and sympathetic” with drivers.

The council will review the policy again within the next 12 months, with councillors agreeing it is important to be “nimble and agile” in response to how the coronavirus crisis develops and its long-term impact.

Cllr Page added: “The extent to which the economy will recover in the town is anybody’s guess.

“There is a lot of guess work at the moment.”

According to the RTA, Reading licensed taxi drivers are currently running at a loss of 70 -75 per cent of their work in the daytime and up to 95 per cent after 10pm, with only half the fleet currently working.

Mr Rashid added: “It is a huge mark down for us and we are really struggling.”

The pause means 139 vehicles need to come off the fleet by 2022 in one go rather than incrementally over the next two years, with all vehicles still needing to be ULEV or electric by 2028.

RBC's Licensing Applications committee approved the plans on Wednesday, December 9.

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IDFIMH

Efforts to make taxis in Reading greener delayed

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news ... r-delayed/

Efforts to make taxis in Reading greener by phasing out polluting taxi have been delayed.

Reading Borough Council’s licensing committee considered putting plans to phase out older taxi cabs at a meeting yesterday (Tuesday, February 1).

The council has a policy of removing old cabs from the taxi fleet in an effort to reduce emissions and improve air quality, called the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Emissions and Age Policy, which was established in October 2019.

Its aim is to have all the cabs, called hackney carriages, turned into ultra low emission vehicles (ULEV) by 2028.

But the phased removal of older cabs was delayed for two years in December 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the most recent meeting, councillors on both sides of the divide took pity on the town’s taxi drivers.

Asif Rashid, chairman of Reading Taxi Association appealed for the delay to be extended, which would mean 15 vehicles registered in 2011-12 could still be used until October 2024.

Councillor Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) said he had a great deal of sympathy for taxi drivers as their business has significantly dropped due to the pandemic.

Cllr Jeannette Skeats, the Conservative opposition leader and representative for Thames ward, said: “Clearly the council’s policy is to reduce emissions, which is right and proper.

“This is an exception for our drivers who do face hardship.”

But there was a feeling that a line needed to be ‘drawn in the sand’ for the eventual phasing out of older, more polluting taxis.

Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward (Labour, Caversham), appearing remotely, said: “A line does need to be drawn, we don’t want to come back every year with the same appeal for an extension.”

According to a report, there are only two ULEV cabs currently in Reading’s taxi fleet.

But cllr Barnett-Ward’s arguments were rebuffed by cllr Skeats, who argued the line does not need to be drawn in the sand “at this time” amid future uncertainty over the possibility of more lockdowns.

It was noted that the number of taxi trips had declined by 40 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Cllr Brenda McGonigle (Green, Park) suggested that taxi drivers should stop idling their engines to reduce the emissions their cars produce.

Cllr Page lamented the lack of government grant funding to help taxi drivers in Reading upgrade their cabs, funding that has been made available in London and Manchester.

He said: “At the moment, we’re expecting the trade to upgrade their vehicles entirely on their own.”

Ultimately, the committee decided to pause the policy for another year until October 2023, with the most polluting vehicles being taken off the road in October this year.

That means six cabs will have to be taken off the road by October this year.

The committee also resolved to meet to conduct a review of the policy in September, and write to the Government to make more grant funding available so that taxi drivers can speed up the upgrade of their cabs.

The drivers don't want pity FFS, they want understanding and a common-sense approach from councillors going forward.

Currently they have 15 vehicles that don't meet the proposed criteria, in a year's time many of them will be on the scrap head, and in time they all will be.

Emissions control can be done in a sensible way by letting things happen naturally (for want of a better word).

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IDFIMH

Our council (Cheshire West and Chester) has, so far, taken what I consider to be a reasonable course of action. All new ‘plate’ applications must be zero emission capable. Any existing drivers wanting to replace their vehicle must replace it with a newer one and be at least Euro 5 spec. Also, we have an exit age policy of 15 years, if you don’t replace it with a zero emission capable vehicle a year will be taken off
the vehicles exit age. This will carry on in future years for new vehicles, ie, if a driver buys a new diesel cab in five years time, it will have an exit age of 10years.