Taxi Driver Online

Irish News

October 30, 2006 Monday

HEADLINE: Drivers meet to oppose reforms

Taxi drivers have met in Belfast to agree a response to proposed new regulations which they believe will make it harder for them to earn a living.

The public hire black cab drivers came together at Transport House to develop counter-proposals in a taxi drivers' charter and discuss a strategy to safeguard jobs.

Sean Smyth of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union said the government's planned reforms included allowing customers to hail all taxis on the street without booking, introducing maximum fares, and requiring operators to install more disabled and elderly-friendly vehicles.

Mr Smyth said there are more than 450 public hire taxis working in the city, all of which are disabled accessible, at a cost of more than £30,000.

"If the new proposals are introduced our members will not be able to afford to run these taxis and will be financially ruined, with many drivers facing repossession of their vehicles," he said.
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Allowing people to hail PH removes the facility for that PH vehicle to be pre-booked.

These reforms will therefore remove a public service.

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.

But surely it's better if cars can be BOTH privately and publicly hired?

In St Andrews we have over one hundred taxis and only a couple of private hires - indeed private hire numbers have reduced slightly in the last ten years - and there's no problem for people either phoning or getting a taxi in the street.

It's the same in nearby Dundee, where there are very few private hires, and indeed a few years ago I think there were 800 taxis and NO private hires.

While things could be a lot better here, when I read about the problems with private hire elsehwere I'm glad we are nearly 100% taxi.

Thank god for some sense from one of our Scottish members.

Only those that can't see say that when PH drivers get their HC plates they ignore the phone market. Some may, but they are just plain stupid.

Why spend up to £35,000 on a motor and then blank the punters that have kept you for many years?

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IDFIMH

But if the choice is to pick up this punter here, who is vitually sitting on the bonnet, or go to the one given out by the base, who you are going to travel 2 miles to pick up and who you know is only going to travel one mile, from one side of the estate to the other - then it's going to be a pretty clear cut choice isn't it?

Especially if the law is on your side and says it's ok you can do that now.

But it is impossible to run a prebooked service along those lines. Ask any radio circuit manager in London.

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The higher the fewer.

But if the choice is to pick up this punter here, who is vitually sitting on the bonnet, or go to the one given out by the base, who you are going to travel 2 miles to pick up and who you know is only going to travel one mile, from one side of the estate to the other - then it's going to be a pretty clear cut choice isn't it?

Especially if the law is on your side and says it's ok you can do that now.

But it is impossible to run a prebooked service along those lines. Ask any radio circuit manager in London.

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The higher the fewer.

I agree, if there are punters trying to flag you down, pick them up. They could be taking you to where there is a radio job to bring you back in.

The issue isn't an either/or one, but a both one.

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IDFIMH

The problem is when you discover they are going completely in the wrong direction. It's too late by then, because you've stopped and they expect to be taken.

That's when you realise that you simply can't operate like that, you are in a double bind - it has to be one way or the other.

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The higher the fewer.

No you miss my point.

Why everyone assumes that people who want to book a PH are going the opposite direction to the people waiting for HC mistifies me.

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.

I'm not sure how - what you said was:

"Allowing people to hail PH removes the facility for that PH vehicle to be pre-booked."

The point I made in response is that there's no real need for PH vehicles in my experience because most taxis do pre-booked work - I would say about three quarters of them in Dundee and almost all in St Andrews.

The point is that it's better for the public if the vehicles can do BOTH street hails AND phone work, because a dual-purpose car is better than one that can only be hailed - why else would the vast majority of drivers in my neck of the woods prefer to be dual-use? And do you think the public prefer 100 taxis or 20 taxis and 80PH?


The counter point is that some taxis will ignore phone work when the streets are busy. That's a good point, but in practice I think a well organised office will ensure that drivers don't do this, and anyway, even if this was happening isn't a breach in office rules preferable to criminal plying for hire, which makes the car unisured, and which would be eradicated if a PH sector wasn't required?

You would probably find that if all vehicles were taxis then there would be a shift away from phoning towards hailing, and we all know that both drivers and customers prefer to jump into a cab without pi$$ing around on the phone, so it's win-win?

But if it wasn't for the radio job you wouldn't have seen the flaggers, unless they were near your rank.

I think you issue isn't that far from the PH issues. I will not run miles and miles to clear a job. A sensible office will give customers a reasonable lead time.

Now I know that's easier on a large firm than a smaller one, but I think in the end it's best all round if we have licensed taxis driven by ex PH drivers.

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IDFIMH

Hang on a minute ..................... in one drivers opinion Dundee and St Andrews don't need PH ........ so the whole of the UK don't need them .

Then just to extract the urine .................. little boy Sussex pops up and agrees, the man who cannot get a plate even though his opinions are so factually based .

BTW in Dundee and St Andrews how many WAV are there ? and how many taxis?

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.

That's true, but it's always a temptation for a driver having just received a radio job to see if they can find a flag down job to take them to it. Unfortunately, having stopped for one, they can either end up having to give back the radio booking, or possibly have an argument with the person they stopped for, but don't want to take, because they are going in the wrong direction for them.

I can see three types of taxi evolving here in the uk at the moment, for the two types of licensed driver:

1) Private Hire - pre-booked only, returns to base between jobs.

2) Hackney Radio - pre-booked only, waits on a rank between jobs.

3) Hackney Street Vehicle - traditional rank and hail, cruises or waits on a rank.

The Hackney Street Vehicle would need a distinct livery so that the public will be able to clearly distinguish it as the only hailable vehicle of the three. (A chequered bonnet and boot for instance - which would be reasonably practical from a vehicle owners point of view.)

A hackney drivers licence would allow it's owner to drive all three types of vehicle.

A private hire drivers licence would be only applicable to a private hire vehicle.

A hackney drivers licence would require (say) two years private hire driving as an automatic pre-condition.

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The higher the fewer.

Sorry, I thought it was "one driver" proffering an opinion against another driver. I didn't realise that you were some taxi bigwig or some kind of trade oracle. So perhaps you could tell me who you are or explain your patronising remarks.

I said "in my experience" and told you the facts of what happens in Dundee and St Andrews (and in places like Cupar, Aberdeen, Falkirk etc) to refute your claim that if all vehicles could be publicly hired then that would somehow mean a shortage of vehicles to do radio work - so what makes your area so different?




I can't see what this has to do with what I said - i get the distinct impression that you don't like people disagreeing with you.

BTW, opinions and facts are mutually exclusive






I posted some of this earlier in the thread - pay attention

Dundee I would guess around 500 saloon taxis, 100 WAV and a small number of PH.

St Andrews I would guess over 100 taxis and two or three PH. There's also a small number of WAVs, but how many exactly I don't know because WAVs are not compulsory, so what is and isn't a WAV isn't clear, but the vast majority are either saloons or standard people carriers, so WAV numbers are very small.

BTW, there are no official numbers for St Andrews because it's in a big zone, and there's some overlap between the zones, so my figures arre estimates.

BTW, I would guess that of 600+ taxis in Dundee probably not much more than 100 are street cars - therefore 500 or so are radio cars and most of there work will come over the radio, with only a handful of rank and hail hires.

In St Andrews I don't know any taxis that aren't either with an office or are an independent with a mobile phone. None just work the ranks, although to be honest I'm probably the nearest thing to a street car in the area.