Taxi Driver Online

It's definitely a recruitment pitch for GTL and that's fair enough.

They used to do a per-day radio hire rate, whereby you paid a flat fee each day you logged on but nothing if you didn't. I'd take that in a shot since I generally do 4 days a week and like to mix it up. But now it's just the full rental - too much of an overhead for me.

Yes, the cab trade lets you choose your own hours but the 'choice' quickly gets limited if you over-extend.

Episode 5 now online -

https://shows.acast.com/talking-taxis/e ... ooking-out

What do the public really think of Glasgow Taxi drivers and how do drivers believe they are perceived by the public and are any of theses perceptions justified. What can drivers do to change these opinions and will it have a long term impact on the taxi trade.

The takeaways for me were that hackneys have lost ground to PH apps and Uber, mainly on price and availability. Conceit/complacency in the hackney trade haven't and won't help this going forward. Don't think anyone would dispute that.

Both by word-of-mouth and on social media, passengers will remember and talk about a bad experience much more than a good experience. Basic customer service and vehicle cleanliness are mentioned as key.

There's a side note about the state and age of the fleet - I daresay there's some older cabs still going around until they run out of LEZ extensions come June or whenever. But as a passenger I'd think is it clean and does it get to where I want to go safely is what's important.

Meh, an interesting listen.

The latest edition started with the boss man saying that we should all concentrate on the positive and not the negative.

I agree with him 100%.

It's just a shame the rest of the podcast didn't follow that message.

The negativity in this trade is a massive problem. Yes, some of it is justified, but punters don't want to hear how bad things are. Especially when most of the time the trade is a really good profession for certain people (i.e. us) to work in.

Did laugh when the fella said the voice control didn't understand him.

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IDFIMH

Yes - misery loves company.

I may not turn cartwheels going out to work, but I'm usually pretty stoical. If you have a bad hire/shift just shake it off and hope the next one is better.

Any more podcasts ?

New episode out today.

The subject is the 1 June LEZ deadline and a guest is Thomas Kerr (Conservative councillor, now running for MP in Glasgow East)

Takeaways for me were:

- Glasgow's night time economy is in trouble and the LEZ isn't helping
- Manchester has taken a different approach and seems to be thriving
- Recurring issues and rising costs with retrofit/replacement funding
- No joined-up transport strategy (eg the subway still closes at 6pm on a Sunday)
- Increased pollution outside the LEZ boundary
- Green party has a disproportionate political influence on GCC (qv Holyrood)

Series 2 Ep 3 out today.

Nobody likes to hear people talking down their city and Glaswegians are no different. In this episode we hear from proud Glaswegians who want to see their city returned to it's shining glory. Councillor Thomas Kerr and restauranteur Michael Bergson are joined by Glasgow taxi drivers to deliver some scathing opinions on the current state of affairs.

Quite a long (1 hour) discussion - the takeaways for me were:

- Extensive new cycling infrastructure has reduced road space and increased vehicle congestion. Installation was largely paid for by Sustrans grants. A lot of it is poorly maintained and so being left unused by cyclists.
- City road maintenance has been hit by reductions in Scottish Government funding to councils. As Glasgow council is SNP-led, there's little stomach to demand more funding.
- Under 22s get free bus travel here; this can enable disorderly youths to roam around and creating a bad image of the city
- Most council functions are run by council officers equivalent to civil servants - they're employees. Councillors themselves are elected/voted out - they mostly oversee council service delivery and aren't really hands-on.

Christmas episode available now.

Overall, the panel of drivers agree that earning opportunities are still good.

Roadworks/traffic management schemes are mentiond as the main challenges for the trade. More discussion of the LEZ is planned for the next podcast in New Year.

Well that's one way of putting it.

But, aye, to a large extent things are run by council officials, and to a degree credulous councillors are told what to do, or at least are easily swayed.

So in the last couple of years the fleet owners and profiteers have managed to get a PH cap imposed, but more recently the licensing convener is making it sound like the cap will be removed because of the pressure from 'hospitality' etc.

All looks a tad, er, inconsistent. But I wonder to what extent this is all due to councillors, or to what extent officials are taking the lead and swaying things, or at least smoothing the path as one business group/vested interests is being sidelined, and the needs of another 'stakeholder' group is taking precedence?

For example, officials could easily tell licensing councillors that the legalities of the PH cap are dodgy (they are) and that the stats and methodology etc wouldn't hold water if scrutinised in court. But officials tell councillors that they can't say that publicly, for obvious reasons.

So they tell councillors privately that the PH cap has to be dumped in case it blows up in their faces and licensing councillors are made to look shifty and daft.

Voilà, the PH cap goes, and the official spiel is that it's necessary to help the hospitality industry.

So one vested interest group is sidelined in favour of another, and the path for this is cynically smoothed by officials, and they're not being wholly honest about it