D_A_V
08-02-2005, 20:10
After more than doubling the number of cabs working the streets of Sheffield has anyone noticed an improvement,( apart from some councilor shaking his politician head and saying I don't quite agree with that) I think not.
Recently a new cab driver asked the council for a list of taxi ranking spaces to ply his trade in, and discovered that an unbelievable figure of thirty-one spaces are provided by the City Council for Sheffield's almost six hundred and fifty cabs. If that is not a recipe for unrest in the "ranks" I don't know what is.
I understand that the number of cabs have increased by roughly the same as the private hire cars have decreased. Simply means that just over 300 private hire drivers have bought themselves Black cabs and are swelling the numbers in town, leaving fewer private hire cars to serve the public on the outskirts on bookings. No surprise then that taxi companies like RCA and MERCURY are struggling to provide a decent service on the outskirts of Sheffield. The balance that had existed between cabs and cars in taxis has permanently been altered in favor of a poorer less disciplined service.
The taxi drivers association is now asking the council to limit the number (They have the authority to do that) because they fear not even being able to earn a living, and that will inevitably lead to poorly maintained and unsafe cabs. I am sure you will hear more about this as more and more independent cab drivers join the trade and scrape the same barrel yet again.
Some pen-pushers from the Office of Fair Trading came up with this seriously flawed idea in a report, of unlimited number of taxis for every city and Sheffield was one of about four local Authorities who jumped on the bandwagon. Most of the other larger cities have opted to keep tight control on the quantity and quality of taxis in their cities. Sheffield council is trying to now make sense of chaos that seems to be looming for Sheffield’s taxi trade.
What do you think a solution for better service could be?
:confused::confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :heyhey:
Recently a new cab driver asked the council for a list of taxi ranking spaces to ply his trade in, and discovered that an unbelievable figure of thirty-one spaces are provided by the City Council for Sheffield's almost six hundred and fifty cabs. If that is not a recipe for unrest in the "ranks" I don't know what is.
I understand that the number of cabs have increased by roughly the same as the private hire cars have decreased. Simply means that just over 300 private hire drivers have bought themselves Black cabs and are swelling the numbers in town, leaving fewer private hire cars to serve the public on the outskirts on bookings. No surprise then that taxi companies like RCA and MERCURY are struggling to provide a decent service on the outskirts of Sheffield. The balance that had existed between cabs and cars in taxis has permanently been altered in favor of a poorer less disciplined service.
The taxi drivers association is now asking the council to limit the number (They have the authority to do that) because they fear not even being able to earn a living, and that will inevitably lead to poorly maintained and unsafe cabs. I am sure you will hear more about this as more and more independent cab drivers join the trade and scrape the same barrel yet again.
Some pen-pushers from the Office of Fair Trading came up with this seriously flawed idea in a report, of unlimited number of taxis for every city and Sheffield was one of about four local Authorities who jumped on the bandwagon. Most of the other larger cities have opted to keep tight control on the quantity and quality of taxis in their cities. Sheffield council is trying to now make sense of chaos that seems to be looming for Sheffield’s taxi trade.
What do you think a solution for better service could be?
:confused::confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :heyhey: