Taxi Driver Online

Well I was wrong about that, but said it when didn't realise councils would still be more or less in lockdown (along with much of the rest of society) by the autumn, and with a good chance of restrictions being tightened rather than eased

But as regards the cashless society thing, not sure I've noticed a lot of difference, and it's still mainly the students who want to pay by card here.

Of course, those who consider themselves higher risk won't be using taxis so much, so maybe when (or if) they reappear, they'll be more inclined to want to use cards

Every month an increasing % of my jobs are card payments.

Will it ever be 100%, very much doubt it. But it wouldn't worry me one bit.

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IDFIMH

Wouldn’t worry me either, but strangely, cash payments are in the ascendancy. ( here)

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Former taxi driver

Here to, Indeed a lot of Business's are taking cash only, Chippies, Takeaways etc.

Around here it is the opposite. most businesses prefer card.

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Grandad,

I know a few people, drivers and tradesmen, who are always saying how cash is king and that they'll never take card. I've no idea why they bother with their jobs tho, cos when you talk to them they're only making £10k per year, maybe they should go get a job in Tesco, it pays better

Well things seem to have changed here since I wrote that about six weeks ago. A lot more people paying by card now, including the non-students. They do tend to be either/or types, though, and would pay by cash if the driver didn't have a card machine. Therefore not so much like the students when I first got a card reader, who would go up the rank looking for a car that would take cards because they didn't have any cash.

Had this oddball couple earlier who regularly take taxis, but have always paid cash. So tonight she wanted to pay by card. It's a decent run, £14 on T1, and easy driving.

They both work in low grade 'hospitality' type jobs, and on the way she was telling me about furlough, claiming Universal Credit, how much they claw back from your benefits if you're working more hours, blah, blah. And she's not working at all at the moment because of the hospitality lockdown.

I said I'd probably be making more by claiming benefits than taxiiing, but since I'd renewed my insurance and licences then I couldn't get that money back, so to that degree better to stay driving.

So she gave me a £4 tip in £ coins

I protested, saying she needed all her money, but she insisted.

Not that I'm complaining, obviously, but there's some strange people around, and of course there's that thing about poorer people tipping better than the wealthier ones.

Anyway, actually had quite a good night, and as good as I would normally do on a Friday night, in fact probably a bit better. Problem is, I'm talking about the early evening part where it's normally not too good for streetcars in our town. And the late evening/early hours T2 trade where I'd normally make most of my money has basically disappeared.

Another strange thing, and the reason I did OK, was that there was such a small number of taxis around tonight. Hard to give precise numbers, but maybe only 20% of the numbers that would have been out on a Friday night a year ago, and maybe barely half the numbers out even a month ago.

Don't know why, precisely, although no doubt the hospitality lockdown a factor, but seems to have been more cars around even Monday-Thursday than last night.

Which is obviously a good thing from my perspective, but not so good if all the drivers suddenly reappear

Many of them driving cabs.

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IDFIMH