Taxi Driver Online

Bid to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis in Portsmouth

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/polit ... th-4712854

Ways of increasing the amount of wheelchair-accessible taxis across the city are set to be explored to make it easier for those who need one to get one.

Portsmouth City Council is set to carry out a review its taxi and private hire licensing policy to make transportation following a motion highlighting the limited number of wheelchair-accessible taxis, especially during busy times like school runs and evenings.

While some taxis can accommodate wheelchairs and some drivers are willing to help, these services are not always available. This shortage means that disabled residents, particularly wheelchair users, often struggle more than others to find transport.

Currently, there are no requirements for private hire vehicles to be wheelchair-accessible (WAVs). However, owners can choose to license such vehicles. As of 15 July 2024, there are 1,160 privately hired vehicles in Portsmouth, but only 35 (3 percent) are wheelchair-accessible.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has provided guidance on taxi licensing since 2006. The guidance states that limiting the number of taxi licences is unnecessary for passenger safety or reasonable fares. Instead, these limits can hurt passengers by reducing availability, increasing waiting times, and limiting competition that can keep fares lower. The DfT guidance also says that any authority considering limits on taxi numbers must conduct a survey to see if there is significant unmet demand that would justify these controls.

This decision to look at the issue in Portsmouth follows a motion proposed by Councillor Charlotte Gerada and seconded by Councillor Yinka Adeniran, discussed last year, with the review set to be completed and reported within this municipal year.

The council’s report recommends looking for ways to increase the number of licensed wheelchair-accessible vehicles in Portsmouth. This would ensure more inclusive transport options for all residents.

It also recommends a future report for the Licensing Committee to review DfT best practice recommendations and potential licensing policy changes. It also notes ongoing work by Traffic and Transportation to create a business case for funding wheelchair-accessible taxis in Portsmouth. The recommendation will be discussed during next week’s licensing committee.

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IDFIMH

And no doubt people are looking for the 'Ark of the Covenant', and that crock of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Someone, like their licensing officers, needs to tell these councillors that WAVs are currently unaffordable for almost all areas outside of London.

Fifty grand (with interest) for the small type WAVs, and seventy to hundred grand (with interest) for the larger taxi type WAVs, are simply too expensive, even if drivers could get the finance.

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IDFIMH

maybe they will introduce the same policy as they have done here. if you run 4 cars then if you want to put another one on then it must be a WAV.
This affected 2 companys that operate in the town. one of them only does airport work and school runs and they just brought one over from their other base and plated it here and the other company, my company, has reduce the number of cars to 4. So the policy has resulted in no extra WAVs being available for hire but has reduced the overall number of cars available so there is an even bigger shortage of cars than before the policy was introduced.
There is only 1 WAV taxi licensed by our Council because most people who need to use a WAV around here use the voluteer group. They charge far less than we could do the jobs for.
A few years ago I did have an all singing all dancing WAV vehicle and in the 3 years that we had the thing we had 5 wheelchair bound customers.

when I ran one I did get two or three jobs a week but the demand as such was xmas day,boxing day and new year some years the demand on xmas day would have filled 3 vehicles BUT you can't justify the cost based on the fact that xmas day was the ONE day a year people needed you.

And yes I used to lose out to the volunteer groups because their vehicles were bought and paid for by Kiwanis or Rotary club and driven by part time volunteers you can't compete except bank holidays when they have no volunteers

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

The article is a bit incoherent. First part mainly about the lack of WAV PHVs, but then it goes off at a bit of a tangent about HC caps and the DfT guidance about that.

So nothing really about the HC WAV angle, but anyone reading the article would be a bit confused by it all, I'd guess, unless they're an insider...

I'd guess the journalist has just taken extracts from the offical council papers, but the way they're presented in the article just isn't what might be called a coherent whole.

Presumably the official council papers contain more information and tie the various threads together and make a more logical argument

B&H has a 20% WAV to fleet policy, and I suspect by the end of the year they will not.

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IDFIMH

Iran a wav from 1990 to 2022. I would get calls in December from folk wanting a wav over Xmas. I never worked over Xmas new year anyway, but when I got a call from someone I would asked them who they used the rest of the year, the answer would always be dial a ride, because they’re cheaper than you. So use dial a ride at Xmas then. Oh, they don’t operate over Xmas. Me neither.

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Former taxi driver