Taxi Driver Online

Today The Times carried an article in which OFT head honcho John Fingleton made his views know on regulatory issues:


THE new head of the Office of Fair Trading is determined to force the Government to open up highly regulated markets, such as pharmacies and taxis, for the benefit of consumers.

.....

“The idea that the State should be deciding how many people are in the market or preventing people from entering a market is outmoded.

“We should not be having the State saying we should control the number of taxi drivers in order to give them all a living. That may sound reasonable, but there’s huge cost to consumers.”

The full article is called "OFT's new chief aims to loosen grip of regulation" and can be read at:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/artic ... 92,00.html

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Well the number of taxi drivers isn't controlled, but I think we know what he means

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

and lets remind him about his fiasco in dublin

JF for PM.

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IDFIMH

What fiasco? 6 drivers per car and then each had the chance to operate their own?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

you are suffering from memory loss, it became a free for all in dublin, why did they set up a hardship fund?

I hope he's also in favour of deregulating fares so we don't have to survive on council set tarriffs.

If we degreg the taxi trade then all aspects need to be deregulated.

kevin
http://www.monmouthtaxis.co.uk

I've nothing against gregs

just my spelling. it should be dereg tarriffs.

Kevin
http://www.monmouthtaxis.co.uk

Yes. He wants to deregulate tariffs to force fares down. So get used to haggling, like in Mumbai, or wherever.

I think it's YOU that's suffering the memory loss Jimbo - when did he say that?????

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Because people were still buying plates for £60k days before derestriction because people like the Irish equivalent of the NTA were telling them all's still rosy in the garden

What do you mean by 'free for all', anyway?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Well,not in the times article, where there is no mention of taxi's!

But when he talks of "benifiting consumers" in regard to the taxi trade, what other benifit, but driving down fares by increased competion can he be talking about?

Eh? The quotes I pasted above is from the article. The first mention of taxis is in the first paragraph, so you can hardly miss it.




Well if restricting numbers is all about restricting supply then the most obvious answer would be increased supply, ie increased availability.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

no restricting supply means that the market is not flooded and becomes a free for all --

"free for all" - anyone who wants a plate can have one, regardless of work.

My mistake, it does indeed mention taxis.

But how would increased availability benifit consumers? By having the choice of a hundred taxis on a rank rather than twenty? Just for one moment, think about it. "Consumer choice" is about lower fares in Irish OfTspeak, I mean he would hardly believe HIGHER fares, would be "of benefit to the consumer," would he?