Taxi Driver Online

unless of course you can think of another method, accepted by the courts?

But only if, the PERSON authorised to grant licences is satisfied that there is no significant demand......

How does one become satisfied?

JD

How does one become satisfied?

JD[/quote

You tell me

Hiya Sussex. Yes, the advantages for operators like Delta are blatantly obvious; the advantages to drivers however are far more subtle...

During quiet periods of too many taxis and not enough passengers there has to be some way of 'queing' the vehicles in order to precipitate a fair distribution of work. During busy periods of too many passengers and not enough taxis there should likewise be some way of 'queing' the passengers so that customers can enjoy a fair distribution of taxis.

Consider Sefton, how do both sides of the trade achieve this?

For the Sefton cab trade I think it is fair to say that their investment in radio infrastructures and booking management systems is pretty much NIL. They rely almost entirely on ranks or driving around at the mercy of lady luck. For Delta the investment runs into millions of pounds, no doubt more than any other private hire firm in Britain.

Take now Mr. Regular Taxi Passenger who continually spends his money in taxis. If his local Sefton cab rank is empty he must either stand in a queue of passengers at the front of the rank or wander the streets on the off-chance of a lucky flag. If he were to phone Delta his mobile number would immediately identify him as a valued customer enabling a VIP fast-track to a far quicker pick-up.

Then later on when the street work dries up there's light taxis everywhere, your average Sefton cab driver has to make his way to the back of his nearest rank before he secures a place in the queue. Your Delta driver however secures a place in his booking system queue the instant he drops of his fair and indicates empty. If he waits ten minutes then chooses to move elsewhere, he takes his empty time with him, increasing his chances of getting another job once he gets there. If your Sefton Cabbie pulls out of a quiet Bootle rank, he's lost his place. When he gets to Netherton, he can't bunk in at the front just because he has been without a job longer than his colleagues at the front of the Netherton rank.

The distribution of work during quiet periods and the distribution of taxis during busy periods are both handled far better for customers and drivers by the likes of Delta in comparison to the Sefton Hack trade. The deregulation of plates in Sefton would effectively make cab drivers out of all the private hire drivers. It would result in a free for all of thousands of drivers all haphazardly scrambling for street work. The rank structure could never cope. Drivers would have to just take their chances on the road. No doubt on occasion they'd get lucky and find a pickup wherever they dropped off. Often they would not be so lucky and continually see their potential next jobs getting into other cabs that just happened to pull over that fraction quicker.

This obviously doesn't apply across the board as Cab firms in other areas like Glasgow and Birmingham have clearly spent a few bob on booking distribution systems. Not so in Sefton.

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Don't knock it, 'til you try it....

I'm not sure I agree with the rest of your post, but there you are.

But my point on the above quote is it should be for drivers to decide if they wish to stay with your firm, or wish to go it alone.

If you are a sound firm with bundles of work then why should you worry about drivers leaving? And even if they did go hackney, what's stopping them staying on your circuit?

Providing your fares are lower than the council's tariff, then there's no good reason why they can't do the work at your prices.

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IDFIMH

Delta don't allow hackneys on their circuit. We used to back in the 70s. Not surprisingly during busy periods the hacks filled their boots with street work, leaving the private hire lads to pull from pillar to post covering the radio work on their own. When the street work dried up the cabs reappeared for radio work.

When the phones were busiest, so were the streets and we were unable to persuade any of our hackneys to help out. Their first priority was to make money off street hires - that's the reason they had bought a hackney plate - to do independent street hires. The radio was merely a second string to their bow, something to subsidise any slack times on the road. Delta therefore decided to work exclusively with drivers that did ONLY radio work. We have gone on to build a fiercely loyal customer base of over 300,000 passengers a week.

Other firms or TOAs operating today with hackney cabs still have the same uphill struggle when it comes to covering radio bookings whenever the streets are full of flags. Drivers don't want to cover an account job 2 miles away when there are cash jobs right there in front of them. And if the majority of their jobs are street hires then they cannot really justify paying too much for their radio hire, resulting in less available funds for the company's book and dispatch system or marketing.

On a busy Saturday night when Sefton's pavements are teeming with work Delta's drivers are busy looking after the telephone bookings when they need us most. Come Tuesday 10am when the streets are deserted and there's over-ranking on the cab stands, those same telephone customers are ringing Delta when we need THEM most. If any of our drivers licensed their vehicle for street hire they would have to leave. For Delta drivers our policy is ALL RADIO WORK or NO RADIO WORK.

Deregulation wouldn't change our policy. The streets would be flooded with licensed hackneys but Delta would still concentrate exclusively on looking after our hard earned telephone customers.

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Don't knock it, 'til you try it....

I can well understand the reasons behind that, but is that a good enough reason to try and stop some PH drivers getting their own taxi plates?

But if we go back to the original theme, is it right that a firm should lobby the council to hamper driver's choice?

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IDFIMH

If all your PH are looking after just radio work during those times then I would say your firm is unique.

But I would say some, and it may only be a little some, are helping out their hackney mates.

Surely it would be better for punters if those cars were licensed to do what they are doing.

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IDFIMH

Or that it is doing the job right.

Maybe thats the reason they have so many happy customers.

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

Why THANKYOU sir, I'd say so too!



Better for punters? Which punters? If you're referring to OUR punters, i.e. the ones waiting for their radio bookings to get covered, then it certainly wouldn't be better for them if their private hire cars got suddenly licensed for street flags. If you are referring to the other punters, i.e. the ones who are quite happy to flag down and get into a car clearly identified as PRIVATE HIRE ONLY, then who cares what's better for them? I don't! I can't imagine your average cab driver being too concerned about punters who knowingly flag and use clearly identified private hire only vehicles. Punters should flag down a licensed Hackney Cab or telephone a licensed private hire firm.

But back to the original discussion point... In Sefton the issue was discussed, polls were taken, opinions were fed back, £2 levies were agreed, the unmet demand survey was paid for from the licence fee budget, and I believe Cabs, Private Hire, and Punters all benefit. Every Delta driver has the choice to stay were he is, or move to another Private Hire Firm, or cross over to the Hackneys. I don't know, but I would imagine your average Sefton Plate would be comparitively cheap when compared with other areas. There's nothing to stop a Delta driver buying an existing hackney plate. He'd have to give us our radio back though!

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Don't knock it, 'til you try it....

I doubt people are born Delta punters, they become them by a) getting a good service from Delta, and b) a sh** service from the local cab trade.

Perhaps I also have a lesser opinion of punters than you, cos I think most of them will get into the first thing that moves.

But my point is that some PH drivers pick up when they shouldn't, maybe you disagree with me on the better point, but what about on the safety point.

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IDFIMH

Yes, there are PH drivers picking up unbooked flags when they shouldn't but is this any more or less dangerous for punters than HC drivers illegally picking up outside of their licensed area when they shouldn't? I don't think so. If deregulated plates were suddenly distributed willy nilly you could very well see an increase in the number of newly licensed local HC drivers picking up outside of their area. Personally, I don't think it would compromise punter safety but the neighbouring licensed cabbies might have something to say about it!

Now, what represents a true danger to public safety is drivers working the road who are not licensed for either PH or HC. Deregulation would not affect these cowboys. The surest way therefore of securing passenger safety is through education of the passengers themselves. The police and local authorities should run campaigns where they drive home to the travelling public there are only TWO ways to get a taxi... 1) Flag down a locally licensed HC driver or 2) Pre-book and wait for your preferred PH driver. The campaign should highlight the inherent dangers in deviating from these two options. Parents should be encouraged to educate their children into using only these two methods of getting taxis.

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Don't knock it, 'til you try it....