Taxi Driver Online

From; THE DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE

Ministry Plans U-turn On Taxi Deregulation

Tokyo, Japan; 21st July 2008
(The sun has already risen on that side of the world)

Taku Iwaki and Hideo Kamata / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

The Construction and Transport Ministry is planning to reintroduce regulations that would limit companies entering the taxi business and reduce the number of taxis across the nation to combat a taxi glut blamed on industry deregulations introduced in 2002.

The ministry plans to have the Road Transportation Law revised at next year's ordinary Diet session.

The change in policy is due to concerns that excessively fierce competition has reduced taxi driver incomes and has worsened working conditions.

But critics argue that governmental control on the number of taxis would violate fair competition and result in excessive protection of the taxi industry.

Usually, more than 100 taxi cabs can be seen lining up at the start of the morning near the west exit of JR Sendai Station. The drivers typically wait for more than an hour to pick up passengers.

One of these drivers, 31, lamented: "There're too many taxi cabs and my monthly salary is now below 100,000 yen because of it."

The number of taxis operating in Sendai was 3,003 at the end of March 2007, a 1.5-fold increase from five years ago, before deregulation.

Sendai's rate of increase is the highest in the nation. Because of the extreme competition caused by the growth in the number of taxis, the city was designated in January as a special area in which the ministry can prohibit new entrants into the taxi business and ban existing companies from adding cabs.

Following deregulation, 27 companies entered the taxi business in the city, adding about 700 cabs in total. Meanwhile, a major taxi company already established in the city more than doubled its number of cabs.

A 36-year-old female taxi driver with a son in his third year of primary school, said her monthly income was 120,000 yen.

"I drive long distances every day but rarely pick up customers. I'm mentally exhausted," she said.

Since April 2007, the ministry has approved taxi fare hikes in about 50 areas to help taxi companies improve business performance, predicting the move would raise income levels for drivers and improve working conditions.

In Tokyo, taxi companies raised fares 7.2 percent on average in December 2007, the first hike in a decade.

But operating revenue per cab in May dropped 2.9 percent from the previous year, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline.

A taxi industry association official said: "We predicted the number of customers would recover about six months after the fare hike temporarily lowered the number. But there hasn't yet been any sign of recovery."

Nationwide, there were 273,740 taxis as of fiscal 2006, up about 15,000 from fiscal 2001. Over that same period, however, total operating revenue for taxi companies fell about 4 percent and the average annual income for drivers fell 50,000 yen to 3.29 million yen, 2.26 million yen lower than the average industrial wage.

A 41-year-old driver said he became a taxi driver about six years ago after losing another job, thinking it was the only job he could do that would secure him a decent income.

A 44-year-old driver said he had just come to Tokyo from Hokkaido and lived with a colleague in a six-tatami mat room at a company dormitory. He said many of his colleagues came from provincial areas, leaving family members behind.

Numerous taxi drivers commented that many people who change jobs to become taxi drivers soon quit because the pay is so poor.

At some taxi companies, a driver's margin rate falls from 60 percent to 50 percent if monthly sales are below 470,000 yen. Some drivers have been known to borrow money from colleagues and drive empty taxis with the meters running to keep their monthly sales higher.

The ministry's plan to revise the regulations mainly seeks to adjust the number of taxi cabs by restricting the number of new companies entering the business and toughening the screening process for established companies seeking to increase the number of cabs in areas deemed saturated.

The plan divides the nation into three categories based on the number of taxis in each area.

In areas where the number is deemed excessive, the ministry plans to effectively prohibit new entrants or any increase in cabs with the screenings.

The ministry also is considering a system that would not violate the Antimonopoly Law, but would allow taxi operators in the same areas to cooperate in reducing the total number of cabs.

The ministry's subpanel will compile practical measures by the end of this year for submission in a bill to revise the law at next year's ordinary Diet session.

P.S. From; Brummie Cabbie. £1.00 = 213 Yen

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

I often wonder why those who create the problem in the first place start screaming foul play when they find it difficult to make a living.

They might as well say right, I'm becoming a taxi owner/driver tomorrow and I want you to cap all licenses after I've got mine.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I thought that was the law.

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IDFIMH

Spot on......I make no further comment!!

Gubber it! Yes, I will:

I've read so much cr*p about ALL LOs being incapable and useless at their job; All PHVs are touting full-time; All 'new' entrants' are fly-b-nights taking the bread from my kid's mouths.

In my limited experience, LOs are professional people applying law and policy as they interpret it.

In my very much broader experience, planning officers, building control officers, housing benefit officers, housing benefit fraud officers, council tax officers, etc., etc.,.....(I'm sure you get my point!) are all professional people applying law and policy as they interpret it.

Most PHVs will adhere to their licence conditions because they know the consequences if they do not.

New entrants to the trade will learn from....guess who?....You ar$ehole....they will keep the trade going after you have left and provide your customers with the continuity of service to which you aspire.

Start working as a team, promote (not protect!) the trade....nationwide....friendly banter and competition but ultimately not scratching each others' eyes out!!!!!!!

/Rant over....for now!

('you' used as second person, plural......not in anyway aimed at JD, as per first phrase of post!)

From which land of milk and honey did you glean this experience?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

He gleaned his experience from right here mate!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/c ... avid.shtml

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

PMSL

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin