Night Time Fare Increase
The fact that licensing of private hire had begun while I was away
in Deauville pour la vacation d'été, was hardly a shock to me upon my
return. Neither was the ending of the six mile limit in return for a
night-time increase, as I seem to be the only member of the trade press
who considers that we have been lucky to have had the benefit of such
an out-of-date law for so long into the 20th century, let alone the
21st. That regulation itself has probably caused more anti-taxi jokes
and loss of work than anything else in memory and is probably the
reason why minicabs have made such large inroads into our industry.
"Sorry guv, it's over 6 miles," coming from the lips of the
supposedly most professional taxi driving service in the world to a
frustrated potential passenger trying to get home, is just a mockery.
Given the choice, the passenger won't bother asking again...
Even more sadly though, the increase will not make the
difference to the numbers driving licensed taxis at night that Mayor
Livingstone has been told will happen by some trade organisations.
But how will the increase affect the radio? As the average
evening radio trip is over £20, we can safely assume that most of
those trips will increase by over £4, but will our larger account
clients be happy to pay all these extra four quids during the evening
at a time when many companies are already downsizing their projected
profit margins for the coming year? And what do these clients get for
that extra money spent with us? We actually agree to take them if it's
over six miles - but on DaC, we take them anyway...!
We already have enough minicabs out there taking work
right, left and centre, some of who now may have the respectability of
being licensed and who will take you anywhere without a hint of the
"sorry guv, I'm going home" syndrome. Fortunately,
Dial-a-Cab's clients seem to be very happy with the service they
receive, just as most drivers are happy to provide it.
But now any DaC client who spends £1million during the evening period
could find that section of his yearly travel bill going up by around 15
- 20%. Could that make them look for another supplier within the newly
licensed private hire section of the trade? Let's hope not because as a
night charge, the increase isn't particularly expensive for the privilege of getting a taxi at night -
although there were some in the trade who wanted a 50% increase in total fares! Thank God that wasn't taken on board.
Call Sign (via Brian Rice's Chairman's Report), was the first magazine to reveal that Mayor Ken's right hand man on transport Bob Kylie, was the very same man responsible for taking radios out of New York's Yellow Cabs and allowing them to only pick up street hails while allowing Limousines to do all the radio work. I can't say I was sorry to see Mr Kylie go. However, the same situation in London could still come one step closer once the increase comes in. Yet there are still those out there who think that we should be able to charge £25 from the West End to Victoria just because the touts do it. That is a very dangerous dreamworld. After all, would you expect to pay the same price for tickets to see a West End show from the box office as you would have to pay to a tout? The theatres would slowly revert to usage by the rich only, before finally dying...
Make no mistake about it, private hire are already making waves behind the scenes telling anyone who will listen that they are happy for taxis to pick up exclusively on the streets (gee, thanks!) but that THEY should do ALL the radio work. After all, they claim, the Knowledge only really applies to street work because you usually get warning as to the destination of a radio trip.
Addison Lee Chairman, John Griffin has already gone into print in London's Evening Standard claiming that Taxis should do street trips only and he has a lot of support - and money - behind him. He is also a very shrewd businessman...
My view has yet to change from the unsolicited LTB preaching I did last year. That was that a night-time fare increase - albeit perhaps justified - wouldn't be the answer. The only answer is more licensed taxis out on the streets with a Knowledge that isn't easier, but just back to where it was when I passed out with an average time of 18 - 24 months if you worked hard.
Take a read of the DaC logo
winner for July, Jim Moore, in this issue. Why should an 84-day appointment at the PCO take 120 days?
And THAT is where the problem is. More staff at the PCO and more cabs on the
road. Believe me, it won't always be quiet...
I keep hearing and seeing photos of queues of taxis waiting to
get into Paddington during the day- time and I'm sure it's true, but equally
I have lots of recent photos showing the queue of passengers waiting for
cabs in the evening. The answer of more cabs won't be popular to those
day-men, but what if that same attitude prevailed when the KoL did only take
18 months to 2 years and it had taken double the time? We would now only
have around 15,000 taxis and this trade would be struggling to survive
because the estimated 60,000 minicabs floating about (and who all seem to
find work) would have now been at least 80,000. This trade has always
managed to assimilate however many Knowledge students have passed out. A KoL
lasting 3 - 4 years is forcibly stopping that number rising at the rate it
should. After all, pro-rata, those 60,000 minicabs are only doing work that
we originally did.
My conclusion? Just giving up the 6-mile limit isn't enough
bearing in mind the constantly increasing minicab numbers, we need to expand
both in London and the suburbs. It may well mean a slight downturn in the
short term, but long term, it could guarantee and improve our future...
Leaving the Licensed Taxi Trade?
If the salaries being offered elsewhere in the business carry on,
it cannot surely be long until there is a major departure from Taxis to PH
of someone who will make David Adelman's departure look totally irrelevant.
A NW London taxi company before their recent top-level changes, were looking
for new managerial staff in April at salaries equal or above that of the DaC
Chairman! They were also looking for a Chief of Operations at a salary of
around 20K more than our Chairman gets. If the DaC Chairman (or any of the
other two leading radio taxi company's chairmen or equivalent positions)
were to be offered an enormous salary by a PH company looking to get to the
top, should they refuse? Would you turn down an extra £50K - £100K per
annum just to show loyalty? Or am I speaking out of my backside? Your views,
as always, are welcome...
