Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers boycotting ‘shambolic’ rank outside Dundee station

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/t ... e-station/


Image: Evening Telegraph

Council bosses have been urged to re-think the “shambolic” taxi rank outside Dundee’s new-look railway station.

A union boss claims fed-up cab drivers have been beset with problems since the new entrance opened its doors last month.

Confusion has arisen over the rank being used as a drop-off point, leading to congestion at peak times.

And it has been claimed that drivers are now boycotting the station rank in favour of Nethergate because of the problems.

Chris Elder, taxi driver representative for the Unite union, wants Dundee City Council and ScotRail to take their concerns seriously.

He said: “They’ve got that rank in completely the wrong place.

“There are people coming to the very front of the rank to drop people off but there’s no drop-off point.

“That’s causing major problems for the guys down there.

“We’ve got a taxi liaison meeting soon with the council and we’ll certainly be making it known.

“It’s shambolic.

“The place is chock-a-block with cars and I see they’ve put a bus stop right at the front of the entrance, so I don’t know how that is going to work.”

Thousands of extra visitors have made their way through Dundee’s station since the new building opened on July 9.

ScotRail reported a 16% increase in the number of passengers travelling to and from the city in the period July 9-29. This saw an approximate rise of 16,000 passengers in the same period, with The Open in Carnoustie said to be a contributing factor.

But with V&A Dundee expected to welcome thousands more when it opens in September, Mr Elder believes the problem will only worsen if it is not addressed.

He added: “They haven’t thought this through and they really need to start taking this on board because we’ve got guys who are boycotting it and taking their cars up to the Nethergate.

“Passengers are walking up there anyway because it’s taking too long to go from the station and that’s money out of their pocket.

“All of this is happening before the V&A opens as well. If it’s as busy as it is just now, just imagine what it’s going to be like a couple of months from now.”

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “We are monitoring the situation.”

"We are monitoring the situation"

Council/speak for we have screwed up but we're not ready to admit it.

He said: “They’ve got that rank in completely the wrong place.

in other words they've shoved it where there is a convenient space on the map without any thought to whether it is in a practical position for the actual customers

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

Not so much about trade issues this one as about Dundee's shiny new tourist attraction, and how some in the trade are out of the loop as regards communication and information, which of course is often also the norm as regards trade matters

‘We’re left in the dark’: Dundee taxi campaigner says drivers ‘look pretty silly’ when they don’t have V&A answers

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/w ... a-answers/

Taxi drivers have called for better communication with Dundee City Council following the arrival of the V&A.

Shaun Ovenstone, who formed Dundee Taxi Information Group on Facebook in a bid to keep drivers in the city informed about issues affecting them, says there’s been a lack of information about the new attraction passed on from council chiefs.

The 53-year-old, who has about 1,500 members on his group, said most drivers wanted to take part in briefing sessions held for union representatives in the lead-up to the attraction’s opening.

He says many taxi operators are being left in the lurch on important information linked to the V&A and how it operates.

He said: “We feel as though we’re being left out of things.

“With anything relating to taxi drivers it always seems to be the union or association guys that get all the information and then it’s passed on in dribs and drabs.

“But the majority of drivers, as far as I am aware, aren’t actually in these unions so they’re being kept out.

“It’s not even that we’re opposed to anything – we’ve just not been told about what’s happening, where we can pick up and drop people off, timings for things.

“It makes us look pretty silly when we’ve got people in the cars asking these questions and we haven’t got the answers.”

Last month, union boss Chris Elder hit out at the “shambolic” taxi arrangements at the new railway station entrance.

He raised fears that drivers would encounter problems, with thousands more visitors due to visit the £80 million Waterfront museum.

The Unite representative said drivers were boycotting the taxi rank at the station because of congestion.

Shaun believes that the majority of drivers have not been considered, adding: “I think they’re completely disregarding us. We do a lot for the city and considering how many drivers there are and fares we take, we rarely get any complaints about our service.

“We’ve been actively trying to find out information about things and how we go about it but we’re just getting nowhere with it, especially with such a basic response.

“If they just told us about what was happening we wouldn’t be in this position.

“It’s just disappointing that they don’t think we’re important enough to be part of it.”

A Dundee City Council spokeswoman said: “The One City, Many Discoveries campaign will contact this taxi driver directly.”

Image: Evening Telegraph

Would imagine there will be a lot of people arriving at the station now to visit Dundee's shiny new tourist attraction. Unfortunately it's the funny looking building to the right of the photo

Apart from the day trippers, also suspect a lot of those coming to see the museum won't be travelling very far from the station, which is on the edge of the city centre

Dundee's daytime flagfall is £3.10, which covers a distance of four tenths of a mile/704 yards

Looks a right drab building.

Akin to the weather in the picture.

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IDFIMH

Think it looks OK actually - certainly a bit different and quite spectacular in some ways:



Problem is though the new 'concrete monstrosity' being built nearby (towards middle of taxi rank photo) which celebs like Chrissie Hynde and Lorraine Kelly are kicking up a stink about, not to mention those who were led to believe it was all about tearing down the concrete blocks in the Watefront area, which they duly did, but just to replace them with slightly more modern ones.



And that in turn underlines the other big problem - Dundee the drugs death capital of the country blah, blah, and while the V&A will be great for the elites and luvvies, seems unlikely to do anything about this, filmed by C4 a few hundred yards from the photos above

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/d ... el-4-news/

As for the drab weather, Dundee is apparently the sunniest city in the UK.

But that's enough about Dundee for a taxi forum

Looks like a part built Noah's Ark

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IDFIMH

Yes, I think that was the general idea - supposed to look like a ship(s) landing, or something like that



It looks more shiplike from out on the Tay, but not many photos from that angle, and this one maybe doesn't quite catch it:



And the original idea was to have it jutting out into the sea a bit more, which would obviously add to the ship effect, but they ran out of cash:

In all seriousness I hope it's a success.

The more things there are for folks to do, the more folks will visit an area.

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IDFIMH

Someone writing to the Herald newspaper says:



They also point out that the exterior design intended to resemble Scotland's craggy sea-cliffs will thus attract nesting seagulls, so stand by for mountains of bird $hit.

But I suspect that, like the beggars and drug addicts a short distance away, the gulls will be dealt with and kept away from the public view

Not that I was thinking of visiting Dundee any time soon but that has put me off altogether

The question I would ask is that if the camperdown refinery hadn't closed would this have gone ahead ?

perhaps they should build another monstrosity in the shape of a Michelin tyre

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

Yes.

Had to google that one, but refinery closure cost 26 jobs, site is about a mile from the V&A, and V&A in the pipeline years before the refinery closure (see what I did there - refinery/pipeline??)

And such was its low profile, suspect you know more about the refinery than the average Dundonian

But I'm sure the V&A will manage fine without your support and patronage

Reminds me of the Falmouth Maritime Museum.



Went there a few years back and found it very interesting.

https://nmmc.co.uk/explore/galleries/

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IDFIMH