Taxi Driver Online

New rickshaw taxi to hit the streets of Dundee

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... -rickshaw/

They may be a sight associated more with Asia, but rickshaws are coming to Dundee – and not just any rickshaw, as local taxi firm City Cabs 505050 is adding an electric version to its fleet.


Fleet manager Scott Walker with the new rickshaw taxi (Image: The Courier/DC Thomson)

It will not be rolling out on to the streets of Dundee until “about June”, according to City Cabs’ owner Jimmy Marr.

The firm has only bought one so far, but if it proves popular then it is likely that more will be added.

The carriage is decorated in the same eye-catching yellow that was introduced last year to some of the firm’s cars.

The addition is part of the firm’s “all electric fleet” strategy and will give people the chance to “explore the city in a unique manner”.

Mr Marr said: “We have always recognised the importance of moving all of our fleet to electric cars. We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and as such are investing in electric vehicles as we continue our business growth plans.

“We strongly believe that our customers are becoming more and more aware of the green challenges facing our city and as such we are determined to become the first all-electric taxi company in Dundee.”

Lynn Short, convener for city centre development, said that while it may seem like “just a quirky rickshaw”, it actually “shows where the city is going”.

She added: “Dundee has already been one of the main cities for electric vehicles, and this shows there are businesses in the city that have been looking to the future.

“The next big thing for us is the last mile which Next are going to do, where the end of a delivery is taken on by smaller vehicles. The big delivery truck will take the stuff near the Kingsway and the smaller vehicles will take it from there.

“That helps fight congestion in the city centre and will be good for all of our lungs.

“There’s no reason that this, or places like Amazon, can’t use electric rickshaws for things like this.”

The SNP councillor also hailed it as a safer way for people to get home after a night out.

She added: “I’ve taken my high heel shoes off to walk home on my bare feet plenty of times after a night out and something like this would stop women from having to do that.

“It’s also a lot safer for women than walking home, so there’s that too.”

Does it rain much in Dundee? The drivers will be rushing for this opportunity.

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Grandad,

well he looks as if he could lose a few pounds so perhaps he could pedal it himself although it sounds as if it's a summertime gimmick but we'll see

as for safety hmmmm................. perhaps the councillor should consult his london colleagues

and if they happen to leave it unattended by the road side i wonder how big a nudge it would take to push it over not that I'm advocating such action

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

The tropical weather associated with Dundee will no doubt make these things a blinding success.

Or maybe not.

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IDFIMH

Publicity stunt, I suspect. Don't doubt that there are people who think they can make this sort of thing commercially viable, but think this particular one is more PR-driven.

Same firm did this last year - thought article was on here, but can't find it, so maybe not.

Dundee taxi firm’s New York-inspired cabs hit the streets

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/d ... t-streets/


Image: Evening Telegraph/DC Thomson

Dundee taxi firm 505050 has taken inspiration from the world’s most famous cabs for its new fleet of electric vehicles.

The company’s new Nissan Leaf cars have been painted in the style of New York cabs, with yellow paint overlaid with black and white checkerboard stripes.

Lee Jack, owner of the firm, said the eye-catching paintwork had already caught the attention of tourists around the city.

He said: “We’ve had people stand in front of the cars for photos and all sorts. We’ve got three in and have another two on order at the moment.

“Our long-term plan for our 160-car fleet is that every time we take a car off we replace it with an electric one.”

Picture shows Lee with two of the new NY-inspired cars.


Image: Evening Telegraph/DC Thomson

Dundee's climate not bad actually in terms of sunshine and the like, but obviously a bid colder on average than down south, but nothing like the rain on the West coast.

But it's all just PR-blather, with the usual nonsense from the councillor. I mean, if she's worried about safety, are people safer in this thing than in a normal cab? Of course not - they way she's talking you'd think the service is free, which I somehow doubt. She makes it sound like it's the difference between walking home and getting this, but presumably if someone is walking home then they either can't afford a cab or don't want one.

If she's that worried about safety then you'd think she'd have something to say about the murder at the rank just round the corner a bit, but obviously that might get in the way of the PR

Slight different version of this piece in the Evening Telegraph, the most interesting part of which is that the councillor doesn't just think the rickshaws are safer than walking, but that they could be safer than regular taxis

Would be interesting to know how she's come to that conclusion



https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/d ... i-service/

Clueless, f***ing clueless.

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IDFIMH

Drivers hit out at suggestion local taxis are ‘unsafe’ for women

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... for-women/

Dundee taxi drivers have hit out at suggestions by the council’s city development convener that other methods of travelling could be safer for women.

Councillor Lynne Short made the comments at a media event ahead of the launch of the city’s first electric rickshaw last week.

She hailed the new vehicles as “quirky” and added: “I think these could actually be safer than regular taxis for women to use.”

Taxi drivers working in the city voiced their outrage, claiming the statement insinuated that taxis are somehow unsafe.

Ms Short has now insisted she meant it can often be unsafe for women to walk from pubs and nightclubs to taxi ranks without shoes on — and so rickshaws are a safer alternative for transport to the ranks.

However, Dundee taxi driver Jim Harris, from Coupar Angus, said he feared women could be put off using cabs after reading the comments.


Image: The Courier/DC Thomson

He said: “A lot of people are unhappy.

“We have to pass strict tests to do this job so how is it unsafe to get a taxi?

“I couldn’t believe it. All the drivers in the area are talking about it.

“I was absolutely raging when I first saw it.”

He added: “It could make women suspicious. If it’s a licensed taxi then they should feel safe.”

“It feels like we’re constantly getting a kicking.

“It’s not the first time it’s been made out taxis are somehow unsafe.

“We go through the strictest checks by the council and the police.

“These kinds of comments are quite damaging to the trade. She should be promoting taxis.”

In clarifying her comments, Ms Short said: “It was about wandering without your shoes on from, for instance, a nightclub to a taxi rank.

“So many times, if it wasn’t for taxi drivers, I wouldn’t get home in one piece.

“I have never felt unsafe in my life in a taxi.

“100% they are most definitely the angels of the street in terms of getting home after at the end of a night.”

Think she'll find that there's taxis sitting outside the nightclubs anyway, or outside nearby takeaways.

And even if that wasn't the case, the idea that people would be taking rickshaws from the clubs to taxi ranks a couple of hundred yards away is bizarre in the extreme, even assuming anyone would provide such a service, which is in any case very probably just a PR gimmick.



Councillor on face-saving PR/damage limitation alert

"Drafty Chuff" a weather girl says open sided Rickshaw vehicles are more exhilarating on a winters night than a naked free fall parachute jump is over Antarctica..... At speeds over 8 MPH all you can hear is the fliff fliff flfff flffff sound gently created by the wind as it softly blows through your hair.

Does it's Public Liability insurance cover it against frostbite claims?

What a load of old fanny.

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IDFIMH

probably after the consumption of lots of alcohol over a posh dinner whilst listening to loads of PR bull

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

Reminds me of something in St Andrews a couple of years ago, which also annoyed me big time

Some students ran a rickshaw service called "Chariots of Hire". (Quite a clever name, to be fair - part of the film Chariots of Fire was filmed on the beach at St Andrews.)

This appeared in an online student magazine a couple of years ago:

https://thestand-online.com/2016/11/01/ ... t-andrews/


The vast majority of student trips are about 2-3 minutes from the taxi rank

And the Dervish (kebab shop) is just the other side of a narrow street from the rank. In this photo it's directly opposite the second/third car


Image: The Saint

But of course if they can't eat on the two-minute journey home the taxi driver is guilty of 'judgemental grumblings'

And some of them are so desperate to get home and eat their takeaway during the two-minute trip that they get into the second or third car on the rank, because it's closer to the Dervish than the car in pole

But if they were that desperate to eat then they could do that in the Dervish, because it was the first (and still only) sit-down restaurant in town to be given a licence till after the pubs close

Anyway, it gets worse:



Which reads to me that during the two-minute trips taxi drivers are a danger to the mental and physical health of the students

In fact these guys were so concerned about the 'mental, physical and social' comfort of their fellow students that they used to appear once in a blue moon (think they've gone for good now) usually when it was a bit busier than usual, or when I suspect they needed some extra beer money or ticket for a forthcoming ball

And they'd ply for hire* in the most ridiculous, awkward and unsafe places, ride the wrong way up one-way streets, have zero or inadequate lighting, passengers would be standing up shouting and bawling, blah, blah

In fact the vast majority of students continued to use the taxis (or the free student bus over the last few years), so presumably preferring to endure the 'judgemental' taxi drivers and perhaps reflecting who was really detrimental to the mental and physical needs of passengers

Rant over

(To be fair, the vast majority of students don't eat their takeaways in the taxis, in fact a lot of them even ask if they can bring them in to the car, never mind eat them, which I often think is a bit over-polite )

* Because they weren't motorised they were exempt from taxi licensing - I think the council required them to have street trader's licences under the Scottish legislation.