Taxi Driver Online

Aberdeen Press and Journal

August 30, 2007 Thursday

'Super taxi ranks' safety plans

New "super taxi ranks" are to be created in Aberdeen's main thoroughfare at night in an effort to improve public safety, it was announced yesterday.

The move of the ranks into Union Street means that a centralised transport point will be created in the city for the first time, because night buses also stop there.

Relocating the four main pick-up points means existing ranks in narrow side streets nearby, such as Chapel Street and Hadden Street, will only be operating during the day from next summer.

The city council says the proposals will improve security for taxi and private-hire drivers and ensure passengers get home safely.

It points out Union Street is well lit, easier for the police to monitor, and covered by 13 CCTV cameras.

The council is planning to recruit extra transport marshals to keep a watchful eye on people queuing at the ranks, which will be located at both ends of Union Street and in the middle.

Depending on the ranks' location, customers will be able to stand in existing bus shelters and doorways to escape the rain. Additional shelters could be erected in future.

The scheme could be funded from a £2million budget allocated for works associated with the Union Street pedestrianisation project. Politicians, business leaders and taxi drivers said last night they were broadly supportive of the plans which are similar to effective schemes in other UK cities, including Glasgow.

City centre manager Tom Moore said: "This scheme is based on best-practice evidence from other cities where they work and I am feeling very positive about it.

"It means that ranks will be taken out of congested streets and put into a well-lit street which we can monitor more easily. Most people going to taxi ranks come from Union Street anyway and this will give people more options to get home quicker."

John Michie, chairman of Aberdeen City Centre Association, said: "We think it is a first-class scheme. Union Street is a far better place for ranks than the current locations and we have been arguing for this for a long time."

Officials accept people who own flats and businesses on Union Street may object to having a zone outside their properties. Mr Moore and Mr Michie both said few people live there so disturbance caused to sleeping residents by drunks would be minimal.

Aberdeen Taxi Group chairman Russell McLeod said the plans were a "good idea". However, he told the city's licensing committee, which discussed it yesterday, that he was concerned that closing existing ranks at night would create a "huge gap" in provision between Broad Street and Diamond Street.

He questioned how the authority was going to fund extra transport marshals earning £16 an hour, adding that penalising the trade through increased licence fees was unfair.

Committee convener Callum McCaig agreed and said officials must come up with a solution.

The council plans to re-brand night bus stops on Union Street to encourage people to use services. Provision of toilets in the area will also be reviewed.

Grampian Police are understood to be broadly in favour of the plans but have expressed concerns that the new zones will lead to an increase in traffic performing U-turns on Union Street which could pose a risk to inebriated people crossing.

Licensing committee members have asked officials to investigate funding for marshals and to carry out checks to ensure that CCTV cameras on Union Street focus on ranks. They have also been asked to look at the merits of establishing a "super rank" on Schoolhill to serve people socialising in Belmont Street.
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The reason for the"gap" is not explained. The council still plan to pedestrianise the section from Union Terrace to Broad Street, a plan which is about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit with most Aberdonians.

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You would hardly think it was illegal would you?
They dont just cross p*ssed, they do what they like, the cops do nothing to stop them.

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