Seeing Into The Future?
It's nice to be back and my
thanks to those many drivers who have caught
me on the road to tell me that they missed
having a June issue. However much I
appreciate the sentiment, I do enjoy that
one month of no pressure. June 1997 was my
first issue, which means that I am now
starting my seventh year as Editor, so one
month of just having to worry about driving
a cab comes as something of a relief!
Part of that month off gave me
an insight into what might happen in London
in the not-too-distant future. It happened
during a five-day trip to Bruges in Belgium.
It really is a beautiful city, but the
traffic has all but given up trying to get
into the centre. One-way streets that lead
you back to where you started from, traffic
going round and round trying to get anywhere
different and thousands upon thousands of
cyclists who travel at speeds that cars
would envy.
I've been to Amsterdam where
the use of bikes is prevalent, but they seem
to ride them with some responsibility and
still use their bells! In Bruges they just
knock you over and tell you off for leaving
home! One silent, bike-riding schoolgirl hit
my car when crossing a roundabout going the
opposite way to the traffic while travelling
at a tremendous speed. She couldn't have
cared less and her message was that everyone
else should get out of the way.
I'm concerned that Mayor
Livingstone is taking London in that
direction. Congestion Charging has forced
thousands onto their bikes. On top of that,
when you look at Trafalgar Square and other
places where he has plans to pedestrianise
or put in 'bus/bike only' lanes, you can see
the way he's thinking. Look how many buses
there are around with most travelling half
empty outside of peak hours. Look at the
'bendy' buses! What's the difference between
a bendy and a pre-pay double decker? At
least a DD won't take up a complete road
junction. Before long London will be
over-flowing with buses and bicycles with so
many roads closed to us that there won't be
any value in taking a Taxi - but the Mayor
will make sure that there is a bus near you
fulfilling his apparent pledge made as
leader of the former GLC to provide everyone
with their own bus!
In addition to the Mayor's
Congestion Charging plan to get everyone
over to buses and bikes, his traffic
management scheme has created a further
"victim." Westminster Council has
found that with fewer drivers coming into
town, their parking charge coffers are
shrinking ultra-quickly. Consequently, the
Council have reduced the number of trips
TaxiCard users can now make down to 14 every
six months! It isn't the Council's fault -
although no doubt they could chop the money
from something else first -
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it is the fault of the Mayor who sees no
other way other than HIS way.
As one of the instigators
of
TaxiCard, is Mr Livingstone now going to
be its destroyer?
Conditions of Fitness
In an ideal world, competition
helps force prices down, but the licensed
London Taxi trade is different. DaC has 1800
owner-drivers and 400 journeymen and it's
probably safe to say that the journeymen would
like the opportunity to buy a new cab that was
substantially cheaper than the TXII, whereas
the rest may think about it but know that the
price of their old taxi would plummet on the
second hand market. After all, how many would
want to buy a second hand TXII for far more
money than a new Mercedes Benz cab? More to
the point, even if they preferred the TXII
they would be scared to buy it for fear of
losing their future equity. Mainly for that
reason, I believe that the Mayor's CoF review
came to the correct decision. I'm sure that
the Mercedes and Peugeot cabs are excellent
value, but if they end up costing you several
thousand in lost equity, you really are no
better off.
I have never made any bones that
I believe the TXII to be too expensive. It
represents a huge investment and takes a large
chunk out of our money, but that cannot
detract from the fact that it is by far the
best tool for the job we do. I had spoken to
many owner-drivers on DaC before the results
of the CoF became official and contrary to
what other trade papers may say, these drivers
were worried about their current taxis as an
investment, fearing that alternative cabs
would push their prices through the floor. The
Mayor isn't always right, but I believe that
he is on this occasion.
LTDA / T&G Demo
I don't dish out too many
congratulatory remarks on this page, but I
believe some plaudits were definitely earned
on the LTDA and T&G organised demo held in
the Trafalgar Square area on Wednesday June
18. I hear from someone well placed within the
trade that Mayor Ken has now made some
conciliatory offers to both the LTDA's Bob
Oddy and T&G's Peter Kavanagh - offers
which if they were to be forthcoming, could
solve many of our problems in one fell swoop.
So to both the above gentlemen, my
congratulations, as indeed do they also go to
Alan Fleming, the LCDC Chairman who,
sensing
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that a breakthrough might be on
the cards following the demo, sensibly agreed
to call off their demo arranged for the
following week. Congrats most of all must go
to the drivers who took time off of their work
day to rattle home the message to Mr
Livingstone that it was about time we had
someone listen to our side of things.
But no congratulations whatsoever
go to Ed Thompson, TfL's 'man in the Mayor's
office'. Speaking after the demo on a BBC
Radio London phone-in show to host Jon Gaunt,
in his reply to Jon's question why taxi
drivers had no voice on Transport for London,
Mr Thompson claimed that if they had cab
drivers, they'd have to have street
entertainers et al. We can safely assume then,
that Mr Thompson doesn't want us sullying his
shiny table with our grubby hands. And he is
supposed to be on our side. At least we
won't need any enemies with him around...
One Number Fits All?
The rumour mill is turning again.
Now it seems that ComCab have changed their
mind and wish to participate in the
"one-number" cash line, which could
come as a joint initiative between all the
major radio circuits. The simple idea is that
any potential client phones just one number
for a cash cab and that trip will be passed
among the radio circuits with one almost
certainly covering it. This could be a huge
strike against Private Hire who have always
claimed that cash work via the radio is far
better with them.
But ComCab Junior - aka Call-a-Cab - in their
battle to take work could spoil it for
everyone. I've asked before and no answer has
yet arrived; how can ComCab possibly join a
scheme where the circuits have agreed a £3.80
run-in where their baby has NO run-ins and
passes uncovered jobs to "daddy" who
also cover it with no run-ins - or at least
attempts to! Who will ComCab pass their
uncovered cash rides to - the one-number
system or Call-a-Cab? Unless I'm missing
something, then I cannot see the scheme
working unless ComCab change the plans that
Call-a-Cab have published in TAXI.
Well Did You Ever...?
I recently parked my Taxi on a
single yellow line in Brunswick Place around
200 meters down from the office as that was
the nearest space available. At the same time,
Dennis Heavin (A1) had come to the office to
get some details on DaC Marshalled events.
There must have been 20 vehicles between the
two of us, yet only two of them got tickets -
Dennis and I...!
You know what they say: Just
because you're not paranoid, it doesn't mean
they aren't after you!
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com
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