I live in a village controlled by one of 3 local rural/semi rural LA. There are 4 towns within that LA each with their own cabs firms and ranks. The towns are between 5 and 10 miles apart. HC's can rank and work anywhere within this LA
My village is also within 1 mile of the borders of 2 other rural/semi rural LA's and the urban LA which is where I work p/t as a PH and HC driver. The other 2 rural LA's also have their own cab firms and ranks and the HC's can work anywhere within the LA using any rank. None of the rural LA's have a limit on the number of HC's and the HC's outnumber PH. In reality, the PH's tend to be only airport transfer businesses and exec/chauffer hire.
In the urban LA where I work, the number of HC's is fixed. PH's that work within the LA have to use a meter set at the same rate as HC's. Both PH's and HC's are allowed to charge a .60p Extra (.75p after midnight) for "telephone" bookings to help cover the cost of travelling to the pick up point.
In the urban LA, the maximum journey distance from edge to edge is about 6.3 and on tarif 1 the fare would be about £13.30 plus .60p booking fee. In the LA I live, border to border is about 19 miles and the fare tarif 1 would be £36 approx. Both these calcs using
www.taxiroute.co.uk.
Is there a difference between the urban and semirural/rural trade? Very much so. The urban trade is increasingly populated by "non locals" whereas the rural/semi rural trade is very much "local".
In the urban area there is one HC per 1800 head of population. For PH there 1 PH per 842 head of population. In the LA I live, there is 1 "taxi" per 503 head of population.
Copied and Google Translated from
www.licence-taxi.fr "The supply of taxi license is strictly regulated in France. For municipalities with less than 100,000 inhabitants, the number of licenses to be issued is limited to 50, that is to say, a taxi license for 2000 people. For municipalities that have between 100 001 and 500 000 inhabitants, a taxi license is issued to serve 1,500 residents and municipalities that have more than 500,000 inhabitants, the municipality may issue a license to taxi per 1000 inhabitants"