Taxi Driver Online

Starting glazing over when reading this, but actually some quite astute analysis about the decline in HCs, if not a huge amount of depth.


Taxi fares to increase in South Gloucestershire

https://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/25 ... ncreasing/

TAXI fares in South Gloucestershire will increase by 2.55 per cent after not a single person responded to a public consultation.

The higher fares will impact hackney carriages from April, whose numbers in the district are dwindling with only around 50 remaining.

Hackney carriages are the sort of taxis which passengers can hail in the street or catch at a rank, for example outside Bristol Parkway train station or in Hanham and Kingswood. Private hire vehicles, such as Ubers, are not impacted by the fare changes.

The fare hike was approved by councillors on the regulatory committee on Thursday, March 27.

Drivers don’t have to charge the higher rates if they don’t want to, but the council sets the highest they are allowed to charge.

The public consultation was advertised in local newspapers, on the council’s website and in messages to taxi drivers.

But in recent years, similar consultations have prompted few responses, according to Lily Brine, a licensing service manager at the council.

Asked if she was surprised that nobody responded to the public consultation, she said: “Honestly, no I wasn’t. Based on our previous consultations on fees, charges and tariffs, we don’t usually get a particularly high response to the consultations.

“We really try and push as much information to give people the opportunity. But we haven’t in the last few years had much response.”

There are far fewer traditional taxis left in South Gloucestershire than there used to be.

This is partly due to the rise of ride-hailing apps like Uber, and private hire vehicles facing less regulation than hackney carriages.

Another factor is how spread out the district is, meaning passengers are less likely to want to hail a taxi on the street, and would pre-book one instead.

New rules introduced by the council mean that this summer, all hackney carriages must be wheelchair-accessible.

One taxi driver previously commented that this was prompting many hackney carriage drivers to switch to private hire instead, as the cost of buying a new vehicle was prohibitively expensive.

Ms Brine added: “When I first joined licensing, we had probably had 350 hackneys. It’s now down to about 50.

"But with private hire vehicles, because of the way that society and technology has changed, it’s gone very much towards private hire and those pre-booked journeys rather than hackney carriages picking up at the side of the road.”

The initial cost of hiring a taxi will be £2.40, which covers the first 115 metres of a journey.

Then passengers will be charged 20p for every 111.4 metres or 26.7 seconds waiting.

An additional rate of £1.70 is added between 6pm and 6am during the week, and between 6pm on Friday and 6am on Monday.

As per usual, most people reading this would be forgiven that Uber are not PHVs.

In fact, it might make slightly more sense without the comma

Although, to be fair, it did say this further up the piece, when I was still sort of glazed over




That's interesting. I think the previous thread specifically about the WAV requirement said there was 65 at that time.

But that seems an inexplicable decline in numbers, particularly before a WAV requirement was even imposed

But didn't it look like S Glocs was a kind of Wolves of that part of the country?

I wonder if the real reason for the huge decline in HC numbers was an 'intended use' policy?

I wonder if she puts that on her CV?

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IDFIMH

No need to get salty about Ms Brine, Sussex


Anyway, wouldn't have bothered with this if I'd known it was all about reader responses to the S Glocs fare stuff

Saw the 'black cab' headline, and because it was in the Bristol Post, assumed it was about something else (the article the other day was from the Glocs Gazette. On the other hand, Bristol HCs are of course blue... )

I mean, if S Glocs HCs are to be made cumpulsory WAVs in the future, then presumably fair to assume they're not 'black cabs' at the moment, or at least a lot of them aren't


Black cab taxi prices to rise as council warned 'they cannot compete with Uber'

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/news ... e-10074086

Some think that the council's mind is already made up on the issue

Bristol Live readers have certainly not held back in the debate over taxi fares. With a proposed increase on the cards, locals are sharing their varied opinions on what the adjustments may mean for the community.

Down in South Gloucestershire, taxi fares are set to rise by 2.55 per cent, but here's the kicker – there was not a single response to the public consultation about it. This price hike is going to hit hackney carriages from April, and it's worth noting that there's only about 50 of them left in the district.

When we talk about hackney carriages, we're referring to those cabs you can flag down in the street or jump into at taxi ranks, like the ones outside Bristol Parkway station or spots in Hanham and Kingswood. In contrast, private hire vehicles, such as Uber cars, won't feel the sting of these fare changes.

Over on the comment section, Saytoday35 believes: "Once SGC have an idea. It seems to he set in stone. No amount of objections make any difference."

TomPetty adds: "South Glos Council aren’t genuinely interested in responses to a consultation. They go into everything with a pre conceived opinion. It happens time and time again. Consultations to them are just going through the motions."

Justifyit feels: "With the council killing the hackney trade by way of making every car wheelchair accessible, Which are ridiculously expensive. How else is the cabbie meant to pay for the cab."

Banksstuart2 asks: "How can anyone safely and securely carry their 2 week or even 1 week holiday luggage of suitcases and, or sports holdalls on a bicycle ride to a railway station or airport, leave it there secured and expect it to still be there when they return with their holiday luggage."

Ronaldw points out: "No-one commented because no-one had any idea there was a consultation. I mean seriously, the population of Bristol is around 500,000. Much higher if you consider the surrounding areas. Is it REMOTELY conceivable that not one solitary individual had anything to say? No. It's not conceivable. I seriously wonder if the council actively tries to have 'stealth' consultations to comply with laws and guidelines but avoiding any public objections."

Headpostmaster thinks: "Hackney carriages cannot compete with the cheaper more reliable Uber as it stands. Increasing fares is only going to achieve nothing."

Grey Mike states: "I think it's more likely that the public are fed up responding to so called consultations, when they know it is pointless as the decision has already been made. The 'consultation' is a mere tick box exercise."

TalbotHill comments: "In the case of South Gloucestershire Private Hire Taxis, you need to look around Bristol to see one, especially in the Barton Hill area where you'll find them parked up blocking the pavement!"

Giveusajob asks: "Who in this day and age books Taxis? They are about double price of ubers."

No, me neither


Point well made

Except that, what has the population of Bristol got to do with it? This is about fare-setting by South Glocs council. There's obviously a lot of cross-border issues going on around there, but I doubt that extends to the reach of council consultations on HC tariff-setting


Of course, I generally NEVER pick holes in stuff like this

But a classic example of someone who uses a capital letter where it shouldn't be, and omits a capital letter where there should be one

Doesn't remind me of anyone on here at all

And for anyone who thinks stuff like that doesn't matter, I saw a headline containing the word Subway the other day, so thought it was about the, er, sandwich shop (never been in one personally, but kind of guessing they sell sandwiches etc...).

Unfortunately the article was actually about the, er, subway

I hadn't latched on to the fact that Bristol's (in)famous 'taxi cop' covers both the Bristol City Council area and South Gloucestershire, which maybe illustrates something

And came across a couple of random photos on Twitter, which are also maybe instructive. First is apparently South Glocs-plated cars forming an unofficial rank in Bristol

Second is a vehicle apparently plated by same council

I suspect Ms South Glos LO isn't putting that she licensed this on her CV as well.

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IDFIMH