Taxi Driver Online

So everyone is entiled to tell drivers what to do, bar drivers?

I'm not too sure that freedom of choice is really such a 'romantic ideal'.

End taxi number restrictions, and then customers will get the service they want, when they want it.

You say 'romantic ideal' and then go on to agree with what I said. But thank you for reminding me that in de-limited areas plates hold no value.

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IDFIMH

Its not down to drivers to decide on legislation, its down to drivers to decide how best to work to the legislation.

When Councils and Governments decide upon policies they do so in the best interest of the general public, not in the interest of those that will profit from it.

You are like a 10 year old wanting to run the sweet shop.



Who's freedom of choice?
By suggesting that your choices should be the only consideration is to my mind a "romantic ideal".



How will they get the service they want when they want it ?

Is service only about getting a taxi from a taxi rank when they come out of the nightclub?

Isn't service about reliability? Isn't service about punctuality? Isn't service about giving the customer what they want?

You are yet to come up with any creditable argument as to how service would be better if everyone was licensed HC or at least with the same plate as each other.

What you have come out with is reasons why YOU would benefit from such actions, and it is on this point I suggested your opinion was a "romantic ideal" and pointed out that the only benefit would be to you.



In delimited areas WAV plates hold no value, saloon plates retain their value as their numbers remain restricted. I also pointed out that in some areas saloon plates can be obtained free as the quota is not fulfilled, even though the same licensing authority also licence PH.

I have only one more question, it would be nice to get a straight answer but I won't hold my breath - if you were to get a HC plate for either a saloon or a WAV would you still work from an office, and if so would you work the streets or the office at busy times?

It's thoughts like that that gave us the 1976 Act, an act that has made a lot of solicitors and barristers very very rich.

And many in the trade very very poor.

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IDFIMH

It's not only my choices, but thousands and thousands of non plate-holders.

It would also appear your trade isn't able to withstand fair competition.

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IDFIMH

They will get the service they demand in the same way at they get every other service, by drivers meeting it.

Do you really think that having quotas is in their best interests? Because consumer organisations think otherwise.

How can 'reliability and punctuality' be best served by restricting the things that are meant to meet them?

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IDFIMH

I would do exactly what every other business in the land does, and that's to decide for myself.

If I can manage without an office, then I will. If I can't, then I wont.

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IDFIMH

So you would leave the PH office you work for and work the streets at first, what then happens if the majority of drivers at your office decide to do the same?
Is it possible for those that stay PH to service all of the customers that use your current office? I wouldn't think so.

My argument is to maintain PH provision, I believe that over half of the people who complain about the lack of taxis are in fact refering to the lack of PH, the office I work from was fully booked for most of the weekend and we probably "knocked back" half as much work as we did.

I wish I had a pound for every time I've heard "I've tried every taxi office in the area and yours was the first to say I could have a car within two hours", your "romantic ideal" would see this situation increase and therefore customer services decrease.

But PH is not restricted!

I'm a non plateholder, if your refering to a HC plate. Also my trade is the same as your trade and is not restricted yet we cannot meet demand.

Not true. The 1976 Act is outdated and needs to be updated, but we should be looking to put the customer first and any involvement from solicitors or barristers is because we put our ideals first and the local authority maintains the best interest of the residents of their borough.

Funny how things vary throughout the country.

It was reported on here that a guy in Gatesehead was only taking home £2.60 an hour, yet in your area you must be taking ten times that an hour at least, all weekend.

Come on, spill the beans, and people like poor old Frankie can move there.

The problem which cannot be rectified is the the work distribution though the week, the majority of people would not think about using taxis at any other time except the weekend, demand is great for two nights only and then only for a short time. So the rest of the week you spend waiting. In a taxi magazine one set of lads reported in a normal 50 hour week only 7 hours was actually spent working. Whatever the figure when you only work the streets you spend a lot of time watching the back of another taxi.

So how can you solve the problem of relatively a few people wanting taxis during the week and then suddenly thousands of people wanting them at the weekend. Making everyone HC will be at first survival of the fittest, then it will eventually level off, a case of supply and demand. How long will you be in the game, well this depends on how much a you are willing to work for i guess. The old addage of the grass is greener comes into force, PH can see all these big queues but they are only there when they are busy. The offices will not want their cars to pick up off the street when they are busy, so PH will have to leave and choose to work the streets, then the offices do not have enough cars. This is of course assuming that they can get people to go out and buy a WAV in the first place.

As for drivers not having an influence in whats good for the general public, this is true partly because the government and councils will tell us what they want, hopefully they will maybe at one time ask for our views. But remember these people sometimes do not live in the real world, a clasic example of this was when the banned taxis from Broad Street in Birmingham and wondered why no one could get a taxi.

The pubs in the town can clearly manage to survive on two nights trading, i cannot though wouldn't it be nice, two days work and the rest of the week off. The police want more taxis on the road at weekends to get rid of the crowds asap then them and the trafic wardens can spend the rest of the week chasing the taxis away because we can't all get on the ranks.

Derek

I think it all boils down to the facts that if you can't enough in the trade then leave it.

All this 3 jobs a day, or 7 hours a week, might be evidence of a lack of work, but it's also evidence of thick cabbies trying to earn money that isn't there.

I think the 7 hours a week related to the ammount of time driving rather than the amount of time working. "Cabbies" are trying to work for money that was there, until their number was doubled or more.



I believe that this story relates to Frankie who drives HC in Gateshead. I drive PH and I don't work in Gateshead so I fail to see what relevance your statement has.
The area I work from has no quantative restrictions however entry into the HC sector is restricted in other ways which makes entering the trade less viable than for those who held plates prior to "delimitation".

I do signifigantly better than £2.60 per hour, but I'm not prepared to discuss my financial situation with anyone I don't know, just as I wouldn't expect anyone who didn't know me to discuss theirs with me.

Well that's OK because no one was asking you to discuss your financial situation, but it's a good way to dodge the question.

But some of the sob stories we here from drivers are often a case of