Taxi Driver Online

Reply.
As I said originally a cartel has to be proved to be acting against the public interest to be umlawful, a cartel in itself is not illegal.
Well done Brighton, companies like Medigen take money out of the trade and do nothing in return. It is testimony to the pathetic state of the taxi trade that non taxi companies can sell our services over our heads. Trade agreements operate in many areas including government contracts, competition does not mean non-co-operation.

if i work for a company i want them to get as much work as possible.
If my dues need to go up to get loads more work then i dont mind.
in fact they can double my dues if they can double my work load.
these type of cartels defend the weak operatrors and let them treat drivers as [edited by admin].

You have made a very valid point but need to expand your thinking further.
Look at how the large radio companies have evolved, in the early days a group of drivers/owners got together and realised if they co-operated they would do better, joint marketing, covering jobs for each other etc, then they grew, got radios, offices, computers and became proper companies. In the early days owner/drivers ran the companies often taking turns on control as well as driving, their primary source of income was the punters that used the taxis. That has now changed the companies are vast in comparison; no longer run by whoever was available or by a rota system of owners, now full time staff, qualified staff with business and IT skills way beyond the drivers capabillities. The staff are on a salary their income is no longer dependant of fares it comes from subscriptions and fees paid by drivers, the direct financial link between customer and company has gone. Companies are service providers to the taxi customers and to the drivers, to them both are customers they act as middlemen. Now the link has gone where do the companies look to increase revenue, more drivers more subs more income. Dereg is a dream come true, not only more drivers to sell their service to but more taxis on the road means less rank work per car so more reason to join a company to make a living. Then along comes companies such as Mediagen so the middlemen taxi companies have thier own breed of middlemen, companies that are marketing their services to the major outlets.
The taxi trade is in a feeding frenzey, a wide open sore because of internal bickering, we are so divided we have no defence. At the bottom of all this is the paying customer, fares are high because there are so many to feed. No sucessful business prices thier productor service on a Cost+ basis, they charge what the market will stand, thats the reality of business.

Short term greed, you are no better than the "cartels". If you make it so clear that you are willing to pay higher fees don't be surprised if the radio circuits take advantage of you. They are in business to make money, they do not run the circuit to make life easier for taxi drivers, everyone is getting too dependant on the radio for work, in my area the radio companies oppose any new ranks, they tell the LA ranks are not needed as the outlet can be serviced by a freephone or they setup a permit system with the site managers. They end up dominating an area and even if you dereg and issue unlimited plates that makes them even stronger, because the pressure to join up is increased by the reduction in rank work caused by the extra cars completing for it. With your outlook we all become cannon fodder.

Perhaps if drivers paid a % of their earnings instead of a flat fee, then it could work.
I wonder how many cabs would be sitting around all day on that basis. It would certainly make the firms go out and get work.

Im not so sure about that.
At the end of the day unless you get rid of standards then there will not be that many cab drivers, or they would be so already.
So if some of the PH boys go HC then really it shouldnt effect their radio work because they already are doing it.
It might effect the rank work, but if some taxis join circuits then it will leave room for some taxis to leave circuits.
I think thats what the T&G said in there report.

That still does not discourage them from pushing for more plates to be issued as they are a zreo cost item to the companies, or stop the cartels carving up the work. We need a way of linking the fee, (the companies income) to the profits of the cars not just the turnover. If on pure percentage terms eg. 10% of each job for 1000 jobs to 100 cars will not change if you add 20 cars. They would try harder to get more jobs but I don't think many drivers would want their earning so well docummented.

Nothing is sure, what I am saying is that if PH cars convert to taxis they will take some of the rank work which will increase pressure on rank taxis to join circuits to make a living there-by increasing the strength of radio circuit operators. They can then outbid small companies for freephones, and permits etc, even undercut contract work to starve out competitors, like supermarkets who sell a loaf of bread for less than the cost of making it to get customers in, then corner shops close and the supermarket dominates the area. That pattern could easily be repeated in the taxi trade. Is this the fair competition "sussex" champions, and asks if I am afraid of because I do not agree with dereg.

The taxi industry hates change, and if it does not and soon you will have competition you cant compete with.

we are at a dawn of a new age, and belive me taxis could soon be wiped out with a better, more comfortable and cheaper way home with drivers earning better wages

buck your ideas up soon sunshine, the days of punters crawling to ranks for surly expensive taxi drivers, is soon at an end.

and not b4 time.

Well im up for a bit of that. Bring it on.

But surely it should be down to the drivers to choose which way they want to work. If they can earn just out of rank work, then great. If they can't and have to join a circuit, then great.

Lets the lads decide, not out-dated flawed legislation.

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IDFIMH

Repy.
It will not be a case of "let the lads decide" it will be economic necessity, your choices are being eroded rank work is declining, cellphones, freephones, permit holder only ranks all these are contibuting to the fall in traditional taxi work.

By that comment you are assuming that you, and only you, can work out economic necessities. I believe that most drivers know what they need to earn and the best way to achieve it.

If that means driving for someone else, then fine. But let them be free to choose what they do. Is that asking too much?

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IDFIMH

Reply.
You are talking rubbish, I pointed out that our choices are becoming more limited, no-where did I say that I was the only one capable of making that descision. Is it asking too much for you not to distort for your own gratification everything anyone else says?