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It Takes One To Know One
Call Sign considers itself very lucky to have such a wonderful
selection of Dial-a-Cab drivers prepared to put themselves out to write
(and draw!) for this magazine. Together with BoM reports, I hope you
feel as I do, that this gives DaC readers a cross section of views -
views that often differ while at other times are as one, but hopefully
always interesting. One of those writers is Chas Kissin (P99J).
Perhaps it is being a former London Mayoral candidate that
makes him so perceptive, but he seems to have an amazing ability to
spot problems - both in and out of the trade - long before anybody
else.
A good example is the now apparently accepted lunatic idea
of altering the phasing of London traffic lights and supposedly giving
pedestrians "...more time to cross." The trade press are
talking about it now and even London's only evening paper The
Evening Standard has now noticed it.
But Chas Kissin spotted it months ago and wrote about it in Call Sign.
He inferred that by deliberately using traffic lights to cause
congestion and then speeding them up once any road charging schemes
came into operation, everyone would say "...well done Ken, your
charging scheme has made the traffic flow well."
In all honesty - and speaking as a taxi driver myself - I
thought that Chas had been on the booze, because I hadn't even noticed
any traffic light changes when he first wrote about them. But Chas
noticed and now everyone is talking about it as though it was they who
first spotted it! But we don't mind...
But will Chas be standing again against Mr Livingstone at
the next Mayoral election? After all, it takes a Mayor to spot a Mayor
and any wacky ideas his department may come up with.
"I don't know," he told me, "there are two problems.
First there's the cost and secondly the wife doesn't fancy living in
Romney House. The garden is too exposed...!"
And Speaking of The Mayor...
Ken Livingstone seems to have used up his Mr Good Guy label.
I was never sure about his motives although I did begin to believe that
his election could herald a change in thinking towards the taxi trade.
I'm afraid my views are changing rather rapidly.
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Although the night-time increase referred to as T3 seems to have
been reluctantly accepted by those who need to use us, there is no doubt
that business is down and that as I said before being shot down in
this magazine, we have lost those customers who can no longer afford to
use us. So in effect, although we haven't lost much in revenue, we
certainly have so far as numbers go. You can't carry on that way for too
long.
According to the LTDA, the increase has convinced many daymen to
switch over to evening work and that is why the service has improved. It's
nothing to do with T3 frightening passengers away. Well I have no proof
either way other than by asking drivers and so far I have yet to find any
mass change of driving habits from day to evening shifts. If you are a
former dayman who now drives at night purely because of the increase,
please let me know.
My original view of T3 being a deliberate ploy to make us
over-expensive and draw in a ready made market for private hire when
licensing is complete, could have been a bit over-dramatic, but the more I
think about it, the more I sometimes wonder...
When speaking to us directly, all is wonderful, but when
speaking to outside interests it is as though we don't exist unless he is
justifying a fare increase to the Evening Standard (he won't speak to the
trade press that easily - not enough mileage out of that perhaps.) After
all, we didn't even rate a sentence in the TfL's travel magazine that was
delivered to every London household.
So what does the future hold so far as the Mayor's office is
concerned? Certainly logic won't come into the equation and I hope I am
wrong in expecting to hear that one day the Mayor's office will take it
upon themselves to place some Private Hire ranks at various points around
the City and West End if they consider that the Licensed trade cannot
cope.
Ridiculous? I don't think we can dismiss it too easily.
Rumour already suggests Private Hire
telephone points in various parts of the City. Passengers would use
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these phones to call a minicab - probably using a credit card - and
wait until it arrives. This would undoubtedly lead to a "merging"
of the larger PH companies with a joint chargecard.
Speaking to one driver recently, he told me that while he
didn't like Steve Norris, at least you knew where you stood with him...
Vat Free Taxis
Now we are 100% wheelchair accessible, is it not about time that
taxis were recognised as such and given the same status as most disabled
vehicles - VAT FREE? That would put the price of a new cab down to
below the 25K mark. We on DaC provide an excellent service to Westminster's
disabled public. Surely it's not asking much to be classed as no more or
less than other vehicles catering for the disabled?
New Radio Circuit?
It seems that rumours surrounding the formation of a new radio
circuit started by the former MD of a Singapore-owned circuit may have some
substance to them. I would suggest he remembers the names of Black Radio
Taxis, Metro and DialUrgent because the road - as he will remember from his
early days - could be rough. But that doesn't stop me wishing him the best
of luck...
Wim Faber And The IRU
Dial-a-Cab have been members of the International Road Transport
Union Taxi and Hire Car Group (IRU) for several years. Their context of
'Union' is as in 'Association'.
Some meetings we attend and others we miss depending on work
schedules. Fortunately for Call Sign and many other trade periodicals, the
IRU's Press Officer Wim Faber, keeps us all well informed with a
comprehensive press release.
The July issue of Call Sign contained such a release, however
it has been pointed out to this magazine that we inferred Wim Faber works
for Call Sign. In fact, we more than inferred - we referred to him as Call
Sign's "Euro rep!" This is incorrect and while it was done as
nothing more than a friendly gesture, as Editor I now realise that this
could have caused Wim considerable embarrassment. So I would like to set the
record straight and apologise to Wim Faber for any embarrassment that the
heading may have caused.
Alan Fisher
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