Taxi Driver Online

APPENDIX 2

ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT DEMAND FOR TAXI SERVICES IN EDINBURGH


1.BACKGROUND.

There was no limit on the number of taxi licences in Edinburgh until 1990, when it was decided to introduce a limit of 1,030. Matters were reviewed in 1993 and 1995 and the limit was raised by 181. In 2001, the limit was increased by a further 49, to 1260. Following a survey in 2005, the Council decided that there was no evidence of significant demand for taxis which was unmet and resolved not to issue any new licences at that time.

In February 2007, the Council considered an update on the 2005 Survey, involving stance surveys and questionnaires to stakeholders, and concluded that that there was no significant demand for taxi services which was unmet. On 25th October 2007, the Council reaffirmed its existing policy to restrict the number of taxi licences issued to 1260 and instructed the Director of Corporate Services to commission a comprehensive report on taxi demand approximately every three years.

In July 2008, Halcrow Group Limited, transportation consultants, was commissioned to carry out a survey as to the demand for taxi services in the city. Their final report was issued in July 2009 and was based on rank observations between August 2008 and May 2009 and interviews and surveys conducted between November 2008 and March 2009. Halcrow concluded that there was evidence that a significant demand for taxi services which is unmet and suggested that 30 new taxi licences be issued to meet this demand.

The conclusions of the Halcrow report were accepted by the Council’s Regulatory Committee on 28th August 2009.
.
Large scale surveys by consultants such as Halcrow are obtained every three years. An invitation for tenders for a new survey is about to be issued with the report expected in the summer of 2012. To provide demand information between large surveys, smaller rank observation surveys are carried out by Count on Us Ltd. These are supplemented by information on response times from taxi booking offices. These are collated onto reports by the Taxi Monitoring Officer including other information such as complaints from the public as to lack of taxis.

Since August 2009, the Regulatory Committee has noted reports from the Taxi Monitoring Officer at the following meetings –

13 August 2010 – For Period January to June 2010
3 December 2010 – For period July to October 2010



2.REPORT BY FORMER TAXI MONITORING OFFICER

A report was prepared by the Taxi Monitoring Officer for the period November 2010 to January 2011. A copy of the report is attached as Appendix 2A. This report was to have been presented to the Regulatory Committee on 22 May 2011, but, due to changes in approval of such reports by the then Acting Director of Corporate Services, could not be placed before the Regulatory Committee.


3.STANCE OBSERVATION SURVEYS.

Count on Us Limited provided the results of a stance surveys between February and June 2011. A selection of representative ranks was observed on different days and times. 1,492 journeys were recorded. A summary of the results are shown on Appendix 2B.

The passenger wait times are comparable to previous stance surveys –


Numbers Waiting /Hires
Max Wait



Apr-May 2010
136/726 (18%)
10:10
Oct 2010
36/222 (16%)
6:16
Nov 2010 – Jan 2011
459/1103 (41%)
21:37
Feb – Jun 2011
174/1566 (11%)
17:13

The Taxi Monitoring Officer’s report for November 2010 to January 2011 considered that the number of passengers observed waiting for taxis was higher in November/January due to the severe winter weather in December 2010.

4.INFORMATION FROM TAXI BOOKING OFFICES.

Response information to telephone bookings has been provided by Central Radio Taxis (Tollcross) Ltd and City Cabs (Edinburgh) Ltd for the period July to September 2011. These are in Appendix 2C.

These returns indicate the major taxi radio booking offices in Edinburgh have been able to supply around 98% of requests for taxis within 15 minutes of the call being received. Given the likely time required for the taxi to reach the passengers location, this would indicate a sufficient number of taxis are available to meet demand.

5.OTHER INFORMATION.

No complaints have been received by the Licensing Team this year from members of the public complaining as to a lack of taxis.

6.CONCLUSIONS.

Although there appear to remain to be peaks of demand at certain times and locations, it is considered that there is no evidence of significant unmet demand overall for taxi services.

The stance observations indicate that 89% of passengers at ranks were able to obtain a taxi immediately.

The average waiting times for main city centre ranks at daytime were either non existent or not excessive (Waverly Bridge - 2 minutes 20 seconds, 2 minutes 10 seconds and High Street - None and 2 minutes 44 seconds).

Wait times to obtain a taxi were slightly longer at evening/early mornings than day time. However, at the major city centre ranks, many passengers were still able to obtain a taxi immediately. Of those who had to wait, the wait time is not considered too excessive eg Waverly Bridge 21.00 to 23.00 on Sat 26 March – 1minute 28 seconds, High Street 2.00 to 4.00 on Saturday 4 June – 3 minutes 58 seconds, Lothian Road 2.00 to 4.00 on Saturday 4 June – 2minutes 24 seconds.

The waiting times for the Waverly Bridge stance between 3.00am to 5.00am are higher with an average wait time of 7minutes 59 seconds and a maximum wait time of 17 minutes 13 seconds. However, these results were based on only 23 passengers and, of these, 12 were able to obtain a taxi immediately. It is suggested that this result may not be significant given the low numbers of passengers involved.

No complaints have been received from the public as to a lack of taxis this year.

Taxi booking office response rates appear to remain very high.

A further 12 taxis have just become operational to meet demand.

Taking all of the above factors into account, it is concluded that no significant demand for taxi services which remains unmet at this time.



Donald Macleod
Principal Solicitor (Licensing)
12 December 2011



ReportNewTaxisJTurnbullRMackie141211Appendix2

IN short what you have to establish is

Can the council legally rufuse your liecence because there is now no demand

or do they have to consider it as it was on the date of application

Which one is correct???

Submission to the licensing sub committee on the 14th Dec 2011

in support of an application for a new taxi licence in the name Mrs jacqueline Turnbull
.

Firstly id like to come to the objection by Mr Mackie to Mrs Turnbull application
I would like to point out that the applicant currently before this committee has never held a taxi licence in her own name.
Therefore Mr Mackie objection appears to one of association with another,further it has now transpired that Mr Mackie is also an applicant for a licence.
I submit to the committee that Mr Mackie objection is nothing more than a frivolous case of sour grapes that another applicant applied before him

on the 23rd June 2011 Mrs Turnbull applied for a taxi licence,at the time of application the current number of taxi's in Edinburgh was 1295,one below the councils adopted policy of 1296 as a result of the 2009 halcrow survey it is reasonable for the applicant to expect that that the application would simply have been granted.,and every indication was there in both the legislation and case law to say that it should be granted.
I doubt that sec.10.3 of the cgsa applies if the number of taxi's is below the local authority's own cap limit. it certainly doesn't apply on a deemed grant from a sheriff

appointments were given by the council that the application would be heard at the licensing sub committee in September 2011,October 2011 and November 2011,all of these were subsequently canceled by the council.
It is the belief of Mrs Turnbull that this was a deliberate attempt to ensure that the demand that was clearly their on application would be taken up and hopefully nullified by the sheriff's granting of licenses in the case of Kenneth Donald vs city of Edinburgh council ,it would appear that the council are trying to apply a deemed grant of a licence by a sheriff retrospectively in order to deny the grant of a licence.
It should be noted that Mrs Turnbull applied before the council dropped their appeal in the Donald case.

the interim data supplied in appendix 2 contains data from apr-may 2010,Oct 2010,Nov 2010 through to Jan 2011.
further raw data is supplied from count on us uk(a traffic counting company)from Feb 2011 to the beginning of June 2011, it should be noted that this data has not been analysed and compiled into a proper survey as such should be taken as it is,uninterpreted data.

These interim surveys contain data that is 12 to 18 months old and can only be described as historical data at best,and should not be relied upon as an accurate up to date indicator of current demand when reaching a decision on an application.
Furthermore the analysis of this type of data,and compiling it into a usable survey is a highly complex matter,and with the best of intentions and with respect, I feel that Mr McLeod and Mr Lang would admit themselves that they are not qualified in this field of expertise.

The data supplied by the three major taxi companies is uncorroborated.
these companies who have a vested interest in stopping further licences being put on in Edinburgh,they have employed a legal team to object to every application that has come before this committee in recent years.
Also on the last outsourced survey in 2009 (halcrow) these radio companies submitted a lengthy document and representation from the author, at the meeting in august 2009 supplied by a mathematics professor at an Edinburgh university if my memory serves me right,the findings in this report were the opposite of the halcrow report.

Taking these factors into consideration I feel that it would be unwise for the committee to rely on any data supplied by these companies,as there is no way to verify the information supplied.
And the suppliers of this data have stated publicly that they object to more licences going on,.hardly an unbiased position and the committee should be made aware of this.

I ask that the committee use their discretion in this matter wisely and grant the application.

Many thanks
j Turnbull
5 great carleton square
Edinburgh
eh164tw

he did admit that he gave me appiontments from august to nov at the regulatory committee and said we should have dealt with it earlier,the reason staff shortages.
im defo appealing it