Taxi Driver Online

.. on the Buses!

(Radio 4 News item)

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Former taxi driver

See if we had a fully dereg taxi fleet then our fares could go up that high.

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IDFIMH

If we had a fully dereg taxi fleet then our fares would fall, and you know it. The over supply of any service will only lead to suppressed prices. The evidence is there for all to see. After bus dereg, fares fell until companies went bust or were taken over. There is little or no competition now, and fares have risen. House prices are high, because demand exceeds supply. Go to America, and supply exceeds demand, and therefore house prices have fallen through the floor. "It's the economy, stupid."

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Former taxi driver

Is it?

Perhaps you could be a bit more specific about what you mean.

Wayne Casey persistently tells us that because fares are set by LAs then the claims by the likes of the NCC that derestriction would lower fares is tosh.

On the other hand, studies of proper deregulation in the US show fares rising.

And are you saying that in unrestricted areas there's always fare discounting whereas in restricted areas there isn't?

Don't think so.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

1) Yes.

2) Buses and Houses as above post.

3) Wayne Casey has his view of the taxi world, I have mine. However I think you may well have misconstrued or even misrepresented Mr Casey's view.

4) Just been to the US, and was careful to note the rates In Las Vegas, San Diego and Palm Springs. May have been the exchange rate, but I thought rates were on the low side. Make that the LOW side.

5) No, I am not saying that at all. Restricted or derestricted, does not mean over or under supply. The over supply of any goods or service will obviously lead to discounting of prices to starve out the opposition, so that prices can rise once again, which was that point of the original post, that the reason bus fares have risen by 168% in the last ten years is because the big boys have frozen out the small fry, by forcing them into bancruptcy or by buying them out.

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Former taxi driver

So in what way have I misrepresented or misconstrued Wayne Casey's views?

As for the rest of your post, you're not comparing like with like, and you're ignoring the idiosycracies of taxi markets.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I said you MAY have misrepresented Mr Casey, because I have no idea where your original "quote" came from.

Why am I NOT comparing "like with like" ?

The idiosincracities of the taxi market is exactly the reason why I would like to see localised solutionsto the taxi market.

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Former taxi driver

So you suggest that someone MAY have done something wrong without a scintalla of evidence? That's an honourable way to conduct yourself jimbo.

I might as well suggest that you MAY be paedophile because I've no evidence to the contrary.



For a start, an LA can easily cause undersupply or oversupply in taxi markets merely by pegging fares at a particular level. How does that compare to your comparisons?




Well I was actually referring to universal 'market failure' in taxi markets, not local issues.

But since you raise the issue, and I've never seen it satisfactorily addressed in the past, perhaps you could give me a few examples of these local idiosyncracies?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Is that the same US where New York plates fetch in excess of $300k and similar in all major cities. The home of the free-market and enterise limits the number of Taxis, its REGULATED. Their PH equivilent is the Limo & Chaufeur license.