Ain't gonna happen
Or, in fact, about as likely as Jim Button's cross-border plan being implemented (ie effectively every licensing authority in England agreeing that one will become the de facto national regulator). Or as likely as that London HCD badges will become as valuable as New York medallions (my prediction - London HCD badges will always be worth zero
).Anyway, read that the other night, and intended wittering on about it a bit, but can't be bothered now, and can't be bothered going back and reading it
But even if it was implemented, I just don't think it would work - it's a bit like my old argument of saying that if you double HC fares then that'll mean twice as much taking for drivers at the end of their shift. No.
So it's maybe the obverse of that - minimum fares would mean retaining more drivers, and less demand. So drivers might end up back where the started.
But that's maybe the clue to it all, and there's maybe a clue about it too in the stuff about supermarkets and waiters etc - it's not about pricing, or whatever, and more about the labour market stuff. It's a bit like saying that if a supermarket sells apples or brocolli for 10p then the shop workers will earn jack. Er, no.
By the same token, it's like saying that if a hotel is charging £500 a night then the porters will be earning an absolute fortune. Er, no - they're paid according to what the labour market pays them.
Also the stuff in the piece about dead time and dead mileage - er, isn't that the way the HC side has always worked? So whether PH fares are regulated or not, I can't really see the point about all that, in terms of basic economics as least.
Also interesting was the very vague reference to the Supreme Court decision and to whom it applied, which I couldn't understand. Then, of course (silly me), why would the vice chair of the nation's most prominent legacy trade representative organisation be a bit vague about the applicability of the supreme court's decision?
He does make some good points about the Supreme Court's decision only applying to loaded miles, or whatever, but this has been pretty evident ever since the judgement, and it's surely now simply more a case of what can be done about it, if anything?
And I'd guess his suggestion is likely to go down like a lead balloon with the vast majority of his members, so kudos for that
(Also, as per previous stuff, I'm not sure at all what the reference to peer-to-peer apps was all about? Excuse my ignorance, but aren't all apps peer-to-peer, or is it, er, just the peer-to-peer apps?
Or, I mean, maybe peer-to-peer means the same as 'ride-hailing', and is just really a meaningless term meant to mean app-only providers, rather than app bookings via legacy firms, or whatever?Or even assuming 'peer-to-peer' doesn't just confuse matters, maybe it's yet another term used to make it sound like the app-only platforms are fundamentally different to the likes of Delta and Veezu, while in reality all that's different is the peer-to-peer stuff, or whatever that means. Presumably
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