Taxi Driver Online

Looks like one of these Unite proposals which has little chance of being implemented, but the paper makes a big splash about it.

Taxi journey prices in Wirral could be about to go up by a QUARTER

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... o-14890207

A special meeting could see all taxi tariffs in the borough going up - some by nearly 25%

Some taxi prices in Wirral could soon rise by a QUARTER after the council announced a review of its fare structure.

Councillors will next week consider a proposal from the Unite Hackney Carriage trade representatives to increase tariffs as soon as October.

Members of the licensing health and safety and general purposes committee will consider on July 18 whether to raise all fare tariffs at a special meeting.

It's hoped the move to increase night fees in particular will encourage more drivers to work and so attract more customers and businesses to use the service.

That means some of the evening fares in particular could rise by almost 25%.

It's the most significant change in recent times, with the proposed fares set to rise in nine separate ways across four tariffs - with some of the changes being the first in almost nine years.

Here's what it will mean:

Retain the initial hiring distance (the distance travelled before the price begins to rise) at 300 yds and increase the initial hiring distance charge from £2.80 to £3.20 on tariff one - the standard day rate

Reduce the initial hiring distance from 900 to 300 yds on the standard night rate and public and bank holiday day rate (tariff two), and increase the initial hiring charge from £3.30 to £3.60

Reduce the initial hiring distance from 966 to 300 yds on the public and bank holiday night rate (tariff three), and reduce the initial hiring distance charge from £3.90 to £3.80

Reduce the initial hiring distance on Christmas and New Year day and night rate (tariff four) from 966 yards to 300 yds, and increase the initial hiring charge from £5.20 to £6.00

Increase the “running mile” charge by reducing the yardage charged at 20p from 245 yds to 230 yds on tariff one

Increase the “running mile” charge by reducing the yardage charged at 20p from 205 yards to 175 yds on tariff two

Increase the “running mile” charge by reducing the yardage charged at 20p from 182 yards to 165 yds on tariff three

Increase the “running mile” charge on tariff four by increasing the yardage from 137 yards to 230 yds and increasing the charge from 20p to 40p

Increase the charge for waiting time from 20p to 30p per minute

What will that mean for journey prices?

It means a two-mile journey currently costing an estimated £5.40 on the standard day rate could soon cost more like £6 - a 60p increase.

A similar distance journey on the evening tariff currently costing around £5.90 could end up costing £7.30 - an increase of 23.73% - almost a quarter.

A two-mile journey on the public and bank holiday night rate currently costing around £6.70 will cost around £7.70.

Finally, a two-mile journey over Christmas and New Year currently costs around £8.90, but under the proposed changes that price would rise to £11.60 - a rise of over 23%.

When were the fares last changed?

The report also said while the tariff one hiring distance was last changed in February last year, those for tariffs three and four were last altered in December 2009.

The "running mile" charge on all four tariffs was last changed in December 2012, as was the initial hiring distance for tariff two.

According to the report, the changes come in response to a survey of supply and demand for hackney carriage vehicles carried out last year.

According to the report, there were "frustrated" potential customers and businesses who needed the service to get home and "raise their confidence to increase their willingness to come out at night more".

It added that in terms of supply, there "does not appear be enough sufficiently rewarding work available either for these pockets of demand to be met by either hackney carriage or even private hire means".

It said this suggests there "could be scope" for increasing night fares for services which might encourage drivers to work late.

It added: "This is particularly true if overall demand levels are lower than would make such operation economic."

Once councillors have agreed the move, it will go to a 14-day public consultation period, and if no objections are received, the tariff will become effective from October.

If objections are received, they will be reported back to the committee for consideration.

Makes it sound like the flagfall distance should change in response to inflation, or something like that, but don't think that's the way it works

Some cab prices in Merseyside area to rise by a THIRD

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... e-15134267

Police have also said a shortaqge of taxis in the area could lead to an increase in crime

Police have said a shortage of cabs could lead to increased crime in a Merseyside area, with it also being revealed some fares there will rise by over a THIRD.

The substantial increase is set to hit black cab customers in Wirral across all tariffs following a consultation with drivers.

It came as results from a survey about cabs in the area revealed what a difficult position the industry is in - including insufficient demand, fears visitors to the area will not return because of bad experiences, and potential crime caused by a lack of night time services.

Two separate documents are set to be discussed by Wirral council's licensing, health and safety and general purposes committee when it meets on September 19.

The first of those - a review of Hackney carriage fares - has revealed how they are set for a significant rise - some by as much as 37.5%.

That will mean a one-mile journey on the night tariff will increase from £4.30 to £5.40 - by 25.6%,

Other fare rises aren't so steep but are still going up - a one mile journey on the normal day rate tariff will rise from £4 to £4.60.

For a one-mile trip on public and bank holidays, that will mean a 14.3% increase from £4.90 to £5.60, while on the Christmas and New Year tariff, that will see a huge 37.5% rise - from £6.40 to £8.80.

Several representations from industry figures were made to the council over the proposals, with both supporting and opposing views submitted.

One said the proposed increases were "excessive", adding that it will lead customers to seek alternative transport options.

The letter said that the proposals were made by a "small minority" of union members, adding: "I personally believe that what with the financial pressure some of our customers are under, to ask for this increase shows a total lack of common sense."

Another letter to be discussed by councillors was from a private hire operator, who wrote that the changes "will assist us greatly". He said "ill-conceived and unsustainable" Hackney carriage fare structures through the Liverpool city region meant private hire services already dominate "more than 80% of the Merseyside taxi market".

He added the rise meant private hire would be able to corner the "remaining 20%" of their target market.

Members will be asked to consider the representations received by the council, and decide whether to bring in the new fares.

Also at the meeting, the committee will discuss a survey about the supply and demand for Hackney carriage vehicles in the borough.

That survey came out with the following observations:

- Police officers felt there was a weekend and overnight "shortage" of both Hackney carriage and private hire in the area and, as they told the survey, "that did lead to potential issues of crime and disorder".

- It suggested there was "insufficient demand" for the current Hackney carriage fleet, although many "gain significant fares" from phone orders.

- There were no "significant" levels of unmet demand, but said a lot of the off-peak demand was by phone rather than people going to ranks. But there does not appear to be "enough sufficiently rewarding work available either for these pockets of demand to be met by either Hackney carriage or private hire means."

- Asda in Birkenhead was the busiest rank, with the next two busiest Claughton Road and Liscard. The night rank Conway Street provided just 3% of total estimated weekly passengers.

- Of six ranks surveyed, one saw "poor" service, one was "fair", and all others were "good" or "very good".
The only request for a new rank was for locations in New Brighton.

- People interviewed said they were more confident of getting a Hackney carriage in the day than at night, with 14% of those surveyed saying they could not get one. People were also unaware they could flag down a black cab.

- There are currently 258 licensed vehicles out of a current limit of 289.

- Mystery shoppers found good service from ranks and on trips taken.

- Hackney carriage drivers told the survey the limit on that number "should be retained".

- The demand in Wirral is "generally both disparate and low volume", but there are "frustrated" potential customers who need the service to benefit Wirral's economy. It said the impact from that was that there was a "very high potential" people visiting the area would have poor experiences that may prevent them from coming back.

It added: "The issue is how to marry supply to demand at these lower levels. Something needs to happen to reverse the spiral of decline."

The committee members will be asked whether they want to continue the policy of limiting Hackney carriage vehicle numbers, or to remove the policy "in order to allow further future development of the fleet when required".

That question will also be put to a public consultation.

That in itself speaks volumes, and does beg the question as to why a limit is in place.

A limit that cost £10-20,000 every three years to maintain.

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IDFIMH

- Mystery shoppers found good service from ranks and on trips taken.

Nice to hear shame the drivers from the other side of the Mersey aren't so customer orientated

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

Yes, and huge tariff hikes will work wonders in reversing this insufficient demand for cabs

Of course, as I said in the initial post a few weeks ago, the fare hikes look more like a union wishlist unlikely to be implemented - as indeed the local contributors to the consultation point out - but the media will make a great song and dance about it in the meantime.

(Just trying to bump a few of the more recent threads up to the top of the forum, just in case some people want to read the *latest* news )

Everyone in our trade needs to earn a decent living, else it's pointless people coming into it.

But is the answer to a lack of demand for taxis to increase significantly fares?

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IDFIMH

'We are on BELOW minimum wage' - Cabbie opens up on industry's 'dire' state

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... e-15180488

David Vose says industry is in the worst state he has ever seen in his 28 years driving Hackney Carriages

A cabbie has revealed the "dire" state of the industry, and said an increase in fares of up a third approved by a Merseyside council on Wednesday was "completely fair and justified".

David Vose was speaking after a rise approved by Wirral council saw black cab fares rise, but said it would help overworked black cab drivers on 80-hour weeks just to make a simple wage.

He said: "What people don't understand is the outgoings and costs we have. The industry isn't rolling in money - we are actually often working below the minimum wage.

"I did a feasibility study in 2010 showing it takes over 32 hours to cover just the costs and your wage, and that's got a lot worse since 2010 to where we are now.

"Sometimes people jump in a cab to go round the corner and they're not happy that it's a £4.50 fee, but they don't realise we've waited an hour for that job.

"I think this rise is completely fair and justified."

Mr Vose has been driving Hackney Carriages for 28 years, and also gave his views on why the industry in Wirral in particular has suffered.

He said: "The industry is in the worst state now that I've ever seen it. The main reason is that Birkenhead is in decline. There's no investment being put into the town. We've lost out ever since Liverpool became the Capital of Culture in 2008.

"We just started to go downhill. People would go out in the evening and to the theatre and places like that, but never in Birkenhead or Wirral, always Liverpool.

"There's no investment being put into Birkenhead at all. In 2010, my rank was doing 2.17 jobs per hour. Now we are 1.5 jobs per hour.

"Drivers are working in excess of 80 hours per week just to make a decent wage. It affects your quality of life, working day and night."

Speaking at Wednesday's meeting, Unite representative Derek Cummins said while the rise seemed "quite excessive", it was needed as there has only been a "20p increase in seven years".

The decision means a one-mile journey on the night tariff will increase from £4.30 to £5.40 - by 25.6%.

A one-mile journey on the normal day rate tariff will rise from £4 to £4.60.

For a one-mile trip on public and bank holidays, that will mean a 14.3% increase from £4.90 to £5.60, while on the Christmas and New Year tariff, that will see a 37.5% rise - from £6.40 to £8.80.

Councillors at Wednesday's licensing, health and safety and general purposes committee unanimously approved the rise, with costs effective from November 1.

Also at Wednesday's meeting, the committee unanimously agreed to keep its cap on the number of Hackney carriage vehicle licences in Wirral to 289.

It came after Mr Cummins told members there was a "very, very low demand" for licences, but limits like these "bring confidence [to] the workforce".

A full breakdown of the new fares can be found on the council document here

https://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documen ... REPORT.pdf

If drivers doing a lot less work these days then don't see how 20-25% on Rate 2 fares (and even worse on Rate 4) will help things much - as the PH operator said in the earlier article, it'll just drive people away from HCs to the PH trade - they're not going to put their fares up 25% in sympathy

That said, the Wirral Rate 2 fares in particularly don't seem especially hefty even with the 25% rise - a 5 mile run increases from £11.10 to £13.40 according to page 6 of the document - in Fife we're around £17 for the same distance

I'd agree with all that.
Mid week I earn way below minimum wage, often actually losing money. Only the weekends take the average up to around minimum wage over the whole week.

Midweek I'll take around £8-£13 an hour - It costs (me) in expenses £8.50 an hour to have the car on the road if I do 40 hours. So to achieve minimum wage I need to be averaging around £17 per hour over the whole week.
A big part of the cost is buying the car, once that's paid off per hour expenses will drop to about £6.

Yes I could work more hours, but who wants to spend most of their life sat behind a wheel ? Even then there's not much difference - one of our drivers last week did an 11 hour shift for £105, when we worked out his expenses he was left with £45 for the day - £4.09 an hour !

When I started 14 years ago an average midweek night would see about £12 an hour, only on the very worst would it drop below £10 an hour. Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays would see £20 an hour and Fri/sat £25 - and costs were less.

Work has dropped off considerably, no-one goes out drinking midweek anymore, just pensioners going social clubs and bingo. Fridays are'nt much better and even the main Saturday nights are quieter. We dropped our prices and it made little difference, no increase in jobs but it's cost me around £2k a year in earnings.

Blimey.

Five miles down here, even on the night rate, is about £14.50.

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IDFIMH

At our company rates it would be £10 At T1 only £7.50
Council rates £16 and £11. We've not dropped out fares by much ...NOT !

The PHTM tables for the 2-mile Rate 1 show B&H 20p more than Fife.

But B&H Rate 2 just seems to be £1 extra across the board.

Fife's are 25% more across the board, so a *lot* more on the longer runs.