Taxi Driver Online

weve all mostly made complaints of too many cars private hire and blacks being on the road but in the case specifically on private hire, i believe there really are far too many. Over here in scotland the firm we drive for are actually advertising for more drivers,,there are allready 600 or so of us at this time and that is just a rough figure. Personally i think the operators are winning all the time,,we have just had the worst slump on the radio circuit i have ever seen in my short 15 months with the firm,,we struggle to make ends meet and our firm is still advertising for more drivers. they charge us 101 pounds per week for our radios,,so i guess in their eyes the more the better but i think its high time for some of them to say no more,,!!!!!!!!!!

What I would advise you and your mates to do is to share cars.

I know it doesn't always work out, and its best you get a good mate to share with, but if you can agree the hours you work, think of all the money you could save.

And think of all that money not going to the greedy operator.

_________________
IDFIMH

I presume you have a cab with one of the two BIG glasgow taxi companies.
This is when the greed comes in and to hell with the drivers.
I believe Dundee,on a smaller scale comes into this,only three major companies and one piddly one.
Fees hiked up,takes decline.
Hard life,more hours,more stress.
I.M.Jolly.

thats correct,,i am with one of the two big firms here,,the sad thing here is that in the last fare increase that we had few months back made the first mile 2.50,,but the radio went up at the same time from 89 to 101 pounds,,2-3 pounds of this increase was for advertising at the ``managements discretion``,,,a very vague term,,,so far no one has seen this company advertise ever ,,other than for more drivers ofcourse,,sucks imo,,,,

Down here in Plymouth Taxifast drivers pay the most expensive office rent in the city.

However, We see regular high profile advertising on the local radio, Sports events advertising and sponsoring, Public freephones, letterbox advertising drops and other marketing. Add in the recent huge reinvestment in the office regarding tele-ops, computers/data and radio upgrades. and we can see a return for the money we are paying each week.

Yes we pay more rent than anyone one else, but then we are more busy than anyone else by far, and a 40-60 quid a week difference in rent, compared to another office, is easily offset against extra income.
Some driver may not be too happy with paying a large amount of rent, but at least we can benifit from what it is used for.

i can see your problem Trigot, your paying the money but not getting a return. perhaps you could find you what marketing your firm have done in the past and ask if they are willing to do it again. Everyone has been in a bad slump since xmas, thing are pickig up again now and i'm sure you area will too.

share cars thats what we do at minute but our operator has just informed us that from next year sharing a car will mean double radio rent. Before you say move firms not much chance of that as he has bought up all the other firms apart from a couple who aint worth working for.

yeh steveo i hope it does soon too,,lol,,but it is a well known fact with my firm that the management is ``exceptionally bad`` at running the business side of things and this is not just my opinion as i have said, one whole part of the city is well and truly covered by the firm i drive for,,there phone number is so well established that practically every man woman and child knows the number off by heart. The drivers from that part of the city are 99 percent of times kept busy,,,however going into the south or the west of the city you can feel and see the neglect and the failure to advrtise or ``card`` etc for more business, then there are those of us who arenot given callsigns to be able to work the busier parts of the city due to a call sign allocation policy which i discussed on this forum before,,,
so it goes back to my original point of why the hell are we being charged for advertising when infact none has ever been done and hasnt up untill this point and dont think there is any intention to do so either, this is what happens when operators get too big and too big headed,,they end up taking there eyes of the ball and as always its us drivers that suffer. Untill we keep paying our radio dues up front in advance each week, it is the duty of the operator to do everything within its power to ensure we have as much visible advertising as possible to ensure we have a fair chance to make a living within this trade.

seems like a classic case of biting the hand that feeds. surely they are going to loose driver who are allocated those neglected areas? without the drivers they wont cover the work at busy times and giving away fares and future customers to the competition. not to mention the drop in rent revenue.

What.

I'm now concerned, looks like Sussex is having a breakdown, sharing cars heaven forbid you shopuld all have one each surely.

B. Lucky

If your the biggest firm though Steve it won't effect you.

As a PH myself I know the problem. Truth is most PH firms do not really give a monkeys what you earn another subs radio equals more money. Another aspect is that they decide they need something, say a new despatch system, and simply work out the drivers needed to pay for it. In short over simplified and unprofessional management, often by drivers themselves in authority !! I have been trying to tell my firm for years as they build up and immediately lose again. Problem for current drivers is often too big a "pool" of unsuspecting new drivers wishing to join., which decreases ours say. However, if they go overboard vote with your feet and walk. The vast majority of towns will always have another firm to go to. The real answer in my opinion is to monitor your business properly and set on "necessary" drivers. However, is is the same basic problem as with the OFT on de-limit. Trying to "stock" for the busiest times is economic lunacy. Trouble with our trade is an extra driver makes raher than costs money. If they had to pay wages they would be a lot less keen to recruit more new starts !!