Taxi Driver Online

Sounds about right

And the photo in the link suggests...er...it's maybe a tad disorderly by rank standards

(Accidentally put the image tags round the photo link, so it's now embedded rather than just a link, and although it's on the big side, maybe no point removing it now.)


Taxi drivers outraged over lack of taxi ranks outside new bus station

https://nation.cymru/news/taxi-drivers- ... s-station/



Taxi drivers are outraged after being left with fewer taxi ranks outside a newly completed multi-million pound bus station in Cardiff.

The Saunders Road taxi rank, situated next to Cardiff Transport Interchange, used to have 24 ranks.

However, by the time the new facility was completed the number of ranks had reduced to 11. There are 103 permit holders who use the rank, according to trade union Unite.

Feeder rank

All the while, taxi drivers say they have been threatened with fines by Cardiff Council for queuing to enter the Saunders Road rank and they, along with Unite, claim the local authority failed to deliver on a promise to provide a feeder rank on St Mary Street.

Cardiff Council denies this claim, insisting that it has not reneged on any agreement to establish a feeder rank.

Hackney carriage drivers in the city protested over the issue on Thursday, June 27 on St Mary Street and a second protest is planned to take place from 10.30am at the same location on Monday, July 1.

The Saunders Road rank is not a council taxi rank and drivers pay Transport for Wales (TfW) a licence fee to use it and pick up passengers from there.

However, the local authority has been involved in discussions with taxi drivers and Unite over the potential of introducing a feeder rank somewhere nearby to ease the issue of queuing and congestion by Saunders Road.

Drivers hoped this would be in place by the time Cardiff Transport Interchange was completed. However, with the bus station ready to operate on Sunday, June 30, they are still waiting.

‘Disgraceful’

Unite regional officer Richard Jackson called the council’s behaviour “disgraceful”, adding: “It made promises to support the trade that were put in writing by the chief executive Paul Orders. Now those promises have been reneged on.

“There has been no consultation, no support for the trade and our members are enraged by the continued disdain they are being subjected to.

“Unite will be exerting maximum pressure on Cardiff city councillors until this completely unacceptable situation is made right.”

A TfW spokesperson said positive discussions have taken place between TfW, Unite and the taxi trade and Cardiff Council said it recently supported TfW to introduce eight extra spaces for affected taxis in the nearby Cardiff Central Station car park.

The local authority has also opened up a further four spaces for taxis on St Mary Street.

A TfW spokesperson said: “We’ve had positive discussions with Unite and the taxi trade and we’ve been able to increase the number of spaces for taxis available.

“We are continuing discussions over the coming days and we are confident we will have a resolution imminently.”

Licensing fee

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: “Saunders Road taxi rank is not a council rank and only those taxi drivers that pay Transport for Wales (TfW) a licensing fee are allowed to use it and pick up fares from this location.

“Saunders Road taxi rank has had its capacity reduced by TfW in order to put security measures in place to protect the public.

“So, despite this really being an issue between TfW and those affected taxi drivers who have paid TfW for the right to operate from this rank, the council has been listening, engaging and working with the taxi trade and TfW to see how we can assist.

“The council has recently supported TfW to put an extra eight spaces for these affected taxis in the station car park on the south side of the train station, and the council has also opened up a further four spaces for taxis nearby on St Mary Street.

“These spaces more than make up for those lost on Saunders Road due to the security measures.

“The council has not reneged on any agreement to establish a feeder rank for Saunders Road.

“We considered all options in detail – but the reality is that a feeder rank cannot work in the area, as it will cause disruption and safety issues on the highway.

“We have been absolutely clear to the trade about the position which reflects the need to facilitate the safe opening and operation of the new bus interchange.

“The council will, however, continue to engage with the taxi trade to see how else we can assist them in areas which are under the council’s control.”

Cardiff’s eight-year wait for a bus station has finally ended with the completion of Cardiff Transport Interchange. The multi-million pound investment has 14 bus bays, office space and more than 300 apartments.

Coaches will not run from the site, but TfW is exploring options for the future delivery of coach travel which currently runs from Sophia Gardens.

typical council improve bus facilities and reduce or degrade taxi facilities

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

I think the council gets a pass on this as it's down to the station people.

One has to wonder if trade reps were on top of this issue when the plans were being developed, maybe the fuss they are creating now indicates they weren't.

But blimey it does look a mess.

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IDFIMH

The article below has a video of drivers giving their side, and it was going well until the end.

https://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/244 ... taxi-rank/

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IDFIMH

And a good job the video had subtitles - why put up a video of an absolute racket with people mumbling in the background?

And don't know if that background noise is artificial or if it's actual car horns - but when I hear mass peeping of horns I always think it will put people off. Certainly the kind of thing that when I hear it on the TV, say (like numpty drivers blasting their horns at striking workers) I have to turn the sound off

Talking of ranks, anyone any view on the likes of this out at our station rank?

Wasn't aware of this particular incident, but there's been plenty of rows over this kind of thing over the years.

It was always the case locally that customers liked to pick and choose especially if they were going short distance as the Peterborough drivers always insisted short journey customers went to the back. Eventually many customers just did so automatically.

The most extreme example I came across was in Skegness where some regular customers of mine used to go annually on holiday. They had 6 kids so that meant there were 8 of them(kept having girls so kept going till eventually child 6 was a boy) They went to the rank in Skegness and there was an 8 seater at the back who refused to take them because he wasn't front rank and despite it being explained to him that there were 8 of them he insisted they had to take the car at the front (4 seater saloon hackney) so instead they walked a bit further to the bus stop and waited for a bus.

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

The 5/6 seater thing happens occasionally in Glasgow. I've also waived a hire because of an oversize pram which would have scraped every inside panel of a TX and it was a Vito behind me.

Out-of-area boundary charge is also an occasional reason, if the front cab won't strike a deal.

Cash-only payment is probably the most common reason. Got a hire from west end to east end last Saturday because the cab ranked in front wanted cash only. And also because Uber had tried to stiff them £60 for a run that was £20 on the meter.

I'm not in favour of drivers/punters queue jumping.

I get punters have a choice, but personally I really don't like it.

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IDFIMH

Thanks for the responses - I'd kind of forgotten about the card thing, to be honest, but that's more about the pretence to broom round-the-corner runs, while this is more about grabbing fares mid-rank

But I'd guess the 8-seater thing mentioned by the driver is a bit of a red herring; it's not like what Edders witnessed in Scarborough, and I doubt anyone around here will object when people get into a bigger vehicle when there's more than four passengers. Other drivers may not like it, but they're not going to object, or at least I wouldn't expect it to happen normally.

And it is quite common for passengers to try to get into a car mid-rank out at the station. But in my experience it's almost always because it's either the nearest car when coming out of the station exit and/or it's people who don't like getting into the bigger vehicles, particularly a couple of people, or people on their own.

In that regard it's a free-for-all in town, but out at the station the regular drivers have a protocol of sending passengers to the front car, mainly because we all know that drivers can easily wait two or three hours for a run, and drivers might even wait several hours until the last train, and maybe the only fare might try to get into a car mid-rank

And because I'm sometimes the only saloon out there (and maybe because my cars tend to be a bit better presented than the norm ), I've lost count of the number of runs I've passed to the front over the years...would guess several thousand

So although I wouldn't deny the claim that a passenger arrived at the station and chose the car with a female driver, on the other hand pretty sure that's the exception rather than the norm. And, I mean, where in the whole wide world would someone roll up at a taxi rank and be so bothered about getting a male driver that they're looking for a female one - what are the chances of actually finding one?

In fact, I can barely remember the last time I saw a female driver out at the station, and there's only one I regularly see in town, therefore...

And although I don't doubt that there's the odd female driver out at the station now, at least occasionally, pretty sure I've went a year or two in the past without seeing any women ranking.

On the other hand, it's not that often I'm out at the station these days, and I certainly wasn't there when the particular incident kicked off.

But I must have spent at least 10,000 hours there over the years, and by that I mean 10,000 hours just sitting there watching what's going on etc, as opposed to actually driving.

And I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen the driver above on any rank, and certainly not on anything like a regular basis, and the driver has only been around a couple of years. (Although again it's maybe my normal night stuff as opposed to the driver's mainly day stuff.)

Anyway, that's the context of it all, but I'm not going to disclose my precise thoughts about it all on here

But if we're going to go back to a sort of rank 'beauty contest' then I think it would work out in my favour out at the station, for the reasons stated above. But in other regards I don't think it would end well

The main source of the problem can be seen below - the only way out of the station is at the bottom of the stairs or ramp where the yellow grit bin is.

And female students in particular I'd guess are the demographic most likely to get into the nearest car, particularly if it's a saloon, and if it's bigger vehicles nearer the front of the rank

And there are normally more cars there than in the Streetview, and the front car should be one further up, so there's normally three cars in front of the car best placed with regard to the station exit.

But that's one reason the front car hasn't moved right up to the front of the rank - people are less likely to get into the car mid-rank if the distance to the front car is that bit closer. Another reason there's a gap at the front of the rank there is that the buses get a tad close to the front car because of the tightness of the turn into the bus stop. So when there's less pressure on rank space it makes sense for the car in pole not to move right to the front of the rank. (But that's another informal protocol that different drivers have different ideas about, and even that sort of stuff can cause conflict )

The old station design was better because punters had to walk past the front car to get into any other car, so even if they didn't want to get into an eight-seater (say) in pole, they were less likely to actually walk past it to get into a motor further up the rank.

When the new design started drivers were just grabbing any fare, so the protocol was developed to pass fares to the front car, which usually works well enough, until someone comes along and upsets the applecart.

Anyway, that's the bare bones, but don't want to go into the fine details

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.3755791 ... &entry=ttu

That really does look like the ar** end of nowhere.

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IDFIMH

Similar to cab-rank manners, do most areas still have a no-overtake custom when cruising for hire?

I've always followed it but have been overtaken a couple of times recently by other for-hire cabs. Maybe it's old-fashioned (or I am).

Not really an issue here while cruising, Mr XH588, simply because we don't have a cruising market in our wee town, and no real scope to overtake in town, and any hail work has more or less disappeared years ago as the streets ended up strewn with vacant cabs

Can happen on the roads back to town, though, so although it's not actually a cruising thing, it's a breach of etiquette in my opinion. For example, you'll be driving along at around the speed limit, and another car will blast past at 10-20mph above the limit to get back into town and be number 17 on the rank rather than number 18, say

But also reminds me of another annoying habit out at our station, which wasn't a thing years ago - drivers pulling into the taxi queue facing in the wrong direction so they can get in front of you if both of you arrive at the same time

(That can happen if there's overranking rather than on the official rank area as such.)

Not that there's never been an element of queue jumping on the ranks by other means, but the facing-the-wrong-direction thing is relatively new

How the hell do you make money off that rank . And what is that walkway all about ?