Taxi Driver Online

Just when you thought the P&J had gone quiet on taxi rank queues and how awful it is that there aren't taxi drivers at everyone's beck and call at 2am at weekends, and how terrible it is that they aren't all working for Uber, and also how unfair it is that drivers can't badge in Wolverhampton (or Angus, Moray, or Fife, more likely up here) so that the city can be flooded with Ubers

In fact, the latter point isn't specifically made, and this piece is more on the human interest side rather than the regulatory and licensing stuff.

But it must be the most comprehensive of its type that the P&J have done yet. Which is saying something, particularly compared to similar press coverage elsewhere in the UK. And there's a total of 15 photos, and in fact 16 on the P&J's site if you include the one at the top of the piece, which is repeated further down the article.

Think I've got them all here, but spent ages on this, so haven't bothered with the photo captions and the like. And they're too big to display on here, thankfully - at least that saved me the effort of putting in the image tags etc


Does Aberdeen still have a taxi crisis? Queuing Christmas revellers have their say

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... axi-queue/

I donned my dry robe and headed out to chat to people waiting for a taxi after celebrating the first weekend of December...

The first weekend of December marked the start of the festive celebrations for many out enjoying the bars and pubs of Aberdeen.

And although Friday was a wet and windy one, it didn’t put partygoers off having a merry time.

Would that merriment last once their nights came to an end, and it was time to get a taxi home?

Problems in Aberdeen have been well-documented, stemming from scores of drivers leaving the trade during the pandemic.

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At the start of the year, I headed out to speak to people queuing for a ride home during the bustling Spectra festival.

There was also the double whammy of Six Nations rugby and a victory at Pittodrie making town pubs busy, and leaving queues stretching through the city centre.

A lot has changed in the industry since then. A controversial Street Knowledge Test has been relaxed, allowing more cabbies to enter the trade.

On that chilly night months ago, everyone was calling on Uber to make a difference.

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The ride-hailing cabs finally started taking bookings in Aberdeen in October 2024 and it’s understood its modest fleet has been growing since then.

Earlier this year, Rainbow City Taxis took over ComCabs, bringing their total number of vehicles up to around 500.

So I donned my dry robe, and braved the midnight chill once more to see if anything has really changed since the start of the year… Are people still waiting too long to get a safe ride home?

Read on to find out:

• What people think about the long taxi queues in Aberdeen
• Why “not enough taxis” put some people off even coming into the city centre
• How taxi rank “confusion” is adding to the problems
• And, the question on a lot of lips — “what’s going on with Uber?”

Are there any Aberdeen taxi queues as early as 11.30pm?

I left the P&J headquarters on Broad Street just before 11.30pm, and was met with blustery winds and drizzling rain.

I thought I was maybe a bit too early, thinking most people would still be out enjoying themselves and I would have to do a lap (or two) of Union Street before I found anyone to speak to.

But I was wrong.

After navigating the maze that is the pedestrian route across Union Street, I was surprised to spot a line of people snaking down Back Wynd.

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Pulling my hood a little tighter, I head over to investigate.

Andy Eaton is first in line, and he tells me he was out enjoying his Christmas night out until he was met with the queue when trying to return home to Alford.

He’s been waiting more than half an hour to get to the front, he tells me.

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“This is why I don’t come into Aberdeen very often,” he says with a grimace as more rain pelts his face.

“You would think the first weekend of December, and the start of the festive season, they would have more on…”

‘It’s not a good advertisement for Aberdeen’

Meanwhile, Martin Duthie is clutching his soggy McDonalds bag while he waits.

He was also on his Christmas night out, and reckons he’s been waiting for around 30 minutes to get a ride home to Pitmedden.

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“It’s not a good advertisement,” he says with a chuckle. “Inviting people into the city but having no taxis to take them home again.

“There isn’t even a bus I can take.”

Harriet Bruce, who lives in Rosemount, and her grandson Connor Bruce who stays in Torry, are huddled together under a brolly.

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Like Martin, they were out enjoying the festivities but now just want to get home.

Connor tells me that they’re both “freezing” and “disappointed” that this is how their fun evening is ending. He reckons they’ve been standing there for 40 minutes by now.

“For Christmas season, it’s really not good enough,” he adds.

‘Do we have Uber here?’

I thought more taxis were starting to show up by around 11.50pm, but two of them zoom past the rank — much to the dismay of those waiting.

Jac Cooper and Marc Robertson, who are waiting to get home to Bucksburn, are among those watching the cars pass by.

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Marc had been on his night out, while Jac had just got back to the city after visiting Glasgow. They tell me they met for a drink, but left before “kick-out time” so they could get a taxi having missed their last bus home…

“There could be more, I’m not going to lie,” says Jac.

In Glasgow she was using Uber and explains it was “great and easy to use”.

To that Marc asks: “Do we have Uber here? We were meant to, but I’ve not heard much about it…

“Has it started?”

Uber has declined to share figures, but it’s understood there are now around 20 operating in Aberdeen.

I decide it’s time to move on to another rank to see what it’s like elsewhere, and as I’m leaving there are still more than 30 people waiting.

Taxi queues ‘to be expected’ during festive season

As I walk along the rank just outside Soul Bar, 32 people are waiting and I can hear a few of them desperately ringing taxi companies to see if they can book anything quicker.

I start to speak to two young girls who tell me they always have a problem getting a taxi home… Mid-flow, they realise there’s a night bus they could get and they make a run for the stop — and the shelter.

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Meanwhile, the queue on the other side of Union Street, just outside the church and Pizza Express, looks a little better at 17 punters.

Two women are huddled together with their jackets pulled up and over their heads tightly as they wait.

But Ashleigh tells me longer waits at this time of year are “to be expected”.

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She’s near the end of the queue and has only been waiting 15 minutes to get home to Stockethill by the time I’m chatting to her. She says the wait was “acceptable so far”, despite how cold she was feeling in the moment.

“We’ve got to be realistic really,” she adds, pulling her white coat tighter around her face.

“It is the festive season, and it is a busy night. But, there could be more of them out, especially at peak times like this.”

As we chat, another lady walks up the line asking if anyone is going to Bucksburn in the hopes that she can share the fare.

A small cheer goes up when two cabs arrive.

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Confusing ranks and signs cause a little irritation…

I make my way to Chapel Street, and get chatting to the first lady in the queue.

She’s just starting to tell me she’s visiting Aberdeen from up north, she doesn’t know the area and “finds the taxi system confusing”.

But then, an assistant from the takeaway across the road is putting out the rubbish and shouts: “This rank stopped at midnight!”

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I glance at my watch. It’s 12.30pm.

She suggests everyone moves on to Union Street, and the lady I’m chatting to gets very irritated — even towards me as I try to offer help, telling me she’s “too cold to deal with this”.

Meanwhile, Barbara and Mateusz, who are waiting to get home to Hazlehead, don’t move from the queue despite the warning.

Barbara says the signs are “actually very confusing”.

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“It does say the rank is no longer running but there’s definitely some taxis still coming by,” she adds.

A defeated-sounding Mateusz adds: “You would think there would be more taxis on a night like this.”

Another man waiting behind them says it’s “been like this for years”, as they complain that Uber appears to have been able to make little difference.

They were also on their Christmas night out, and when I ask how long they’ve been waiting they estimate it’s about 20 to 30 minutes.

But that’s when another man waiting cuts in, yelling: “It’s easy been 45 minutes!”

Street Pastors say taxi marshalls make a difference to keeping the peace at Aberdeen queues

Mike has volunteered with the Street Pastors for 12 years now, offering help to anyone who needs it while out while on a night out.

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And I ask Mike, who will be staying out until 4am, if they ever struggle to help people find a taxi home.

According to the volunteer, revellers are normally confused about where the ranks are, which is easy for him and his colleagues to help with.

But, the rank marshals who start their shift at 1am are “very helpful” when it comes to getting people a safe ride home, he adds.

Do you think there’s a taxi shortage in Aberdeen, or have you faced any long waits for one recently? Let us know in our comments section below

Aberdeen taxi queue: ‘Why come into town when you can’t get home?’

On my way past, I duck back into Back Wynd, where there’s still more than 30 people waiting.

Rebecca says she managed to get an Uber from Woodside into town, but now they’re struggling to get any transport home.

The family had been out celebrating a 40th birthday and while she’s queuing she decides to give the ride-hailing firm another go — but ultimately has no luck.

“It’s just ridiculous,” chips in Ally, who lives in Dyce.

“You just want to get home, it shouldn’t be this hard. Why would we come into town when you can’t get home? What’s the point?”

‘There’s just not enough taxis in the city really’

My final stop is Castlegate where I get chatting to Lee Campbell.

He had been out celebrating a friend’s 40th birthday, and has been waiting for about half an hour to get home to Mugiemoss.

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He tells me such a long wait is unusual at this rank, because normally it’s only about five minutes for a taxi to come.

“There must be a few Christmas nights out. Normally here you’re pretty quick, but there’s just not enough taxis in the city really.

“And I’ve never managed to successfully use Uber in Aberdeen… I know it’s here now but I’ve just never been able to use it.”

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Utterly drenched, to the point the pages of my notepad stick together, I decide to head back to the office.

But I’m thankful that I get to drive home instead of wait for a taxi myself this time.

If there's one line in there that sums it all up in terms of stuff like elitism, entitlement and gaslighthing, or what we might call missing the point, (except that the point would never occur to these people because of the entitlement etc), then it's that last one. Why not be thankful she's not the one actually driving the cabs at the weekend and at that time of the morning?

Next she'll be lamenting the under-representation of women in the trade. Er, not

More likely to be writing some crime porn piece for P&J/Evening Express readers about how that gammon taxi driver was battered senseless by some drunk or drug addict. Or something like that

Anyway, I sort of glazed over reading the actual text. But I think the main takeaway in terms of new information is that Uber now have 20 cars in Aberdeen

But that's where the Wall Street $billions come in handy as compared to the vast majority of trade start-ups - they have a bottomless pit of money to throw at it, so can spend years on slowly building it all up, hoping that one day it will all come together, and start snowballing

And because of the degree of automation etc, in comparative terms the cost of building up a presence is probably pretty low compared to what a similar operation might have cost thirty years ago, say. And there's the usual economies of scale etc.

Also stuff like constant free advertising in the P&J because of articles like this, which prep customers in terms of anticipating the Uber service, and will also help attract the odd driver, and particularly the newly-badged ones. Thus it's a slow process, but they're getting there

The 20 will soon become 50, and then 100, and so on.

They will be heavily subsidised by Uber, until such a time they have 100s, and the drivers will then be subsidising Uber.

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IDFIMH

It’s a pity they didn’t have the poober App and tried to order one through that, I wonder how much it would have been with it being so busy I’m sure ‘dynamic’ pricing would have been in place. I took a fare Saturday night, he’d been waiting around twenty mins at the rank. It’s an eight or nine mile journey. Metered fare was £24.50. He commented that he usually used poober but they were asking for £43.00!!

Yes, that's an interesting observation, x-ray - although there are several mentions of Uber in the piece, and at least some of those quoted use the app, no word of anyone actually trying it while they were queuing

I mean, if they have a few cars then presumably a price would be quoted, but presumably through the roof?

Maybe that's why it's not mentioned in the piece

Even if I'm being too cynical (which, obviously, I'm not normally ) then in a piece like that you'd think they'd at least mention in the passing something about what was or wasn't on the app while they were all queuing etc

I mean, that's about as directly as the issue of booking an Uber at the time is addressed in the piece, but it's all a bit indirect.

As well as the couple of paragraphs, there's the slightly generic photo of the app there, although it is Aberdeen in the photo - I think that's Marischal College.

Several similar experiences in Glasgow - decent hires (for me) where Uber quoted about double the HC rate. Or their drivers 'cancelling' a booking.

I suspect he did try and book a Uber, but couldn't get one.

And not wanting to go against the pro-Uber press up there, he didn't mention it.

Or he is just one hell of a useless journalist.

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IDFIMH

For what it's worth, and for the avoidance of doubt, the author of the piece is actually a woman

Not that that's any fault of Sussex's for not reading the article properly, because you'd need to visit the source piece to realise the author isn't a male - I didn't include the byline above, and also didn't bother with the photo captions, which kind of gave the game away...

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After a wet couple of hours, I decide to head back to the office, without having to queue for an Aberdeen taxi.

(Although Sussex obviously didn't read my own comments )

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IDFIMH

Reply from taxi company's.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 3791191038