Taxi Driver Online

Confusing taxi rules 'risk people's safety'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqe36verp1yo



People are facing problems getting taxis because of “confusing” differences in rules left over after the merger of old councils, drivers have said.

Cumbria has six different licensing systems inherited from the county’s old district councils that were abolished last year.

One driver said there was a risk to people’s safety because of difficulties getting taxis at night.

Cumberland Council said it was working to “create one system”.

Last year, Cumbria’s county council and six district councils were replaced by two unitary authorities which took over the function of taxi licensing.

'Not allowed to park'

George Harkin, a driver from Barrow-in-Furness, said differences in fares and rules in Barrow and nearby Ulverston made it hard for people to get taxis between the two towns.

They used to be in different districts, but are now both in the Westmorland and Furness Council area.

“Barrow taxi drivers are not allowed to park on the Ulverston rank and Ulverston taxi drivers are not allowed to on the Barrow rank,” he said.

Mr Harkin is also a founder of an app-based taxi-booking service called Appy Cabs, but he said it was impractical for Ulverston drivers to use the platform because they charged higher fares than drivers in Barrow.

He said: “There’s always been a problem of safety with people getting home.

"I’ve found people walking up a bypass in the pitch black, trying to get maybe seven miles from Ulverston to Barrow, because they haven’t been able to get a taxi.”

Although the issue predates the move to a unitary council, he said Westmorland and Furness should have created a single taxi policy across the whole area by now.

Westmorland and Furness Council is yet to provide a comment.

'Can't compete'

Workington taxi driver Ian Tyson said firms in his area have to have their cars tested at a garage four times a year, while those in other parts of Cumberland needed fewer tests.

He said: “It’s thousands of pounds into our costs, what the others don’t have. You can’t compete.”

A spokesperson for Cumberland Council said: “We acknowledge that there are some differences in the approach to licensing within the Cumberland area.

“As a new authority we are working to create one system and this will be shared for consultation over the next few months.”

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IDFIMH

Really? Not sure I would be 'appy' with an inferior app like that.

Every taxi/PH app I've ever seen is incredibly flexible and allows customers to choose from a menu with multiple options, i.e. saloons, multi-seaters, and executive. All these options usually have different fares.

So offering a price for more than one licensing authority shouldn't cause any issues.

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IDFIMH

'No issues' as regards coding an app to show different prices for different authorities, indeed.

But somehow I couldn't really see it working too well in practice. I mean, apart from when it's busy enough (probably just a small proportion of the time), I don't think drivers from the higher priced areas will want to appear on an app alongside the lower priced drivers. It would be like having two ranks side-by-side in a town, one with a sign saying Higher Fares, and the other with a sign saying Lower Fares

And even when it's busy enough, that'll often mean the pi$hhead market, so you don't want people booking on an app where the higher priced cars are the only ones available. A recipe for conflict and confusion, obviously. (Except, of course, in the likes of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, where it's all constantly happy-clappy, and no-one has ever complained about a taxi fare ever. Oh, my sides )

Anyway, the driver in the article just seems to be complaining that the current system of zones in the new enlarged authority means things are as they were before, and had been for many years.

So obviously there will be pros and cons and winners and losers once they properly dezone and amalgamate the different areas, which may take some time, predictably enough.

But to that extent there's presumably nothing new about the issues he's raising.

'As you were', I think the phrase is

Of course, if taxi A is charging £5 and taxi B £7, then B is going to have a thin old night, but the experience of the likes of Uber is that if taxi A is 10 minutes away, and B is 2 minutes, then a good % of punters will go with the higher price.

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IDFIMH

If the booking is a cash job, then maybe, but most app bookings are via a card, and by the time the punter gets dropped off they will have forgotten about it.

Again if we quote that firm beginning with U, they must do millions of jobs in London annually, yet apart from when the prices are in the £100s for whatever reason, we never hear of any complaints.

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IDFIMH