Taxi Driver Online

It doesn't help when drivers do that. I know they don't want to make a fuss, but these are the kind of thing that drives punters to Uber.

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IDFIMH

Because you have earnt your money during the day and don't want to have to deal with pi**ed up, drugged up, numpties.

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IDFIMH

And probably the reason no one made a fuss is because they don't want to risk a kick off and a repeat of the likes of the Dundee incident

But there will always be those types who will queue-jump, or stand a hundred yards or so up from the rank and flag cars down there.

When I worked Dundee and was approaching the rank where the chap was killed, I would always drive past those flagging close to the rank.

And had a few close shaves with people who tried to jump the rank queue and I told them to get out - luckily I got away with it

Don't know what I'd do these days, but of course I wouldn't even consider going back to that anyway.

Which is at least one 'benefit' here in St Andrews. 99.9% of the time, it's queues of taxis at the ranks rather than people

I'm still not entirely sure from the Hull case that all three scrotes were in the car when the woman was picked up (or whether perhaps the other two appeared later). But assuming there were two other people in the Hull car as well as the driver, presumably the woman thought the other two were also passengers, and that it was some kind of share?

But obviously with all that community spirit in Aberdeen, sharing with complete strangers wouldn't end the way it would in Hull.

(Of course, presumably if it's a legitimate taxi then sharing would be less likely to end in tears, but I'm sure there have been articles in the past about shares in licensed taxis ending badly.

And, of course, there was also the recent fake taxi article from Aberdeen where three different women were targetted )

Not really sure what the point of this article is, other than to demonstrate that it's quite difficult to pass the street test, and you kind of get the impression that the newspaper is gunning for the test and trying to get it watered down.

But, I mean, the figures include the back end of lockdown, so comparisons between years aren't really valid.

And the figures and graph viewable here for Aberdeen suggest the first time pass rate has been reasonably consistent over the years in question, therefore:

(Can't be bothered crunching the numbers, but you get a good idea of the pass rate consistency from the graph:)

https://archive.is/3JqEs

Also difficult to compare the other cities, because of course assessing how difficult a knowledge test in different locations is like how long a piece of string is

And, for a start, Inverness is only about a tenth of the size of Edinburgh, therefore...

But the graph etc seems to give the impression that only about a fifth of applicants actually become drivers, but I think the figures are simply for all attempts at the test, so it will include drivers who have taken it multiple times. I think


Aberdeen taxi crisis: How many potential drivers are failing controversial test to enter trade?

Find out how many drivers passed street knowledge tests in Aberdeen, as well as Dundee, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow.

Only 18.5% of taxi street knowledge tests have been passed since Aberdeen City Council brought them back in 2021 after lockdown.

Taxi and private hire drivers must pass the street knowledge test before they can pick up fares in the Granite City.

The test made headlines in 2022 with concerns the strict requirements were making it too difficult for would-be drivers to join the trade, exasperating the taxi shortage.

Councillors agreed to keep the exam but made resits “easier” to tackle the staffing crisis.

Almost 18 months on from this decision the problem clearly still persists.

Long queues of people standing at taxi ranks are still very common in the evening, and angry locals often take their frustrations online to rant about the lack of drivers.

The Press & Journal can reveal since the tests restarted after lockdown, only 65 wannabe cab drivers have been successful.

Despite this modest number, taxi bosses urged the council not to “dilute” the test.

How many Aberdeen street knowledge tests were sat in 2023?

Aberdeen City Council restarted the taxi street knowledge tests on February 28, 2021, after they were paused during the pandemic.

Since then, 351 tests have been sat by hopeful taxi drivers — but only 65 people have been successful so far.

That means a meagre 18.5% of street knowledge tests have been passed since they restarted in 2021.

However, some aspiring drivers have sat the test multiple times attempting to pass, and a spokesman for the council argued that is why the pass rate shown in the chart is so low.

With that in mind, we were provided with the number of people who sat the test each year, and how many ended up passing:

2021 — 22 people sat the test, and 11 passed
2022 — 50 people sat the test, and 20 passed
2023 — 64 people sat the test, and 34 passed

This means almost 48% of people who sat one or more street knowledge tests since lockdown passed.

And how does Aberdeen compare to other cities?

We wanted to find out how Aberdeen’s pass rates compare with other cities and reached out to local authorities across Scotland.

Dundee City Council restarted street knowledge tests in May 2021, and 84.5% of people passed the exam since:

2021 — 30 people sat the test, and 27 passed
2022 — 67 people sat the test, and 61 passed
2023 — 64 people sat the test, and 48 passed

Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council did not restart the street knowledge tests until May 2022. Since then, 69% of wannabe cabbies have passed the test:

2022 — 67 people sat the test, and 44 passed
2023 — 104 people sat the test, and 74 passed

Highland Council could not provide the numbers for 2021 and 2022. However, in 2023 15 people sat the test in Inverness and 13 passed, which equates to 86.6%.

And finally, Glasgow City Council did not provide the numbers for 2021 and 2022 but said in 2023 202 tests were sat, and only 89 were passed, or 44%.

Do Uber drivers in other cities need to sit the street knowledge test?

With recent talk of Uber’s plans to bring the hail-riding service to the Granite City, we asked people what they thought about it.

The Press & Journal recently spoke to people waiting at ranks along Union Street — at one point, a queue of 40-odd people let out a cheer when a taxi finally pulled up to the rank.

Everyone we spoke to said Uber would make a difference to the shortage of drivers across the city.

However, Aberdeen City Council is resolute that if Uber is granted a licence to operate in the city then drivers must first pass the street knowledge test.

Uber also recently confirmed plans to apply for a licence in Dundee.

Like in Aberdeen, Uber drivers (and private hire drivers) would need to pass the street knowledge test before they could get their licence.

Uber has been operating in both Edinburgh and Glasgow for years now, and drivers do not need to pass the test.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council explained only taxis that can be “hailed freely” without a prior booking need to pass the test to prove they know the streets.

And in Inverness private hire car drivers do not need to sit the knowledge test.

What is Aberdeen City Council going to do about the low pass rates?

Members of the taxi trade expressed a feeling that the exam should be reviewed to bring it up to date, but not to “dilute” it.

Bosses also asked for a working group to look into the test, which would be made up of councillors, licensing officers, taxi trade members and police representatives.

A spokesman for the council said: “The licensing committee has agreed to a request from the trade to form a working group to look at the test.

“That is in the very early stages at the moment and would be premature to comment at the moment.”

Like all of this kind of thing, that's a slightly roundabout way of putting it all. And, for example, makes it sound like 'taxis' in Glasgow are different from those elsewhere as regards how they're hired etc.

I would just say whether taxis and/or private hire have to do the test in each location, and maybe an explanation about the difference between the two.

And then that Uber are almost always private hire

But, of course, that's maybe where it gets tricky, because with mixed HC/PHV fleets, and lots of saloon HCs in both Dundee and Aberdeen, and dual badges effectively, no reason maybe why HCs wouldn't join in if Uber did come to either city. (Ignoring the surge price angle.)

That is a really low pass rate in Aberdeen.

This does beg the question of why drivers are sitting those tests when they are clearly not ready.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, they're maybe a bit like the Knowledge of London candidates' appearances - you can't really pass at first attempt and have to appear before the examiners several times.

Not that I'm saying the structure is exactly like KoL, because I think it's impossible to pass KoL without making several appearances. Whereas I suspect it is possible to pass the Aberdeen test at the first attempt, but obviously only a minority do

But it's maybe just an expectation that most Aberdeen applicants will sit the test several times before passing, and in effect the first couple of attempts are like the 'prelim'/practice exams we used to do at school...

So in effect the multiple attempts may actually help more people pass in the long run, but the process doesn't look good in terms of the stats and the kind of analysis above.

And think I missed a bit earlier in the article about the number of applicants who actually pass the test rather than the number of test attempts.

So around half (48%) of applicants are passing the test, and that might have been a more instructive thing to show in the graph as opposed to the number of test attempts actually passed, which is maybe a tad misleading unless it's read closely

an update if you can call it that but this appears in about 6 different news outlets

https://aberdeenbusinessnews.co.uk/taxi-firm-re-applies-for-licence-to-operate-in-aberdeen/


TAXI firm Uber has re-applied for a licence to operate in Aberdeen.

The company was previously granted permission to launch in the city in 2018, but later surrendered its licence.

Uber has now confirmed to BBC Scotland News it has officially lodged an application to operate in Aberdeen.

It said that, if granted, it would give passengers “greater transport options around the city, support the local economy and provide new earning opportunities for drivers”.

Uber connects passengers to drivers via an app which uses GPS technology to locate available taxis.

The transport giant already operates in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Aberdeen City Council said it was not able to comment on live applications.

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

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