Taxi Driver Online

Maybe it's just me, but fare review articles from the Wirral almost seem to come along almost as regularly as PHD application decisions from Glasgow

And I'd put a lot of money on this NOT being written by AI


Bosses in one part of Merseyside warned taxi charges must go up or there will be no cabs at all

https://www.liverpoolworld.uk/news/traf ... ll-5438714


Image: Getty Images/Liverpool World

Taxi fares in Wirral will go up after drivers pleaded with councillors for the increase. One driver warned the local authority they would be faced with no hackney carriages without it.

At a regulatory and general purposes committee on December 10, Wirral councillors approved a proposal put forward by Unite the Union to raise hackney carriage fares in the borough. This is following a number of objections received by the local authority.

Unite had put forward a proposal earlier this year which went out for feedback with an advertisement in the Wirral Globe as well as communication to drivers directly. As a result, four people wrote back to the council with concerns.

This will see day rates increase by as much as 13% for longer journeys, little change to night and bank holiday rates, and an increase of 13% for one mile journeys at Christmas and New Years. A new tariff will be introduced for journeys stopping four miles or more beyond Wirral.

The council said the number of hackney carriage drivers in the borough has gone down similar to trends across the UK. Wirral Council used to have a limit of drivers in the borough but the council was no longer at that stage with only 137 active vehicles.

Gary Gregory, from Unite the Union, said: “The world is a real place. It’s not a fantasy world you live in. Costs go up all the time. Everyone in this room has got something to buy that’s more this year than it was last year. That’s the same for me.”

He added: “Often I have got to sit on the same tariff for years and years and I can’t increase my income in any way whatsoever. That is why we need a rise.”

The driver said he had tried to contact the council’s licensing manager Andrew Bushell telling him “I thought you had died” after he claimed the council had offered to waive a fee. Mr Bushell said the possible fee waiver was discussed but Mr Gregory was only told it would be looked at.

The council’s solicitor Paul Martin also said the money generated from fees could not be used for this purpose. He said the licence fee was the responsibility of the driver.

Mr Gregory said there used to be queues for licences but now you can’t give them away, adding: “You will have no hackney fleet. If you can’t allow people to make a living from it, we won’t be here.”

He told councillors hackney carriage drivers could soon become more competitive too when VAT is applied to more private hire vehicles. The government has announced these changes will be brought in from January 2.

Colin Johnson said drivers were waiting for more than an hour for a fare and were effectively working below minimum wage. He said drivers had also lost out after a rank was removed in central Birkenhead.

Clr Craig Walsh-McDonald said he had spoken to drivers as well as members of the public receiving a mixed response about what should happen. He said the council also had to consider the increased cost of living when it came to drivers’ livelihoods.

Cllr Stephen Bennett said the council did need to consider the objections who “feel it’s a big rise” but also the borough could be higher than Sefton and Knowsley if fares went up. He said taxi drivers did need a raise but councillors needed to consider all aspects.

Councillors voted to approve the increased fares. The fares will be introduced by January 26 with some drivers possibly being able to do so before this date.

Just one of the many sentences that read like they definitely didn't originate via ChatGPT, or whatever


...and it's the usual conflation of driver and vehicle numbers


Aye, the real world is moving on, and away from public hire towards pre-booking, and maybe yet another rise is cutting your own throat?


Can't be bothered looking back, but my recollection of the Wirral fare reviews doesn't quite concur with that.


No, me neither


Same hugely exaggerated stuff here in Fife about the lack of a 30% fare rise being an extinction-level event for the trade, while the ranks are overrun with vacant cars

If public hire cars do disappear, I think it'll be for reasons other than fare levels per se

And they're still romanticising and fantasising about £50k plates in the Wirral after, er, how many years? 25? (And probably more like £100k at today's price levels. But can't see that coming back, somehow...)


Er, won't this just be in London, and not in the rest of the UK? And wasn't that because of litigation undertaken by, you know, a high-profile private hire firm on Merseyside?

We are in different times now.

Years ago, I would have been rather unkind to unions scaremongering about the end of the world when requesting an above-inflation fare rise.

But in areas such as Wirral, where replacement vehicles will cost between £60,000 and £80,000, the chances of all drivers being able to finance such vehicles are slim.

So it will mean fewer hackneys available, but they will be replaced or enhanced ( ), by more PH.

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IDFIMH

When I saw the Echo's headline and strapline framing here, assumed it would be a different piece, and that the shift to private hire and Uber in particular would be covered


Taxi fares to rise and driver says 'I thought you died'

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... s-33037145

The area was told it could have no drivers left as people move to Uber and private hire




Funny thing, though, is that it's exactly the same piece, as far as I can see, and Uber isn't even mentioned

But the strapline framing above is precisely what I was getting at earlier - it kind of makes it sound like the HCs need a tariff rise to stave off the threat from Uber and private hire