Taxi Driver Online

Every so often,(and it's getting more & more often), the Council carry out surveys which suggest there's a S.U.D. and they issue more Plates. That seems reasonable,eh?. Mair' Taxis on the road, less waiting time for the Public. Erm.. well, no really, and I'll tell you why. There's plenty of Taxis in Edinburgh!. In fact there's far too many!. I don't know exactly what the stats are, but since I started in the Trade, (13 years ago), the amount of Hacks & particullarly the P.H. has rocketed. Meanwhile the population of Edinburgh has stayed pretty much the same. This means there's mair' of us competing and providing a service, which has resulted in us all earning less money, in real terms. Issuing more Plates will never deal wae' this imaginairy S.U.D. (which by the way lasts a maximum of 4 hours at the Weekends, and I'm talking about end of the Month Weekends). The only way is to get Owners/Drivers to work at these times. The Council can issue as many Plates as they want but if people choose not to work at these times then whats the point!. How do we get people to work at these times?. Well, I know that the Council are considering a "Party Tariff", (I personally think this would be a P.R. disaster for the Trade), but some thing has to be done. Why not make it a condition of the Licence that people within the Trade have to make sure that they or their drivers have to work their fair share of these hours. ( Pubs & Clubs' opening/working hours have conditions attatched ).
Maybe this wouldn't be feasible, for all I know, (and that's no' very much, by the way), it might even be illegal, (there are a few Barrack-room Lawyers on this Forum that'll keep me right I'm sure) but issuing more Plates is def not the answer.

I would have thought with the extortionate rentals a driver has to pay they would be sleeping in the cabs if its that bad

And thereby hangs the tail John.

PH numbers have rocketed.

Why do you think this is?

Pin back your lugs and I'll tell you.

PH is unrestricted, It recognises demand and adds cars to its fleet to meet it.

Meanwhile, our hacks, which are restricted, do a SUD, by which time PH has met the increased demand, no taxis needed.

In my 17 years in the trade taxis have gone from 1030 to around 1400 now, an increase of 30%.

PH have risen from around 200 to nearly 1000, an increase of 500%.

Dougie's status quo has delivered growth for us of 30%, PH 500%. That's what you're defending.

Unchecked, if we continue to restrict, we're heading for Glasgow where there are 2.5 times more PH than hacks. For Edinburgh that would mean 3500 PH. This what you want? It's where Dougie wants to take us with his medalliuon shecht.

What does this mean?

PH are setting the agenda. In a lot of the public's mind the price for the fare is 30% less than we charge. PH is setting that price.

We've lost the critical mass that allowed us to set the agenda. We need to get this back.

As things stand, we're giving our work away.

We want to retrieve the critical mass. For our trade to take back control.

What do you want John?



BTW I'm well known. I usually rank at Mood. I'd have no difficulty discussing any of this with you.

Or anyone else for that matter.

We need to get control of our trade back.

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Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

You give a brief outline as to why the survey system is flawed, unfortunately for some that's the way it is. Get rid of the flawed survey system and you will have a very happy Mr Skull and Mr Jasbar. There is no other option.

However in your views you miss the biggest flaw of the survey system, and that's how does SUD get addressed in an area like yours, as any driver that gets a plate is already meeting existing demand.

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IDFIMH

PH will add cars to it's fleet regardless of demand. They're only interested in their own pockets, the more drivers the more money they have. This is particularly relevant in large cities and towns, restricted or otherwise especially if the requirement for a HC plate is a purpose built WAV.

It really doesn't matter what your opinion is regarding restriction or derestriction if there are 1000's of plates issued for taxis and they don't want to work those unsocial hours at a weekend and deal with difficult customers there is always going to be an unmet demand and there is always going to be a risk to public safety.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

PH will attempt to add cars to it's fleet regardless of demand. A driver will only stay in the business if it is economical for him/her to do so. The same laws of supply and demand will apply to the operator's efforts to build his fleet as rule the rest of us.

PH circuits will increase thier fleets just to rent out another radio/data units at £50-£150 per week regardless of what work they have...

....And that driver will stay as long as he can afford the fees. The good ones retain drivers and woirk. The bad ones don't.

ive heard some horror stories

Birmingham PH, a 59 plate VW transporter LWB £350 PW (4 years)....

Drivers last tax return showed £6000 nett taxable profit (nd about right)

Question for J T, how do we get more Taxis on the streets at these so called, "Busy times". Your argument, in short, is De-restrict. Eh?.... Read my post again, ( I won't ask You to, "Pin back your lugs"), (I found it a wee bit uncomfortable, and frankly, quite unnecessary whilst reading...). You go ahead though mate, if You want to, ( Whae' what I've heard..... i.e. the pair o' lugs you've got, I'm ah' right in saying there would be 'Guy-ropes' involved)?. Anyway, my argument was that there was already plenty of Taxis, but how do we get them working, instead of "Parked up", on the Qwners' driveways at 2.00 am Sat/ Sun?.

Increase the fare ,you have to make it worthwhile for drivers wanting to work the unsociable hours and unsociable people.Worse since they changed licensing hours you got to work till 6 in the morning to earn money.

In most towns (other than outside pubs/nightclubs at kicking out times) private hire (and those hacks who join PH on circuits) is King because they can be summoned by phone

thos towns with few ranks, small ranks and ranks away from the eats+drinks areas are dead ducks

technology has moved on since the war

In theory yes you're right. In practise you're very wrong. The PH driver will just work longer and longer hours to make ends meet. In a lot cases it's that or the dole queue and a lot people have a lot of pride and would prefer longer hours rather than join the dole queues. I'm not comparing the small operators in rural or semi rural areas here I'm talking about the operators in the large towns and cities. You only have to look at Delta for the prime example (that's probably not the best example on reflection cos I think they're a restricted area). Derestriction on it's own will not stem the growth of PH. We're derestricted, our PH have the same conditions and regulations prior to license to that of HC and still PH grows. You might wonder why and it's simply because of the WAV requiremnent and the lack of road work. The vast majority of the HCs here are on the PH circuits, pay all that money for a WAV then do PH work, go figure

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Let's think, artificial shortage premium, how much should driver's pay for rentals or plates? Isn't this what we are talking about? I think we can forget about service to the public, the longer they queue the more a plate or rental is worth. Well, someone has to pay for it, either that, or they can phone for a Ph. Until the market is swamped with Ph, taking up the demand that taxis refuse to meet in a bid to protect vested interests.

Inequality, discrimination and exploitation appear to be the cornerstones of any good restriction policy. After all, you can't have anyone challenging a system that turns qualified drivers or the public into commodities to be bought and sold between vested interests.

Silly, I nearly forgot. This is all about protecting the public and the drivers from themselves, for the good, of the trade.


De-restriction might not be a panacea for all that ills the taxi trade but rest assured, it's a great leveler.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Lets say you get the derestriction you value so much. Do you think the public will be served any better at 4am on Sunday after a night out? Ok it may create a more level playing field, I'm not entirely convinced it does however but lets say it does, what do you think is going to happen in Edinburgh?

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!