DRIVER OPERATIONS

Citigroup coverage
I must begin by mentioning the coverage on Canary Wharf during the hours that E140 operates and the new ‘Rolling Rank’ commences. Having spent numerous evenings at the Citigroup building at Canada Square and also closely monitoring the situation, it is clear to me and the rest of the Board of Management that the increasing number of rejects has a very detrimental effect on the coverage in this area.
   Some trips are rejected as many as 40 times, which is totally unacceptable to the account clients that we service on the island and I am sure you must be aware that poor coverage and numerous late arrivals can greatly jeopardise an account.
   The recent acquisition of Citigroup is a major scalp, added to the very high profile accounts that we already service in Canary Wharf. Dial-a-Cab now has the largest account database of any circuit in this area and I cannot stress highly enough how important it is to accept the trips  as soon as they are offered. I fully understand that we are extremely busy and that traffic conditions - especially the three tunnels in and around the island which seem to cause problems most evenings - is a major cause of late arrivals. However, there are also many

 occasions when taxis are booked into E140 and still rejecting many of the trips that are offered to them.
   Our Society is very successful and drivers from rival circuits look on us now with envy. Let’s all do that extra trip each shift to cover our work and more importantly, make sure that we look after these prestigious accounts.
   I am sure there are other service providers that would be only too pleased to step into our shoes. Please don’t give them the chance…

E140 – Reminder how it works…
Can I remind you all that E140 operates as a non-physical rank between 9pm and 2am, after this time it reverts to E14C until 6am. It then returns back to normal working (E14C and E14S) and the procedures remain unchanged in that the two ranks are then both physical.
   If you accept a trip from the ‘Rolling Rank’ between 9pm and 1am, the pick up is via the Marshal at Upper Bank Street. For all other prebookings from Citigroup even during these times, you are required to advise arrival and display a name board outside 33 Canada Square. The maximum run in is £4.20 and you do not have to swipe a charge card. The trip is a normal account trip with the meter continually running

whilst you are waiting.

Signals update…
By the time you read this article, new base station controllers will be installed at all of the Dial-a-Cab aerial sites. The error rates are now certainly down and the improved performance of the BSC’s and increased capacity will spread the load much more evenly across the London area. This again will improve the signals even further.
   It was quite gratifying to hear that one of our members took a long trip from the Marshal at a Eurostar late train account recently and he phoned me to say that he actually received a strong enough signal in the heart of the Hampshire countryside for him to be able to clear his trip on arrival! He also mentioned that there was a noticeable improvement to the general signals across the normal areas of working.
   Work in this important area is ongoing, but things are definitely looking up.