Taxi Driver Online

Which generalised assumptions of mine are you describing as a joke, Mick?

I try neither to generalise nor assume, but if I am guilty of this (which we all or to some extent) then if you can point to the specific instance then I'll be happy to set the record straight.

Dusty

I don't follow your argument.

In my manor we only have a handful of PH, but no one has any difficultly pre-booking a car - I can't think of any local taxi that don't do pre-booked work.

Take an area with a quota like Aberdeen - 90% of the local fleet are taxis, yet I doubt if there is any difficulty pre-booking a car, at least no more than in any other city.

But because in such places what would effectively be PH in other locations would be licensed as taxis, so I doubt if there is such a need to pre-book - there'll be more taxis at ranks and hailable on the streets.

You seem to assume that taxis will only do street work, but this is not the case elsewhere, especially when they don't have a monopoly on the street market.

Dusty

Unfortunatly, because of premiums and a tied up hackney market, during the years there has grown a culture of this is a taxi job and this is a private hire job, and its a culture that wants destroyiong because no one but those that partake in building these monopolistic structures understand it.

lets go back to square one the start of taxis, rules were brought in for immidate hirings and prebookings which in those days often consisted of the scullery maid heading to ranks with a note.

Taxis were always for street hire and prebooked hire, only modern attitudes of demarkation, of you rub my back I will rub yours has changed this.

you are not a proper taxi if you have a radio I have been told. what utter nonesense, for once dusty you are right.

In some towns mine is one, more street work is done by private hire than Hacks, the hacks dare say nothing for if they do there will be significant unmet demand and premiums will be at risk.

so premiums therefore stop the function of taxis, of delivering service to people.

Dear All
Iwanted to reply to the previous letter but have now decided that I will not in future reply to anything without a signature.
Keep your identity a secret if you wish by using a nom de plume but at least use the same one so we can judge your consistency. Or not!!!
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

Seems fair enough to me.

Alex

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ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ

Simply the best taxi forum in the whole wide world. www.taxi-driver.co.uk

So we are going to have ranks on housing estates and taxis driving around them.

Dusty if there is any un-met demand AT ALL then its only at the times the pubs and clubs close in our town and city centres. Why therefore do people not pre-book, could it be because their is a lack of provision from the pre-booked market.
People have no problems pre-booking when everyone is quiet yet they can neither pre-book nor hail a car to take them where they want to go when its busy, why is that then.
I can only suggest that there are not enough P/H vehicles and so to de-limit the numbers of H/C so that P/H drivers can obtain a free plate does nothing but add to the problem of available vehicles for pre-bookings ie. the current P/H.

You are to interested in getting what you want instead of ensuring that the "hire and reward" trade delivers the services demanded of them by the public.

B. Lucky

I can't believe you haven't got ranks on the estates already.

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IDFIMH

But why do some pre-book, it's because they can't guarantee a HC/PH when they want one.

Why is it I never get any pre-booked work from the main railway station? It's because customers know that there will be cabs there all the time, or they will only have to wait a few minutes.

If customers had more confidence of supply elsewhere, then less of them would use, or need to use, the pre-booked market.

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IDFIMH

Only in the city centres do people flag down a taxi instead of pre-booking. The hotels, restuarants, pubs etc will always phone.

The outer areas people will always phone for a taxi. And why... because we have made it easier for them to do so with all our latest technology. Its much easier, much more comfortable to phone for a cab in the comfort the home, and primarily far safer.

Who wants to try and flag a taxi down when it is pouring with rain. I live in the outer area of Brighton & Hove, and a taxi user as well. I do not expect to have a taxi waiting on a rank near me. I phone and get one within a few minutes.

With todays investment in technology ( we are now starting "live real time" internet booking) the need to have a taxi sitting near you as long gone.

What is the point in in investing all those hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxi technology if those in power just look at the ranks.

Scanner

I think it's a chicken and egg-type scenario Mr Scanner.

I've lived in three different cities in the last two decades or so, and in the suburban areas in which I lived in the larger cities taxis were a rare sight, because of restrictions stifling supply.

Ironically, in the smallest location with few PH there were taxis available in places that they just wouldn't be seen in in the larger cities, such as outlying areas with shops and pubs.

No one is suggesting that there's as much street work in outlying areas than in city centres etc, but demand will be stimulated if there is supply.

Remember that a lot of houses still don't have phones and if there's a taxi available on the street people will tend to take it anyway, whether it's in city centres our outlying areas.

Dusty

Remember that a lot of houses still don't have phones

Sorry Dusty but although you and I can not prove this statement I do not see this as being correct. However, look at the boom in mobile phones.

I also do not believe that in todays society that an ever lasting supply of taxis in the street will encourage people to use them and increase business. The level of business will remain the same.

Of course we do have ranks in the outer area. There is a rank near my home that I often go to when starting work. That particular rank is in fact next to an area that has quite a few shops, a co-op and a large pub right next to it. However, I very rarely ever get a path job from it. However, I do get a reasonable amount of radio work. Even to the pub and co-op thats within spitting distance.

There are different types of taxi users... those that do and those that dont..... and those that do will normally phone one and use a regular number.

I can only use my situation in Brighton & Hove, I do far more radio work than I street work. I would not like to rely on street work. I suppose in towns and citys where investment has gone into providing a good reliable phone service the hacks may have shot themselves in the foot by concentrating on the radio work. My own particular Association has had to take on ph in recent years as the radio work as constantly increased.

I suppose different citys and towns and different situations.
Scanner

I think the evidence shows otherwise.

The OFT quote Sheffield in their study, it shows that if you have more cabs, then more people use them.

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IDFIMH

Possibly. But then I certainly do not believe the way that the OFT have carried out the study. I dont think that having more street taxis increases business. What it may do is take away business from the radio side.

Is there any proved case where having more hacks has increased income? Or has it just taken the pre-book side away?

Actual proof I'm not sure.

However anecdotal proof is usually evident when the like of Halcrow question customers.

When they ask about how customers get home, the service they receive, and what happens when there are no cabs available immediately, the usual response is they wait, they walk to another rank, the try to flag down, and some, albeit a small some, say they walk home.

I suppose those that walk home, could be saved for cab trade, with more cabs.

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IDFIMH

Yes, I would agree that more houses have phones than in the past, and there's obviously the boom in mobile phones to consider, but there's still a lot of people who don't have ready access to a phone - for example, if you want to get a phone installed I think you have to have quite a hefty deposit, and that's beyond many people.

My point wasn't really that business overall would increase if there were more taxis, but that the street/pre-booked market share would shift more towards the former, which is more efficient for all concerned - people should not be excluded from the choice of securing a taxi in the street because it suits part of the trade to monopolise the street market.

Likewise, we come back to the basic argument that some in the trade shouldn't be arbitrarily excluded from the street market. This applies whether or not increasing taxi numbers would increase street work, but I strongly suspect it does.

This may be less so in some areas than others, but of course in large urban areas in the UK taxis comprise anything from 10% to 90% of the combined fleet, so obviously there's many different scenarios and de-restriction would clearly have very different effects in some areas as compared to others.

Dusty