Taxi Driver Online

The Olympic spirit of taking us all for a ride

11 Nov 2011

As if we sports agnostics haven't suffered enough! Next year's Olympics are already going to cause huge traffic congestion, lights out in West End theatres, a security nightmare and an orgy of nauseating self-congratulation.

Londoners have to bankroll this £9 billion extravaganza through our council tax - yet few us will gain admission to what is being billed as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

But now we have to steel ourselves for yet another bombshell: black cab fares are set to rise by 22 per cent during the Games.

Passengers anywhere within the M25 face paying extra if Boris Johnson gives in to cabbies' demands in return for them not boycotting the Olympics. Tube drivers have already negotiated a bonus of £1,200 simply for turning up to work during the Olympics, to prevent them from going on strike. Now black cab drivers are resorting to similar blackmail.

Doesn't it make you proud to be British? So much for the Olympic spirit of fair play.

Why do they need extra money just to do their jobs? The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, which represents 9,000 cab drivers, says its members want compensation for the inconvenience of driving on clogged streets and that they need an inducement not to take summer holidays during the Games.

They can all go on holiday as far as I am concerned. To Greece, I suggest. Their collective tips could go some way to balance that country's budget.

The Olympics should be a cause for celebration, not a cynical attempt to rip us all off. The Games should define the city where they are held, but so far the prevailing sentiment displayed by cabbies and Tube drivers is one of greed.

The Olympics have become a tawdry, money-grabbing spectacle, and they are now being used as an opportunity to hold the public to ransom. They say every cloud has a silver lining. This Olympian cloud has a gold, silver and bronze lining - if you can blackmail the authorities to cough up.

The Tube drivers have already lost a lot of public goodwill: their demands can only hasten the introduction of driverless trains. Some say we should call the bluff of black cab drivers and let them boycott the Games. We can always use public transport or unlicensed cabs if we need to get around.

The truth is that most well-fed Olympic officials will have their own private limousines or else huge expense accounts, so increased cab fares won't make a jot of difference to them. Yet again it is ordinary Londoners who will suffer.

Black cabbies should be careful what they wish for. Or else we could soon be clamouring for driverless cabs.

Source; http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... -a-ride.do


ALSO;


London Cabbies don't deserve 2012 fares premium

Evening Standard comment
11 Nov 2011

The details of Transport for London's proposed Olympic premium on black cab fares risks angering Londoners and visitors to the capital alike. The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, which represents more than a third of black cab drivers, has demanded a rise in fares of around 20 per cent during the Olympic and paralympic Games next summer, to compensate for the inconvenience of traffic congestion and VIP lanes. The LTDA justifies the premium largely on the grounds that Tube drivers negotiated a £1,200 no-strike bonus for the Games. It has now emerged that the premium will apply everywhere inside the M25, and come on top of an expected 5.2 per cent increase in fares next April.

London's black cabs are an iconic part of the capital's streets and their drivers' knowledge justly famed. But they have already become expensive. To add to the cost of fares so heftily during the Games will hardly help London's image as a tourist destination. Congestion during the games will be a temporary inconvenience for many Londoners, simply an unavoidable price for hosting such a major event. Those London workers who prefer to flee the city during the Games can do so if they choose but they should not - as the LTDA has - ransom their services.

The demand for this fares premium is now a decision for TfL and for the Mayor. With this demand, Boris Johnson's rash decision to bow to the Tube unions is already coming back to haunt him. If he gives into the taxi drivers, where will the demands from transport and other workers end? The decision is now his.

Source; http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... premium.do

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

How to screw the London Cab Trade in one easy lesson!!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Bad PR for the London cab trade.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

And folks will think fares are shooting up even if they don't.

Still at least Mr Griffin will be happy.

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IDFIMH

First of all NO ONE has demanded anything of the sort, its the usual right wing taxi hating Evening Standard trying to inflame it's right wing readers with their 'outraged from Osterly' views.

TFL are SERIOUSLY concerned that the majority of Taxis are going to avoid the Olympics, because of the utter chaos and gridlock which will shut London down for almost 2 months, and who could blame them? (us)

Every other city that has hosted games, be it Olympic or Commonwealth etc, seems to have seen little increase in trade as everyone travels by the extra public transport that has been laid on. So lots of cabbies are simply going on their hols!

So it was SUGGESTED an extra financial reward, just like the RMT negotiated for their tube workers, and the Bus drivers union negotiated for them, was implemented to encourage more drivers out, just like we have rate 3 during the night. TFL agreed to look at it and hold a consultation, but I can't see it going anywhere.
And that's it.

We are demanding more access to the ORN, and yes, we will hold more demo's in relation to that.

Put it this way, even it's a 50% increase, it'll be 50% of nothing for me, I'll be out of here next year.

Their concerns weren't exactly calmed by the comments from Mr Oddy.

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IDFIMH

But if you're going to cause even more chaos and gridlock during the Olympics then wouldn't it be better for all concerned if you all went on holiday?

well if its the gridlock that might be the problem how about an increase in waiting time but leave the mileage rate alone that will compensate for less fares surely ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

If TfL are a bit afraid of there being no cabs available next summer, they should mention the words 'speedy knowledge' or let the yellows in to cover for their green brothers.

Cos a 22% increase isn't justified, and merely confirms exactly why they aren't the best in the world.

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IDFIMH

Perhaps greed does define it?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

But if some of them go on holiday then those left behind will get more jobs.

Sorted

You mean the request for rate 3 all day, just like we have every night of the week, and every public holiday?

Earlier you quoted it as a sugestion. Now it is a request. How long before it was a demand?

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Grandad,

The London taxi trade seem to think that they are untouchable...................so did the Miners!! Do not make it that they take you on, because when they start they will not want to lose and it will gradually fragment your trade unity.

Leave well alone ! You are on a good thing for most years with plenty of work.

The rest of us cannot say that - and believe me when I tell you, it is not sour grapes from me - just do not rock the boat as you are all proving that you are making plenty of money just by saying that you can go on holiday at a drop of a hat.

A few heads need knocking there

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

So folks going home from work should pay the pi** head rate?

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IDFIMH