captain cab wrote:
both private hire and public hire vehicles are demand responsive
i believe that both are public service in jd's definition
regards
captain cab
The only difference between a Hackney carriage and a Private hire vehicle is that the Hackney carriage can pick up punters off the street. They both in theory perform the same function of carrying passengers from A to B.
Yorkie and Charlie both came to the conclusion that because a Hackney Carriage can ply for public hire on a street as defined by the relevant act and a P/H vehicle cannot, then only the Hackney should be classed as a public service vehicle. On the other hand, it has been implied that any vehicle that transports members of the public should be classed as a public service vehicle. It could be argued that because Private hire vehicles transport members of the public, they too should be included in the public transport definition?
It could also be argued that the word "Private" in Private hire suggests that the vehicle is a private conveyance. However, as I have already stated, the vehicle carries members of the public in the exact same way as a Hackney carriage carries members of the public, excepting for the provision that P/H cannot ply for public hire. So the word Private is normally associated with the way the vehicle is pre booked.
Excepting for the way the hiring is undertaken the execution of both types of Transport is exactly the same.
The problem I have with the definition provided by Yorkie and Charlie is that it may be too narrow a definition and if it was interpreted to the letter could very well exclude other forms of transport that use the pre booking system.
The whole point of my original post was to try and define the status of the Hackney Carriage. By virtue of the logic stated by Charlie and Yorkie the Hackney Carriage is a public service vehicle because of its ability to pick up passengers off the street. Their logic eliminated P/H as being a public service vehicle for the reason that P/H have to be pre booked.
Their definition is fair and one that would probably sit well with a great many people, especially those who drive Cabs. However, I hate to say this but their reasoning may be incompatible with other definitions of public transport that need to be pre booked in the same way as P/H. Do we exclude these forms of transport from the definition of public service?
If P/H is not a public service vehicle as defined by Yorkie and Charlie then does it at any stage during its journey of carrying members of the public ever become a public service vehicle? If it doesn't become a public service vehicle, then it means that at all times it remains a Private hire vehicle.
The question that really needs answering is this.
Are Hackney carriage vehicles public transport and what are the defining factors between them and private hire vehicles that exclude the Private hire vehicles from being public transport?
Yorkie and Charlie have pointed out that the defining factor is by virtue of the Hackneys ability to ply for public hire but there are many public transport mediums that don't ply for public hire, so is their logic possibly flawed?
Best wishes
JD