Taxi Driver Online

Haven't had much chance to look at this yet, but oddly I saw this in the early hours on the Lancashire Post website before it was even on TaxiPoint, so there was no source documentation available (presumably they issued a press release).

But this is interesting to the extent it's aimed at the general public rather than the more specialist readership on TaxiPoint.


Inaugural national survey report reveals the realities of taxi and private hire driving in the UK

https://www.lep.co.uk/community/inaugur ... uk-4990405

The 2024/25 National Taxi & Private Hire Driver Survey has revealed the growing pressures and challenges faced by drivers across the UK, highlighting financial strains, passenger behaviour concerns, and the increasing role of technology in the trade.

Conducted by Blackburn-based business, TaxiPlus, in collaboration with industry publication TaxiPoint, the survey gathered responses from over 1,400 taxi and private hire drivers nationwide, creating one of the most comprehensive snapshots of the industry to date.

The Cost of Being a Driver

The report found that rising operational costs are among the biggest concerns for drivers, with many struggling to maintain financial stability amid increased fuel prices, insurance premiums, and maintenance fees.

On average, drivers spend £477 per month on fuel and £2,770 annually on vehicle maintenance, but these costs vary widely depending on location. Northern Ireland emerged as the most expensive place to be a driver, while regions in the north of England generally recorded lower costs.

James Parkinson, Marketing Executive at TaxiPlus, noted that these figures reflect the financial pressure drivers are under.

"Being a taxi or private hire driver is getting more expensive every year, and for many, it’s becoming harder to turn a profit. The cost of fuel, insurance, and vehicle upkeep continues to climb, and for some, the numbers simply don’t add up anymore."

Shocking Passenger Behaviour

The survey also uncovered worrying trends in passenger behaviour, with over 40% of drivers reporting instances of verbal or physical abuse, and 28.4% saying they had witnessed passengers taking drugs in their vehicles.

One of the starkest figures comes from Yorkshire & the Humber, where over half of drivers (53.7%) said they had passengers using drugs in their cabs—the highest percentage in the country.

Additionally, nearly half of all drivers (46.3%) have had passengers vomit in their vehicle, with figures rising to over 60% in Wales and Northern Ireland.

One taxi driver, responding to the survey, said: "The things we have to put up with are shocking. Some nights, it's like being a babysitter for drunk and disorderly passengers."

The Role of Technology in the Industry

Despite the challenges, the report shows that the trade is continuing to embrace technology, with 81% of drivers using ride-hailing or booking apps to source work. However, the shift to digital platforms is not uniform across the country, with some regions seeing far lower adoption rates than others.

TaxiPoint, which partnered on the report, said:"Technology is now a key part of the industry, but it’s clear that some areas are slower to adapt. There’s a major divide between urban and rural areas when it comes to app usage, and this is shaping the way drivers find work."

What’s Next for the Industry?The findings paint a picture of an industry that is increasingly difficult to operate in, with financial pressures and passenger behaviour taking a toll on drivers. While technology continues to change the landscape, it is clear that many in the trade are struggling.

The full 2024 National Taxi & Private Hire Driver Survey is available now and provides an in-depth look at the cost of being a driver, regional differences, and key industry trends.

Don't think there's much of that going on here in St Andrews, but back in Dundee...

But, of course, at the very least, strictly speaking you'd be breaching your licence conditions by allowing your vehicle to be used for an 'illegal purpose', or whatever the wording is

Equally, you're not normally going to say anything...and whether police would be interested either is another matter


Apropos of absolutely nothing at all in the national press recently, as Sheryl Crow never said

https://youtu.be/bdeUM2e-yIM?t=20

Think the above is the outcome of this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=40597&p=433363

Confirms what most of us already know.

The trade is expensive to work in, the job can be dangerous and the trade is generally adaptable to new things.

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IDFIMH

This is TaxiPoint's take on it here, which is obviously a bit more trade-oriented than the mainstream press version above:

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/indus ... s-from-cro


And this is the download link to the actual survey:

https://www.taxiplus.co.uk/s/National-T ... 024-25.pdf

Three fares an hour? If only...

Well that was my immediate response, but looking at the survey details per region, it looks more like roughly 1.5-2.0 jobs per hour, except in London

Even London doesn't quite make three fares per hours - it's 2.933.

And Scotland is actually 1.54 jobs per hour Northern Ireland 1.41

Can't be bothered crunching all the numbers, but I just don't think saying the average driver 'completes
around three fares an hour' is really representative of the UK as a whole.

Not sure if we're actually told the amount of drivers in the survey per each region, but maybe the problem is that London is grossly over-represented in the total, and thus skews the national average (if there were 100 drivers from London did the survey, but only 10 from Scotland, say).

But even then I'd bet the real figure is nearer two jobs per hour rather than three. And maybe with small numbers like two, three or four, or whatever, they should quote a more precise average (2.5, say) because rounding small numbers like that can give a false impression.

And then for other stuff the give figures to one tenth of one per cent (68.7%, say), which is probably what statisticians call a spurious level of accuracy

(In fact, a lot of the stats used are to one hundredth of one per cent (54.93%, say), which is just, er...

And then as a consequence you get figures like 20.00%, and or 43.00%, which maybe confirms that the sample size is often quite small, and to that extent the accuracy is spurious.)

Be amazed if the actual average age is 44. I wished they stated, maybe they did, that the average age of those who responded was 44. I would add at least another 10 years to that.

I would also question how accurate the 45-hour-a-week stat is.

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IDFIMH

Was thinking that as well, but now I'm not so sure. I'd guess 44 wouldn't be too far off the mark in my manor, because the, er, dominant demographic here in NE Fife now is a good bit younger than it was 25 years ago

And if you consider what the survey calls 'ride-hailing' drivers, or whatever, then I'd guess if there's a lot of them in the survey then that would drag the average age down a fair bit, at least compared to what you'd think of in terms of the average London HCD's age, for example.

And, I mean, they must be including the likes of Uber drivers in all that if this is the list of the "Top 10 Car Models for London Taxi Drivers"

LEVC TX - 421
Ford Galaxy - 232
Ford Mondeo - 103
Skoda Superb - 74
Citroen Berlingo - 65
Mercedes E-Class - 66
Mercedes Vito - 57
Hyundai i40 - 58
Toyota Corolla - 39
Ford Tourneo - 2

On the Romney Marsh you're lucky to get 3 fares a day let alone 3 an hour! Too much dead mileage back from runs to the middle of nowhere.

I take it Romney Marsh wasn't included in the survey then, Roy

Anyway, still only had a quick skim through, apart from a wee look at the jobs per hour data above.

Looks like some very useful stuff, and I suspect there are lots of little nuggets in there as well. But, I mean, nearly 80 pages

But a lot of it smacks of what PHTM was doing with the fare tables once upon a time. Micro-analysis of regional fare variations, for example, that was ridiculously detailed and detracted from the higher-level analysis.

If PHTM wanted to expand its tariff tables, instead of what they did they'd maybe have been better expanding it to include T2, for example, or maybe some other tariff variable that's quite common, and can make a significant difference to the basic tariff.

And, roughly speaking, I'd say this latest survey suffers from some of the same shortcomings - too much micro detail and pointless analysis (for example, regional variations on driver likes/dislikes/issues that are of questionable utility and spurious accuracy - the figures stated to two decimal percentage points [eg 78.42% or whatever], most obviously).

Of course, everybody will have differences of opinion as regards what they think of it all, and what they'd like to see, precisely.

But, in a nutshell, overall I think there's too much detail on the one hand, and zero information regarding other interesting topics on the other hand

it might be interesting to find out the sample size and how wide it was geographically because the results might not be as reflective of the UK as a whole if it was restricted

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

Drafted a few hundred words about some of the stuff I was looking at earlier. But will leave that aside at the moment.

But look at the table about Uber on page 17. Am I going totally doolally, or is that table just complete and utter nonsense?

Make it make sense

And that whole dual-licence thing is a fatal flaw in the entire document, in my opinion at least

Only way I can rationalise it is to assume a dual-licence is the badge (well, duh), and to that extent they're conflating badges and plates. I can't really see the relevance of a lot of the stats throughout the document, in terms of the dual licences, because presumably the vast majority of them are either driving HC or PH the vast majority of the time, and not both, and to that extent there seems to be little relevance to the dual-badging in terms of statistical analysis. They should have asked drivers which code they normally drove under, and analyse the responses that way, rather than treat dual-licences as a different category.

I think they seem to be treating the dual-licences as some kind of dual plate, which obviously doesn't exist. Well it does, but that's what are called HCs (or called 'taxis' in the survey).

Don't like that table on page 16 about app usage either

The list of apps to the left suggests the table is all about, err, ride-hailing apps, as opposed to apps used by legacy circuits as well.

The table only really makes sense if you assume the whole list applies to any booking app of any kind, thus including apps used by legacy circuits.

I mean, 98% of HCs in the East Midlands are using apps?

Even if you include the apps used by legacy circuits, I just don't believe 98% is representative.

And Uber is only the most used app in two of the areas?

And Ola the most used app in Scotland? Oh, my aching sides

And in most regions HC drivers are more likely to use apps than PH drivers...??

...make it make sense

I'd always thought Ola never even launched in Scotland, so tried quick Google:


Yet according to the survey table, it's the most popular app in the south-east (including Sussex's manor, presumably) in a survey conducted late 2024?

Can't really say I recall Ola launching anywhere in the south-east

Make it make sense.

Yep, it's utter bo*****s.

Again I wish the survey would state a bit more often that the replies are evidence of respondents and don't necessarily reflect the national trade. For that we have the annual DfT stats.

Which I agree doesn't mirror the questions asked in this survey but at least is an accurate assessment of the national trade.

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IDFIMH