Taxi Driver Online

Mmmmmm New blood? Dont really know about that. Every cab driver I know has usually (and I mean usually) failed at something else.

Now, this is with no disrespect to all of my fellow cab drivers, hacks and ph.... as it also applies to me.

Lets put things into reality here. School children dont dream of one day being cab driver. Its only when they have reached adulthood and tried various jobs and trades and failed that they then know someone who knows someone elses brother, who has a dad who is cab driver that the idea of trying out a bit of cabbying the ball start rolling.

So, there may indeed be new blood, but only because it is a last resort.

What does worry me a bit is that if there is a resession, as there was in the eighties, then it is going to be much easier for all the building trade to try their hands at owning a taxi, taking the earnings away from the professional drivers.

Now, look at the interest rates..slowly creeping up...more money needs to be earnt... why not try owning a cab!

Ok. .. there may be more regulation, but I can see it happening.

You've hit the nail on the head Mr Guest, the overall fleet size won't change, any other view is just scaremongering, so what's the problem??

However, street hiring is a lot more efficient for both the trade and customers, so why should one section of the trade be excluded from the street market if they meet the specified criteria?

If people are willing to pay tens of thousands to enter the street market then this shows how distorted the market is.

Seems the usual case of do as I say, not as I do.

Dusty

From my limited experience, I think that it's easier to bring in new licensed drivers into a de-limited area than a limited one.

We may not like the idea of new blood, but is it better than old blood?

Only time will tell.

Alex

Dusty how will the fleet size stay the same?
Take Manchester for example we have 834 hacks at the moment .
With delimit if we follow Sheffield example as per the oft report
increase of 52% on hack fleet= 400+ more hacks.
Bearing in mind we have 900 names on waiting list alone
Without "new-blood"entrants looks like an increase to me?
All names on list currently hold Hack license.
PH drivers would have to sit sit the knowledge to get hack badge no dual license here.
I don't see how the hack fleet will remain the same?
Also the issue of rank space has to be addressed where will they all park?
I,m not anti de-limit just worried that jobs are going to be a lot harder to come by in the future.
I rent a cab at the moment but if de-limit comes i will get my own theres one extra for a start.
in Manchester we have had a controlled expansion policy for 7 years now on average 25 to 30 cabs per year yet still the plates fetch in excess of £45 thousand.
If delimit does come then the one criteria we should have is non transferable plates when you leave the job the plate goes back to the council without this its pointless. When you cant move for cabs they will close it again mark my words or just ask a liverpool cabbie.
Then its back to the old plate value nonsense we have now.
The one thing that has restricted cab growth and by this i mean Hacks is the value of a plate that was issued for free.
Remove that and you remove the as Andy would say "leeches".
Cabs for cab drivers the job is the value not the plate.

Mr Scanner was talking about the overall fleet size ie PH and HC, and he said that it wouldn't change in size and this was borne out by the OFT report?

So why should one section have an arbitrary monopoly over the street market?

You also hit the nail on the head with your comment about you getting a plate being an extra cab. So someone else loses a driver - no change there then, even if there are more cabs numerically??

And you'll be paying way over the odds for rental at the moment, and this will end with de-limitation.

Dusty

Gordon

No wonder there is 900 on the list if the council are giving away a little badge for nothing that becomes worth 45K the minute it hits the streets.

I am sure that as soon as that little badge became worthless there will be far fewer wanting to take one up.

How many badges are retained by non-drivers pulling a nice little earner from 'their' plate?

These guys will no longer be able to rent out 'their ' plate, cos those hiring it will be able to get one for free.

I know it looks bad on us, but I think Scanner is absolutely right on this issue. My circuit has a number of high IQ drivers who you'd think should be in high flying jobs. Why are they driving cabs? Perhaps we should have a new string "Self Examination" all about cab driver phsycology.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Gordon, there may be 900 on the waiting list, but how many PH are there in Manchester?

And I agree that Tom's point would also reduce the waiting list too.

You cannot look at just one factor of the report in isolation.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Perhaps the fleet (HC and PH) will grow initially, but unless the number of HC drivers grows in tandem, then the HC trade will level out.

I know, and you know that there are many people who have a number of HC plates. This they have to make money for themselves, on the back of a legal monopoly.

When their drivers can suddenly have their own vehicles, two things will happen. They will have to leave the trade to those working in it, or lower the rental of their vehicles.

To me, this is a win win situation for the existing HC journeymen.

The only thing stopping HC plates being handed back by those leaving the trade at present, is the plate premium. When one goes, the other will follow.

I couldn't agree more with your last two sentences. However Mr Scanner please note it wasn't me who said the 'L' word.

I have a great deal of sympathy for you Gordon, but I feel that the genie is out of the bottle.

I agree with you that Manchester have issued a fair few plates over the past few years. But to me, the fact that there are 900 of your colleagues on the waiting list, and the fact that plates are going for nearly £50,000, says to me they were not nearly enough.

Even if they issues 50 a year, it would take 18 years for someone to get one. I think that is just so un-fair, and out-dated.

I don't know, or don't wish to know, how much you give the owner of the vehicle you drive, but in my area they pay about £200-250 a week. That's well over ten grand a year.

I can't believe for a second that anyone can't buy, license and insure a vehicle for that sort of money. And it will be yours to work when you like, and finish when you like.

As SM says, a win win situation for journeymen.

Alex

Because the other has an arbitrary monopoly over the pre-booked market.

You see what you are failing to understand is that, as I have pointed out elsewhere on this site, P/H operators FAIL to ensure that the people they take somewhere can rely on the same company to fetch them home again.

Also an awful lot of H/C work independantly of offices in my region and rely on "street work" for their income, the extra demand should be taken up by those who choose to contract themselves to a P/H operator. However these vehicles are not allowed to come to do the extra "street work" cause the office is so busy.

Its the same argument as P/H picking up flaggers, and I suppose thats why that particular question has never been answered either.

Since when?

OK Mick, we can do without the trolls.

Dusty

Another thing is that in a lot of areas the ph boys dont do the same hard knowledge as us.
So evne if dereg did happen there will be nomore drivers for ages. Especailly if we make the knowledge really hard.
Or will eaisting ph drivers be allowed a plate with the lessser knowledge?