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LONDON TAXIS TO WORK IN SAN FRANCISCO |
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Call Sign On-line has
brought this magazine some interesting scoops ever since we took the plunge
and became the first UK taxi mag to publish an on-line version several years
ago while at the same time, opening up an on-line library facility. However,
we feel that the story below tops the lot! Sure, the TXII is making its mark worldwide and is exported all over the show, but to hear exactly where or why, trade papers/magazines such as Call Sign rely on LTI to keep us updated. But this time it was different… It started with a September email from San Francisco Taxi Commission member, Jack Barry, who wrote to Call Sign: Dear Editor Fisher: Jack Barry, So Call Sign asked LTI for a comment, but Call Sign had received the news before them! So we made enquiries and managed to track down LTNA’s (London Taxis North America) Larry Smith, who told Call Sign: |
 Call Sign's Charles Rathbone 'puts on' San Francisco's Ritz Carlton in the TXII |
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"I have just returned from San
Francisco where LTNA were successful in getting the SF Taxi Commission to
adopt certain advantages to the TXII as compared to other vehicles.
Specifically, the Commission approved an extended service life for the TXII
to seven years as compared to all other vehicle's service life of three
years. In addition, they approved the TXII to allow wrap advertising for the
service life of the vehicle as compared to only six months for other wrap
advertising. We are confident the regulatory changes will result in 20 - 25 vehicles being ordered in the next three weeks. If the vehicle performs well on the difficult hilly SF topography, many more orders will be forthcoming." But what do the SF drivers think? As the only UK taxi mag with a reporter in San Francisco, we asked Charles Rathbone – who has test driven the taxi - whether the thought of driving a TXII in San Francisco appealed to him. He told us: Great! There is the potential for quite a few more sales down the road as the TXII may become the vehicle of choice for the ramped taxis. A side benefit for San Francisco is that having such nice cabs in the ramp program will remove the second-class status of those permits, which have been shunned by most applicants. The current ramped cabs are expensive, trouble-prone and confer no real advantage to the operator. The permit holders are not even welcome at many of the companies. Now there will be an instant change from second-class to preferred! For one thing, there will always be a line of drivers begging to be assigned to the TXIIs, which is a major plus for cab companies in a market characterised by the leasing of vehicles to drivers-as-customers. The main down side is that the TXII will still be seen as an
expensive alternative, even with a seven-year service life, because second
hand vehicles can be put into service for around 10-15 thousand dollars. I
imagine that the higher cost will be offset by resale value at seven years,
which will probably still be a respectable amount. |
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