Ross wrote:
Garry
Also I do know what I am fighting for. I am fighting to keep my standard of earnings to stay as they are and not be diluted by an increase in plates.
You haven't been paying attention Ross. In case you hadn't noticed your work has already been diluted - by an increse threefold in PH.
And the bus service. And Night buses. And rickshaws. And now tuk tuks.
Perhaps we should have described the argument in Janet and John terms. Then you may just have got it. Here's us thinking we were dealing with "businessmen" too?
Did you not understand the two drives one taxi = two drives two taxis rule?
The number of taxis may increase, but the number of drivers ain't gonna change dramatically. We're talking London here, not Dublin. We're talking about quality controls keeping numbers down.
But, when PH expands, it does so to lesser standards, with readily available cheap and transient labour. Guys who are not committed to the trade. Whenever an increase in demand occurs, by the time the taxi trade gets out of the starting blocks to meet it, because of resistance from owners protecting their plate values and high rentals, our customers have already been shoe-horned into PH.
This is why they are continually expanding. The taxi trade is doing nothing to protect its own business.
At a time when the big companies should be promoting the trade, they are fighting each other, wondering which one will go to the wall first.
When Comcab came to town, I thought they would try to buy up the other big two. They don't need to bother. They're attracting all the cars and drivers they need, at the pace they make to take work away from the other two. That's the cheap option. That's the business option.
You got to think seriously about this Ross. You want the taxi trade to exist, then you've got to promote its modernisation. You got to push for real quality controls. You've got to be prepared to take on PH to protect the trade.
Remeber it was the PH who didn't want more taxis in Edinburgh in the Jacobs Report. Can you understand why?