Taxi Driver Online

I'm afraid quality controls are far too laxed but if that suits your purpose then all well and good. It certainly doesn't suit mine.

Regards

JD

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Sheffield City Council, one of the pioneers of delmit policy has decided to recommend limit to go back on after analyising the results of a demand survey. http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Taxi-plan ... 3555734.jp

So there's not enough cabs working at night, and the answer to this problem is to limit the number of cabs.

And then charge punters extra.

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IDFIMH

Absolute jokes at our Clown Hall.
Had they kept a tight ship then this tinkering would not be necessary. They have too many cabs in day and night with the only short fall for the busy two hours at Friday and Saturday nights, and that's what they're trying to fix. They did take a leaf out of your book and landed in this mess, so maybe you could let them have another page that shows them what to do next?
What a mess the free plates badwagon hurtles into, then shrugs responsibilty and wants others to pay for their mistakes. You wouldn't see that I suppose, would you?
Surprising isn't it this doesn't happen in London? Ha ha Does make a mockery of the London model a little methinks

So why don't you hand your plate back and go and rent one?

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IDFIMH

Woderful solution when you have your own cab and little work, so improve life by handing plate back and renting a cab. Simply classic.
That should work, almost as good as too many cabs so bring on more cabs, wonderful, that'll fix the problem.
You surpass yourself sir by your business accumin. Maybe there is a reason you and I are taxi drivers

My point isn't that you should leave the trade if you can't earn out of it, although many would consider that a sensible approach, but how many of drivers currently moaning wouldn't have had a plate in the first place if the council didn't de-limit.

So it is they who should hand back their plates if they are now suddenly pro-quotas. Else one would consider them to be a tad two-faced.

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IDFIMH

There is something the matter here with your reality sir. Do you have a problem with turning the water tap off when the glass gets full, or are you insulted in having to do that? How do you reconcile doing the opposite of what you did seconds earlier, and is that described as two faced in your vocab?

You are being disingenuous, and you know it, Sussex.

As I said when I started this thread, DE-LIMITATION ISN'T WORKING!!

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Former taxi driver

Just noticed the vid in the link Ell Tell has got to be in everything

The report that is in front of Sheffield council and although the politicians have in the form of Labour party cabinet decided to adopt a resolution to reccomend a limit to be imposed, the report doesn't actually support the stance.
After that sort of a call for limiting the number of cabs I would've expected any legal high court challenge to succeed, I don't know if others agree?
The final decission will be made by the full council due to meet on 9th January and likely to go either way, with the legal guys calling for no limit but many councillors think there are too many cabs.

Well I'm sure Sheffield councillors know the law but if they don't i'm sure some bright spark will inform them of the pitfalls of not having a survey that shows there is no unmet demand.

What specialised advice have you got from the advertising man who runs Taxi Today magazine? I'm sure we would all be interested, well at least some of us? lol

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.

That is the dialema for them,they have got a syrvey that shows there is no unmet demand, but also goes on to advise against limiting numbers.
If you have any contact maybe you could tell us JD, cus none of our lads have any contact with taxi today magazine or any of their advertising men. For three months they did send a bundle of mags to one chap who dished them out but last was in May or June and none since.

Don't limit taxi numbers

I WAS the chair of the licensing board in 2000 when the policy of limitation for Hackney Carriage Taxi Licenses in Sheffield went through a tough review.

The recommendation then was quite clear, after surveys were done, and that was that we should allow market forces to determine the limit. And they have.

Since 2000 the licensing department has issued around 80 licences per year.If a good living was not there to be made then the demand for licences would seize. And that is market forces at work.

As the chair of the licensing board in 2000, and having had five years experience as a member of that board, I had the experience to take this issue forward.

It was then, as it is now, not an easy subject to deal with, and it made me very unpopular. They were difficult times for me personally. Taxi drivers marched around the town hall demanding I resign.

But the licensing board is meant to be non-political. I, along with other members at the time, made our decision based on what was best for the people of Sheffield.

The limit in 2000 was 300 – nowhere near the number of taxis needed in Sheffield at that time. The survey then recommended 500 plus. (Private hire taxis were around 12,000 at that time, I believe).

Sheffield has changed and is continuing to change: more hotels, more people use our city at night. We do not need to set a limit on taxis. Market forces will determine this.

The recent survey, done in 2007, suggests that although the demand is met during the day, it is not met at night.

And therefore the outcome of this recommendation was that a limit should not be recommended.

Taxi drivers cannot work day and night. Working nights is the nature of the job and therefore the drivers need to be more proactive at being in the right place at the right time... moving around the city centre not stuck on ranks.

Where in the world in a large city do you have to walk to a taxi rank to get a taxi, other than in Sheffield?

An external report by London Council suggested that limitation should not be recommended. Officers from the licensing department recommend that there should be no limit.

All limitation does is push the consumer toward private hire taxis, and this could cause more ply for hire. Taxi drivers are there to serve the people of Sheffield, because without us they would not have a job in the first place.

Therefore it is the job of the council to make sure that the demand for taxis is met and they can only do this by allowing market forces to prevail, and not put the limitation back.

This issue has become a political vote catcher. And it is a disgrace. Taxis are a service for the people of Sheffield. Politicians should remember that when they vote on this issue next week at full council.

Gail Smith, Liberal Democrat Mosborough, Thorpe Drive, Waterthorpe

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IDFIMH

12,000 PH in Sheffield?

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