Taxi Driver Online

Where to start with all this?

This is a comment piece in today's Glasgow Herald (actually, now just called The Herald, but its previous title provides the clue for readers south of the border...).

So, unsurprisingly, unlike many not dissimilar articles over the year, this one focuses on the Scottish angle rather than the normally London-centric pieces of this ilk.

But it suffers the same shortcomings - and a major clue is in the usual use of the term 'ride-hailing' near the start. Which, of courses, conveys the immediate impression that Uber is more different to what went before than what it actually is. (Excepting, of course, the global brand, and app-based booking. And while the former is certainly new, the latter was simply pushing the technology envelope, as the ready adoption of app-booking by the traditional industry demonstrates.)

And the misleading ride-hailing term is related to another major deficiency, mainly the impression that the private hire sector simply didn't exist until Uber arrived. And still doesn't exist, apart from Uber, at least if all your knowledge about the Scottish industry is gleaned simply from this article

Funny thing in that regard, though, is that mention is made of the fact that Uber is licensed as private hire rather than as taxis. But, again, you'd be forgiven for thinking that only Uber are licensed as private hire.

But like similar articles I read in the London-centric mainstream press years ago, it makes for easier comment if you completely ignore the capital's minicab sector, and instead portray it simply as London's black cabs v Uber

But that's at the fundamental level, and the rest of this below is, while insightful in many respects, in other regards displays a distinct lack of nuance, and some simply misleading/incorrect stuff.

Another related example is several uses of the term 'fleet taxis and black cabs', which seems to be trying to portray a difference between the two. Not clear precisely what that difference is, though. If 'fleet taxis' means a taxi circuit, then surely that's 'black cabs' too?

(Unsurprisingly the author seems to be some sort of licensing practitioner - another recent piece by the same author quoted a Glasgow professor as saying that a "24-hour [alcohol consumption) model is increasingly becoming an expectation" Which in turn reminds me of yesterday's Hull piece, in which the judge said that women are 'entitled' to get so drunk they'll get into the back of a taxi/PHV with a predatory driver And that police won't even investigate until the same driver tries it on with another passenger )



Could traditional taxis triumph over Uber?

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/ ... umph-uber/

The arrival of Uber in the taxi industry marked a global revolution, offering a new level of convenience and affordability through its app-based ride-hailing service. With just a few taps, users could summon a driver, track their route in real-time, and pay digitally – a stark contrast to the traditional method of hailing or pre-booking taxis.

This model quickly caught on in Scotland in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow, where Uber's presence rapidly grew. In October, Uber officially launched in its third Scottish city, Aberdeen. A September 2017 study reported that since its introduction, over 400,000 people have taken an Uber in Scotland.

Ride-hailing apps like Uber have dramatically challenged the dominance of traditional taxis, long considered a staple of urban transport in Britain, and serving as a familiar sight on our streets. Uber’s flexible pricing attracted cost-conscious passengers, while its ease of use appealed to tech-savvy consumers. This shift disrupted the taxi industry, creating a divide between fleet taxis and black cabs and the more flexible, app-driven services that have reshaped urban transportation across the world.

Uber's dynamic pricing model, known as surge pricing, allows fares to fluctuate based on demand. During low-demand periods, passengers can benefit from significantly cheaper rides, appealing to budget-conscious users. However, during peak times – such as after major events or busy nights – prices can rise sharply, sometimes reaching inflated levels. While surge pricing ensures ride availability during high demand, it has sparked controversy, with some consumers feeling overcharged in these situations.

In contrast, fleet taxis operate on fixed meter fares that are regulated and offer some degree of transparency and predictability for passengers. While the Civic Government Scotland Act of 1996 mandates that fare scales be reviewed at least every 18 months, black cab drivers can charge lower fares if they choose, creating a measure of flexibility. Consumers appreciate knowing upfront that their fare won’t suddenly spike due to demand.

However, black cab fares are generally higher than Uber's during non-surge times, and cab drivers face mounting pressure to compete in an increasingly tech-driven market. Furthermore, with Uber, the fare is set before the ride begins, providing certainty, whereas in taxis, unpredictable factors like traffic jams or slow routes can cause fares to rise as the meter runs. As a result, many passengers now prefer ride-hailing apps, eroding the market share of black cabs and fleet taxis.

The licensing requirements for Uber drivers and taxi drivers in Scotland highlight a regulatory divide. Uber drivers operate under private hire licenses, which are relatively easy to obtain. Under the Civic Government Act of 1982, local councils in Scotland have significant authority to adjust licensing requirements, often adding extra hurdles for those seeking taxi driver licences. These licences allow drivers the added privileges of public hiring and street hailing. This regulation aims to ensure reliability and safety, making traditional taxis the go-to choice for city transport.

London’s iconic black cabs are renowned for their strict training, including the rigorous "Knowledge of London" test, established in 1865 to ensure drivers expertly navigate the city. Candidates spend three to four years memorising 320 routes and over 25,000 landmarks within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross, passing through seven stages of exams before obtaining their licence.

While London’s test is especially demanding, several areas in Scotland, such as Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth, and South Lanarkshire, also require taxi drivers, but not private hire drivers, to pass local knowledge exams tailored to their respective regions. These tests ensure that drivers can navigate local streets, landmarks, and key locations.

Uber’s model democratises access for drivers, allowing many to join with minimal upfront costs, often using personal vehicles and requiring no extensive training. This accessibility has opened driving as a source of income to a broader range of people, but it has also intensified competition with traditional taxis. Fleet taxi drivers, and in particular black cab drivers, facing more stringent regulations and higher costs, may feel that Uber's more lenient licensing allows it to undercut prices and erode their customer base. Tim, a black cab driver I spoke with, said many taxi drivers feel unsupported by government and local councils, viewing Uber as benefitting from preferential treatment and reduced oversight.

This sense of regulatory inequity is further intensified by Uber's legal battles in cities like London where, despite ongoing safety concerns and licensing disputes, Uber has repeatedly secured operating licences. For instance, in a pivotal case, Uber was granted an 18-month licence in London after demonstrating progress in safety measures, despite historical failings concerning incidents of non-licensed drivers borrowing Uber licences and fraudulently accessing the platform.

Transport for London reported that there were at least 14,000 fraudulent trips in London in late 2018 and early 2019 and that dismissed or suspended drivers had been able to create Uber accounts and carry passengers. While the court found Uber had made enough improvements to continue operating, critics, including the The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, argue that Uber’s scale makes it difficult to regulate effectively but too consequential to fail. As Uber and similar platforms continue to expand, the regulatory disparities create an increasingly challenging environment for taxi drivers, who must balance financial and regulatory burdens in an industry now shaped by ride-hailing giants.

In response to safety concerns, Uber has introduced a range of in-app safety features designed to reassure passengers and improve security. These include real-time GPS tracking of rides, which allows both riders and Uber to monitor journeys; a ride-sharing option, enabling users to share their trip details with friends or family; and an emergency button, which instantly alerts authorities if a passenger feels at risk.

These features have contributed to many users viewing Uber as a safer mode of transport, particularly among younger generations who value the convenience of app-based security tools. However, older generations often feel more comfortable relying on traditional taxi companies, which are known for their rigorous driver training and comprehensive vehicle checks. For these users, the established procedures and face-to-face familiarity of traditional taxis offer a level of trust that app-based services may struggle to match. This contrast highlights generational preferences in balancing convenience with perceived safety and regulatory standards.

The rise of Uber has created a divide in driver experiences between those working as taxi drivers, and those working for the platform. Uber drivers in Scotland, such as Amir Humza from Glasgow, report a decline in earnings despite rising costs for customers, with drivers’ pay decreasing gradually while expenses, such as fuel and insurance, climb.

Many Uber drivers express frustration at the lack of transparency in how fares are calculated, and GMB Scotland, which represents some Uber drivers, has voiced concern over Uber's failure to account for these rising expenses. Though Uber claims its drivers are guaranteed the National Living Wage and engages regularly with unions, drivers like Humza feel the system is stacked against them.

In contrast, in response to taxi drivers' concerns over rising operational costs, Glasgow's licensing committee recently approved a 9.72% fare increase and adjusted the evening surcharge, allowing an extra £1.50 to be charged starting at 9pm. instead of 11pm. This decision highlights the advantages of being part of an established taxi network, where drivers can benefit from regulatory support and fare adjustments through the formal licensing process.

Looking forward, the long-term sustainability of both industries in Scotland is uncertain. Uber’s rapid expansion suggests a potential for dominance, but ongoing consumer and regulatory scrutiny over issues like driver pay, passenger safety, and fairness may lead to a revival of the traditional taxi, particularly as they evolve to incorporate app-based booking. Ultimately, a key question remains: Can Scotland’s market accommodate both Uber and traditional taxis, or is the competition destined to favour one over the other?

Can't be bothered going back through it all to cover the various points - should have taken notes while reading it

But off the top of my head - and after a quick skim back through - some stuff that stands out:


Er, haven't we constantly been told over the last couple of years that Aberdeen's taxi and PH badge requirements are the same?

Think Dundee is similar. And, could be wrong, but didn't Glasgow make the badge requirements the same, or have I got it the wrong way round?


Worth noting, however, that Uber's fixed pricing model is a relatively recent thing, and everything else in the article could effectively remain unchanged even if Uber had retained taxi-style metered pricing.


A great way to characterise cheap labour - 'democratise access'

As for Uber drivers using 'personal vehicles', no more personal as far as I know than the vast majority of PH and HCs I've ever known...if I replated my car and went to work for Uber in Dundee, for example, would it magically transform itself into a 'personal' vehicle?


Any easier to become an Uber driver than a traditional PHD? No, unless you go via Wolverhampton, which isn't an option in Scotland. (And which is also used by hundreds of traditional PH operators anyway, therefore...)


If 'ride-hailing' isn't annoying enough, why not mention 'ride-sharing' as well? Which is another misleading term, but even in its normal incorrect sense doesn't mean the same as the way in which the author here is using it

A system that 99.9% of firms with more than 50 cars also have.

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IDFIMH

I'm not sure how many vehicles are on the Uber app in Scotland, so I'm going to guess at 250 (more than likely an underestimate).

If we say that on average each booking has two customers that means 200,000 jobs, divide that by the 7 years means 28,500 jobs a year.

Divide that by the 250 drivers gives each driver 114 jobs a year, or just over 2 jobs a week. Even SW's graveyard rank is busier than that.

Not selling it to me.

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IDFIMH

Not sure that's the case everywhere in Scotland, Aberdeen springs to mind as being one area.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, I'd guess the author's figures came from this document below (not dated, but I'd guess from around 2018), which says Uber has around 1,000 'driver-partners' in Glasgow and Edinburgh

So I'd guess now the numbers would be significantly higher - maybe pushing 2,000. (And that's ignoring the small numbers in Aberdeen (or any who have signed up in Dundee, assuming they ever launch there).

But, anyway, it means your analysis showing that the figure if 400,000 people/200,000 jobs in Scotland since launch is even more ridiculous. With 1,000 drivers they must be looking at something like 20,000 jobs a day even a few years ago, so 200,000 jobs in total since launch is just laughable

(In fact the document says 90,000 passengers in the past month, so just 400,000 passengers since launch seems improbable )

Therefore I'd guess the 400,000 number actually refers to different people rather than total jobs/passengers

But which at first glance looks equally improbable, because that would mean 1 in 10 adults in Scotland had used an Uber by 2017, which seems hugely unlikely - even now, I very much doubt 1 in 10 adults in Glasgow and Edinburgh have used an Uber, never mind the rest of Scotland

But I'd guess the circle is easily squared by tourists and visitors etc. Which would hugely boost user numbers in the likes of a small town like St Andrews, which doesn't even have Uber.

Even in St Andrews - and certainly in the summer months - there must be hundreds of new taxi users every week, who'll never use a taxi in St Andrews again, or at least it might be a year or two until they use a local taxi again.

So extrapolate that to the likes of Edinburgh, and there must be hundreds of visitors to the city (even from England) every week who will use Uber because it's on their smartphone, and who will thus count as a new Uber user in Scotland.

Which over Edinburgh and Glasgow, and over just a couple of years, will soon add up to tens of thousands of 'new Uber users in Scotland'. Therefore...

(And probably a few thousand new students each year between the two cities who'll count as new Uber users (and mums and dads and relatives passing through), thus over several years...)

This is the document here - don't know what it's all about, precisely, and can't be bothered reading it all.

But looks like and Uber submission to some sort of Scottish Government consultation on the 'collaborative economy', or something like that

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/d ... 20CCPU.pdf

Agree the article tends to suggest the overall trade is HC or Uber – it’s not that simple.

I wasn’t driving cabs when Uber started in Glasgow around 2015, but I think it was expected they’d take work away from the established PH firms (more than from HCs).

To answer the article’s heading ‘could traditional taxis triumph over Uber?’, I’d say yes (sort of).

Passengers are looking for better/faster/cheaper and HCs can survive by doing at least 2 out of 3. I still regularly get street hires because Uber didn’t turn up or were quoting outrageous fares.

As a driver, my one possible envy of Uber is that payment is pretty much assured – no runners or arguments about fares when I’ve already done the job. But I could just sign up to Gett if I wanted.

And the article hints at another angle but doesn’t really dig into it –

The rise of Uber has created a divide in driver experiences between those working as taxi drivers, and those working for the platform. Uber drivers in Scotland, such as Amir Humza from Glasgow, report a decline in earnings despite rising costs for customers, with drivers’ pay decreasing gradually while expenses, such as fuel and insurance, climb.

There are other apps competing directly with Uber – if Uber doesn’t do what drivers AND passengers want, they’ll go straight to another app. In a tech-business, that can happen quickly – Blackberry is an example. And being the biggest or first-to-market won’t stop it.

No knowledge for a PH badge in Glasgow – you’re likely recalling that the HC badge is also valid for PH.

Thanks for the clarification about the Glasgow knowledge, Mr XH558

But I take issue with your suggestion that my confusion was due to the effective dual badge (as they're known down south) conferred by gaining an HC badge

In fact it was probably due to numerous press articles and threads on here (at least a year or two before lockdown) about the revamped Glasgow qualification for both codes, part of which was the SVQ thingy

Anyway, there were a few reports, including stuff about the knowledge element, but this was the usual confusion and conflation between the two codes that's often seen in press reporting. This is one of the threads here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34377

When it was later a bit more cut and dried, Unite actually complained about a headline on the Glasgow Live website, and according to a quote in this thread, an intended article in the Evening News was pulled because of the confusion:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34976

Which is slightly tangential to our point (the dispute was more directly about the suggestion that knowledge and English tests were part of the SVQ, I think) but if you read some of the earlier articles you get the impression that a knowledge test would apply to PHDs as well. And I think that sort of reporting went on for a couple of years at least.

So that's why I couldn't remember whether prospective PHDs in Glasgow had to pass a knowledge test - it was basically misreported for some time, and I'd forgotten what the actual outcome was, despite posting stuff about the outcome on here...

True - Glasgow news outlets seem to use the term 'private hire taxi' most of the time. I've given up shouting 'which is it?'.

Indeed, Mr XH558. Although I don't think the Glasgow press is the worst when it comes to stuff like that. In fact I'd say better than most. (Edinburgh not too bad either).

On the other hand, the earlier articles were quite specific about the differentiation between the two codes, and portrayed the impression that the knowledge (and English) tests would apply to both. Of course, strictly speaking the headline here just refers to what I normally call HCs (to avoid confusion), but you'd also guess that the t-word might be being used generically. But reading down to the highlighted text, and in the round you can only construe it as meaning that both tests applied to both codes

Except, of course, to the extent that whoever wrote the piece got it wrong - it wasn't just because of confusion with the terminology

And, of course, there was this cracker, repeated in several outlets, about the driver who ran over the 'mum' lying unconcious in the road: "private licenced taxi driver".

If basic terminology and concepts can be mangled like that about stuff we know is incorrect, what might that say about the rest of the article

(Not sure if it's a good or bad thing that the word 'hire' is omitted from the term above. Or if the unusual insertion of the word 'licenced' in the middle of it all is good or bad. But certainly odd, even by the usual standards of stuff like this )

Hi New poster
I can confirm Aberdeen council insist all PH have to do the street knowledge test and that is what's stopping uber from getting drivers. They have been up and running for about two months and only have one driver. They are trying everything to get the test scrapped / meetings with chamber of commerce/ local newspaper running stories of shortage of taxis and uber could get 200 drivers tomorrow if the test was scrapped. Even got a story on STV news about a shortage of taxis in Aberdeen.

So existing PH drivers are not signing up to Uber and now they're trying to find a way to get new drivers who will?

I suspect a lot of pressure is being applied to the existing trade to stay where they are, maybe along the lines of ‘if you join Uber you are not working here anymore’.

This is what happened with in B&H, but it failed in the end.

Sadly Uber have deep pockets and they will massively incentivise drivers to join, including guaranteed income, subsidised vehicle rentals and free knowledge schools.

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IDFIMH