Taxi Driver Online

Private-Hire drivers to stage convoy through Manchester in protest at bus-lane ban


Derek Brocklehurst, secretary of the Manchester Private Hire Association, says the demo is aiming to get drivers a 'level playing field' with black cab operators.

A huge convoy of private-hire cars is to bring chaos to the streets of Manchester in protest at being barred from bus lanes.

Private-hire drivers are furious that black cabs can use the lanes but they can not.

Transport bosses say the rules are necessary because private hire vehicles are not always clearly marked, making enforcement difficult. They also say any change would cause more congestion.

But private-hire firms claim that is ‘scaremongering’ and say lifting the ban would help hard-pressed drivers and passengers, too.

Now a group of drivers has decided to hold a protest on May 16. They will drive from the Etihad Stadium to Manchester town hall in a convoy at 11am.

Organisers claim hundreds of drivers are likely to take part.

Derek Brocklehurst, secretary of the Manchester Private Hire Association, said: “What we are trying to do is get a level playing field with black cabs.

“We carry about 40 million people in Greater Manchester each year, which is a phenomenal number.

“With an ageing population, a lot of people use us because they have mobility problems and struggle to get on the bus or drive.

“But we are finding problems because there are 254 miles of bus lanes, running past medical centres, pharmacies, hotels and so on, where we can’t pick them up or drop them off, which is a great disadvantage to us.

“Sometimes we can’t get our customers to health appointments because we are stuck in traffic when bus lanes are empty.”

Bus lane rules vary across the country. Councils such as Liverpool and Warrington allow private-hire cars to use them, while in London they are banned.

Mr Brocklehurst added: “Some 59 councils nationally allow private-hire cars in bus lanes.

“All we get from the transport authorities is that it will clog up the bus lanes but that’s just scaremongering.”

Michael Renshaw, Transport for Greater Manchester’s bus and rail director, said bus lane enforcement was down to local councils and the police.

But he added: “For the bus network to avoid congestion and get passengers from A to B efficiently, bus lanes need to be as clear as possible of general traffic, particularly during peak times.

“Opening up the bus lanes to private-hire vehicles as well as the licensed hackney carriages currently permitted would increase bus lane congestion and could potentially have an impact on the reliability and punctuality of bus services – services which are heavily relied upon by people accessing work, education and healthcare.”

source: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... s-lane-ban

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

Nice comment on MEN website;

Jack Jones (30/04/2012 at 09:16)


I wonder how many private hire drivers would turn up for this protest if they thought that officials from HMRC were waiting to check their official status at the Etihad stadium?

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

"Power to the People"...................................................who drive PH vehicles

looks like that taxi has been super imposed

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

And very empty...

Funny how PH has such a voice of equality but never plays by the rules isn't it, how about they stop theiving work that they aren't designated for, if the Hack sat outside their office touting they'd throw a hissy yet feel it's ok to do it by a rank,

Anyway the basic reason a Hack is allowed things a PH isn't is because of how the two were set up to be, a Hack i.e TAXI real TAXI, is seen alongside the buses as public transport, where PH is basically dial a ride and thus not really pubic transport in the same light, if it wants to be public transport then it needs to fit meters and have it's scale set by the council not by the undercutting whip cracker who bought a job lot of radio's,

Basically speaking as one who has been on both sides of things PH is like the younger brother trying to outdo the older brother, it sat quite happy with it's lot until it got larger, now it has it's stick out and will sink to any level to get it's own way, I'll never take PH seriously until it's run properly by proper people because as far as I can see all it is now is master and slave and no wonder so many PH drivers would like to jump ship if they could, but without realising by doing so they will flood and sink the other ship completely, what needs to happen is for PH drivers to break away from these large companies and set up 50 unit firms themselves, get their radio charges down significantly, have the choice of setting a contract price to accounts rather than do a £3 job that costs £2.20 to do etc, get rid of the master and have a say in how things are in your own co-op firm, the customer will benefit as the rogue driver will become obvious and the customer base will warm to regular faces, the way it is now everyone is a number and some of those numbers aren't really suitable full stop.

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/directory_ ... er_licence

TBH Manchesters standards are not brilliant, but ok.

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/download/. ... sion_guide

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/egov_downl ... aining.pdf

http://rainycityripoff.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... ation.html

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

LAP/12/11 Hackney Carriage and Private Hire driver training and assessment

A report was submitted which provided an update on the progress of the Council review of driver training. The report provided information on the current review on taxi licensing being undertaken by the Law Commission and the need to consider the outcomes of that review before any recommendations are made to the Committee in relation to the driver training review.

Decision

To note the report

To defer any further consideration of the driver training review until the next meeting in June when the outcome of the Law Commission review should be known.

pmsl....cop out with the dsa test!

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

I disagree...and so does the SNP's Kenny MacAskill in his publication

"Taxi and Private Hire Car Licensing: Best Practice Guidance For Licensing authourities."


He writes:

"Taxis and private hire cars play an essential part in local
transport networks, filling gaps in overall public transport
provision,"

And that puts us on par with Hacks in my view on the Public Transport front.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0039/00391287.pdf

Why? cos one man wrote it?


Can't you see by allowing any large PH fleet it will saturate a bus lane Blooders?

I know you are a PH driver so naturally you want an easier life, I understand that, but why should someone like myself who gets to use the lanes want to risk losing that because a bus can no longer beat the traffic due to 6 PHC being in the lane with him, how it currently works is there's never any more than one or two hacks in a bus lane with the busses so we co-exist, if PH is allowed to join they will simply rape the priviledge like they rape everything else, and for me the fact John Griffen is now getting shown who really has the bigger stick is a move in the right direction, you personally might be a stand up fella, but the organisation you work within is anything but stand up, it's become a simple common thief tbh.

I guess the bus operators said exactly the same about Taxis...but it Didn't.

I don't believe they did tbh, the stip was livery and colour scheme, guess who abuses the system though, yep PH, every so often one uses the lane, although I've not seen it in recent mths so maybe a gentle warning has gone around, mind you we had an immigrant on the rank in his PHC the other day, ended up nose to nose with my mate when he asked him to get off the rank, most insistant he was a cab driver and entitled.

You mean a bit like Manchesters PH livery and clour scheme for PH?

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

[/quote]You mean a bit like Manchesters PH livery and clour scheme for PH? [/quote]


Have they got one CC, it's volume that kills the whole idea, there are simply too many of them to allow them into a bus lane, and you know Mr Dumbass will then start picking up and dropping off in the lane cos it's his right to be there, they f everything up in the trade, it's like a spoilt kid that wants more all the time, or it is locally anyway.

Yes, Manchesters PHV's have to look as follows;




Manchester private hire cars must be either white or silver and display prominent yellow city council branding.

Incidentally, this story isnt new;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ssing.html

http://toomanytaxis.com/taxi-news/2009/ ... e-protest/

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