Taxi Driver Online

Same old, same old


Taxi driver says Bristol Airport parking charge hike making his 'life a nightmare'

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bris ... t-10758139

He said it runs a 'very unprofessional and unfair operation'

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A taxi driver has hit out at Bristol Airport and its increasing drop-off parking charges saying it makes his working life a nightmare.

Steve Usher, who has been driving private hire vehicles in the area for 23 years, said he was routinely stuck in the airport’s expensive drop off and pick up car park for longer than he needed to be, and that many alternatives the airport suggested were unrealistic.

“The airport operates a very unprofessional and unfair operation that is designed to take as much funds as they possibly can,” Mr Usher said.

He said he often spent longer than ten minutes dropping passengers off at the airport and as a result was often charged even more than the airport’s minimum fee of £8.50 for the Drop Off & Pick Up zone, which ultimately made his customers’ journeys much more expensive.

“At busy times you have to queue to park, then let all your passengers out and retrieve their luggage while they search for a trolley, for which there is yet another charge,” he said.

“Then you have to load trolleys and take their payment which often takes time because the signal at the airport isn’t very good.

“Once you move off, it is another 1-2 minutes to get to the payment barrier where you often have to queue and by the time you get to pay the rate has gone up because you might be a few minutes over the ten-minute limit.”

A stay of between ten and twenty minutes at the drop and go carpark costs £10.50. Mr Usher said he had spent nearly £2,000 dropping off and collecting passengers between January and September last year.

The airport has been heavily criticised for hiking parking fees substantially over the past decade. Ten years ago, a stay of up to twenty minutes in its drop and go carpark cost just £1.

"We wouldn't normally add that on to a customer's fare.," Mr Usher said. "But then then it went up to five quid, then six quid, seven quid, now it's eight pound fifty. Obviously we have to pass that on."

Parking charges now constitute the airport’s single biggest source of income; the minimum drop-off charge of £8.50 is second only to London Gatwick (£10) and more expensive than London Heathrow (£7). A ten-minute stay at Cardiff Airport is £3.

As an alternative to the drop-off car park, the airport runs a free shuttle bus from near the rental car area which takes about ten minutes to reach its new £60m public transport interchange, between three and five minutes' walk from the terminal building.

The shuttle bus is meant to run every fifteen minutes and is located near to a waiting zone where cars, and taxis, can stay for up to an hour at a time. However, Mr Usher disputed the frequency of the shuttle service.

“Many times when I have been waiting at the free waiting zone, travellers have approached me to run them to the main terminal as there have not been any shuttle buses and they fear they will miss their check-in,” he said.

Mr Usher also pointed out the waiting zone was a few hundred yards from the shuttle pick up point, which made it an unattractive option for those less able to walk, or when the weather was bad.

"There's only one person who's ever asked me to take advantage of the free zone, and then when I picked them up for the return, they said 'never again, it's not worth the hassle,'" he said.

A Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “Numerous taxi drivers and customers regularly use our drop off & pick up car park without issues or complications. We would be happy to discuss directly with the taxi driver any concerns they might have.

“The complimentary bus from car rentals runs every 15 minutes and is on demand overnight when fewer passengers require the service. For the majority of people it takes five minutes to walk from the waiting zone to catch the free bus.

"For customers who require additional assistance we have other car parking options available.”

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At least they don't have the Edinburgh system of £1 per minute after the first ten minutes

Although, to be fair, I've never experienced the kind of drop-off delays at Edinburgh that would mean going into £1 per minute territory. Although I'm certainly not at the airport as often as he seems to be, so don't know if there are ever delays at Edinburgh because of queuing at the barriers etc that would take you over the ten minute minimum charge period and into the £1 per minute money-grabbing

Anyway, I think this is really getting a bit out of hand, and the airports are getting a bit too big for their boots...

And their wings will be clipped...eventually.

why is it the drivers responsibility to find and load trolleys ?

Park, unload suitcases and take payment then away the passengers can find and load the trolly in their own time !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It's utter greed, and I hope a new government of whatever colour sorts it out.

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IDFIMH

ICYMI - interesting piece in Taxi Point a couple of days ago about a House of Commons (or Westminster Hall, specifically, which is supposedly a less formal alternative to a full debate in the Commons) debate on the subject. Fairly predictable response from the government minister, but I suppose it's at least good to know that some reasonably important people are on the case.

On the other hand, you don't need to know much about how the whole system operates to work out that if there is significant change eventually, the it will only happen many years down the line


House of Commons debate ‘unfair’ airport drop-off charges pushing up taxi and private hire fares

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/house ... hire-fares