Taxi Driver Online

New private hire car licences rejected as council look to reduce cabs in Glasgow

https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/178 ... s-glasgow/

THE FIRST applications for new private hire car licences have been rejected after a policy to reduce the number of cabs in Glasgow was introduced.

Dan Cars of Clydebank had its four applications to licence private hire cars in the city, refused by Glasgow City Council’s licensing committee on Thursday.

Members said the applications did not comply with the terms and conditions of the new overprovision rules and regulations which states there are too many private hires operating in the city.

The council said the company failed to demonstrate that there was no longer a need for an over provision policy and that the targets had already been met.

Glasgow City Council was the first in Scotland to introduce a cap on private hire car and taxi licenses in April this year.

There is now a limit on the number of licensed vehicles on the road but not the number of drivers.

A survey carried out by Local Transport Projects on behalf of the local authority found that between 2008 to 2013 the number of private hires across the city reduced from 2805 to 2638 but had risen to 3759 by 2018 meaning there are an extra 800 cars on the road.

In April the number of taxis on Glasgow’s streets was already limited to 1420.

The study also showed that during weekdays only 60 percent of private hires were in use, but 90 percent of cars were needed on Friday and Saturday nights.

Throughout the consultation researchers engaged with private hire and taxi firms, Glasgow Association of Mental Health and the general public. They found that taxi companies seemed to have a better reputation.

Despite concerns that people may be waiting longer for a cab during peak time members of the licensing committee agreed to restrict the number of taxis on the road.

As a result, they introduced an upper limit of 1420 and a lower limit of 1278 taxis. They also agreed an upper limit of 3759 and lower limit of 3383 for private hire cars.

The licensing committee deals with licence applications on a weekly basis but now has to make tough decisions in order to meet these targets.

Also this on TaxiPoint about Edinburgh:

Edinburgh cabbies petition council to cap private hire numbers to help congestion and air quality

9 Sep 2019

Perry Richardson

Taxi drivers in Edinburgh are calling for the Council to offer a provisioning survey to cap the numbers of private hire vehicles working in the area.

The number of private hire vehicles licensed by City of Edinburgh has boomed in recent years, causing much concern to the Hackney Carriage taxis plying their trade in the Scottish capital.

Unite Union taxi drivers have called upon the council to impose a cap on the number of vehicles licensed to help ease congestion levels and increasing poor air quality.

A petition has been created which the drivers hope to deliver to Edinburgh’s Sub Licensing Committee showing support for the action.

Unite Union Edinburgh Cab Section said in their petition appeal: “We at the Unite the Union Edinburgh Cab Section believe the number of Private Hire Car licenses in Edinburgh is a serious cause for concern for the City.

“City of Edinburgh Council’s hypocrisy is staggering to allow Private Hire Licences numbers to increase at a rate of 5 a day, we are now seeing an unprecedented number of almost 2500 Private hire Licences and with the current climate emergency and their upcoming Low Emission Zone, why are they allowing these cars to congest our streets.

“We hope that you will help us achieve our aim and get the Private Hire Car Licences capped, by signing our Petition you are asking the City of Edinburgh’s Sub Licensing committee to carry out an over provisioning survey with a view to cap numbers.”



Not sure where the petition is - there's a link on the TaxiPoint site, but seems to be the wrong one:

https://www.levc.com/tx-electric-taxi/? ... CM008875-1

Personally not a fan of restricting numbers, be that hackneys or PHVs, better improve the criteria for entry. That way it's a win win. Keep out the riff raff and improve the quality of our service.

But surely the answer for Dan Cars is to make it worth the while for some of the existing PHVs to join up. Must be some Uber cars that would be happy to have their work on offer as well.

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