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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:24 pm 
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'No more new taxis,' says Cardiff Council

Cardiff Council decided to limit the number of taxis in the city following a survey which showed an excess supply for the demand

Posted by Hannah Waldram Tuesday 30 March 2010 14.06 BST
guardian.co.uk

No new licences for taxis in Cardiff will be granted after the council today decided to cap the number of taxis in the city.

The decision is welcomed by black and white taxi drivers, who have held a year-long campaign to stop new licences being granted by Cardiff Council. Read the background and my report from the last meeting Read the background and my report from the last meeting here.

A temporary moratorium was put on new applications for taxi licences earlier this month. The public protection committee was waiting for the completion of a survey conducted this year to find out if numbers of independent taxis and Hackney carriages in the city exceeded the demand. Following the results of the survey, the committee was satisfied a limit on the number of taxis in Cardiff was needed.

Government guidance advises city councils to veer away from limiting the number of taxis in cities – and Cardiff will be in the minority going against the recommendation for delimitation. But the survey found 875 hackney carriages more than catered for a population the size of Cardiff.

Councillor Asghar Ali said: "We have got more than enough supply of taxis in the city and we have seen what was said at the last meeting. The number of taxis with licences has more than doubled in the last five years."

The council must now hold a separate hearing for 10 taxi drivers who applied for licences in the interim period between the moratorium and the decision to limit the number of new licences.

Mathab Khan, chairman of the hackney carriage association who first applied to the council to review their delimitation policy, said:

"This should've happened about two years ago. It's late, but it's better than never. It will take 15 years for the number of taxis to represent the population according to data in the survey, so I hope it's a long time before the council decide to take the cap off."

Philip Boots, an independent taxi driver who has worked in Cardiff for the last 30 years, said: "Taxi licences were being given out freely, but now they have rubber stamped the decision from the last meeting, but we don't know how long they will block new licences.


"It's removed a lot of uncertainty for independent drivers, and means we'll go back to making a better living."

The survey

The study looked at taxi ranks and public attitudes towards the numbers of taxis. Results showed there was always an excess supply of taxis at ranks to meet the demand – particularly around Cardiff Central station. The study recommended the number of hackney carriage licences be capped. You can read the study in full here.

There has been a huge increase in the number of hackney carriage licences in the city from 480 in 2002. Now there are currently 875 hackney carriages operating in the city, alongside 865 private hire licensed vehicles. The population of Cardiff was last reported at 305,000 people (2001 census), which equates to one hackney carriage per 359 people. Bigger cities like Birmingham have one hackney carriage per 726 people – which means there are a lot more carriages in Cardiff than there needs to be.

The study also found taxis on Saunders Road outside Cardiff Central Station often had to wait 48 minutes at weekends to pick up a new passenger.

The survey also questioned 1,000 members of the public in February 2010. Some respondents said they had to wait two hours at a taxi rank – but the majority caught taxis straight away. In general, people were satisfied with taxi services in the city, and were unaware there was a problem with surplus numbers of taxis in the city

source; http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2010/ ... ssociation


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:38 pm 
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captain cab wrote:

The decision is welcomed by black and white taxi drivers.......,


Do the guardianistas really mean that?????????????????


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:42 pm 
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captain cab wrote:
No new licences for taxis in Cardiff will be granted after the council today decided to cap the number of taxis in the city.

The Equalities Bill might have a say on that. :wink:

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:28 pm 
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Sussex wrote:
captain cab wrote:
No new licences for taxis in Cardiff will be granted after the council today decided to cap the number of taxis in the city.

The Equalities Bill might have a say on that. :wink:


Will it be translated in to welsh?


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:28 pm 
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Sussex wrote:
captain cab wrote:
No new licences for taxis in Cardiff will be granted after the council today decided to cap the number of taxis in the city.

The Equalities Bill might have a say on that. :wink:


In about 10 years time..... :roll: :wink:


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 1:30 am 
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cabbyman wrote:
captain cab wrote:

The decision is welcomed by black and white taxi drivers.......,


Do the guardianistas really mean that?????????????????



Lol, having said that we are pretty liberal down here but they are referring to the livery that the cabs operate under i.e "White Bonnets" and the rest of the cab "Black"............hence Black & Whites OR a Black & White..............cab of course :)

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:13 am 
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captain cab wrote:
The study looked at taxi ranks and public attitudes towards the numbers of taxis. Results showed there was always an excess supply of taxis at ranks to meet the demand – particularly around Cardiff Central station. The study recommended the number of hackney carriage licences be capped.

How can any survey show a true representation of the trade by surveying in January and February? [-X

Why not do the survey in November and December? :roll: :roll:

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:46 am 
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Sussex wrote:
captain cab wrote:
The study looked at taxi ranks and public attitudes towards the numbers of taxis. Results showed there was always an excess supply of taxis at ranks to meet the demand – particularly around Cardiff Central station. The study recommended the number of hackney carriage licences be capped.

How can any survey show a true representation of the trade by surveying in January and February? [-X

Why not do the survey in November and December? :roll: :roll:

When we had our last survey in Brum, it was split over two periods. The first part was done in November 2007 & the second half was conducted in February/March 2008.

We all thought that was a reasonable way of coming to a fair conclusion.

But any SUD survey in the present economic climate will come up with the same result.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:35 pm 
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Quote:
How can any survey show a true representation of the trade by surveying in January and February?


From our point of view surely it is to our benefit that it is done during a quieter period as opposed to a busier time leading up to and including Christmas :?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:49 pm 
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I believe they have a mixed fleet of Hackneys in Cardiff & if their 'proportions' ain't right when the Minister sets them under the Equality Bill / Act, then this limit on numbers won't last long.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 6:27 pm 
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cabby john wrote:
Quote:
How can any survey show a true representation of the trade by surveying in January and February?


From our point of view surely it is to our benefit that it is done during a quieter period as opposed to a busier time leading up to and including Christmas :?

Of course it will benefit the existing trade, but the survey is meant to be independent and fair to all.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:12 pm 
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Quote:
Of course it will benefit the existing trade, but the survey is meant to be independent and fair to all.


In a fair world you might be right, but what exactly do you mean?

Before you answer........ In this particular case pick any month you like and the result would be the same.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:02 pm 
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cabby john wrote:
Before you answer........ In this particular case pick any month you like and the result would be the same.

December? :?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:48 pm 
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Next page :oops:

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:50 pm 
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cabby john wrote:
Sussex wrote:
cabby john wrote:
Before you answer........ In this particular case pick any month you like and the result would be the same.

December? :?


Certain nights most definitely, and an answer to my ? "but what exactly do you mean" would be appreciated.

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