Call Sign April 2008 - Page 18 - CHANGES TO E14…

As of Monday 7 April, the following change to E14C will be implemented. It has become clear that at 6am when E140 closes and E14C opens, there is confusion as to who is correctly booked into the E14C rank and whether the drivers are in the correct Queue Position. As you know, the E14C rank is physical and at 6am drivers are either not in the correct order on the rank or simply not on the rank at all. In an effort to improve the changeover period, we now propose to disable E140 and E14C at 05.50am and open up the E14C rank at 6am. During the ten-minute changeover period, work will be directed to E14. This is how it will work… Dispatchers will inform you that	CHANGES TO E14… *Allan Evans looks at some changes to the E14 ranks*
	the E14C rank opens at 6am and that you must book into E14C in the correct order on the rank. When you have obtained the correct QP, you should turn on your hazard lights to inform the DaC driver immediately behind you that he can then book in. This will be monitored and should be	self-policing once everyone has obtained his or her correct QP in the right order on the rank. If you are deemed to be out of sequence by the dispatchers, you will be sent a message to book off and allow the person in the correct order on the rank to book in. This system worked for many years on EC5 and should stop any misunderstandings and arguments between drivers. Please work within the spirit of the Society. These guidelines are designed to make the process fair for everyone. Allan Evans DaC Compliance Officer

*"Sunset Strip" handed his badge and bill back to the PCO after 50 years - much of it with ODRTS. These are his memories…* FIFTY GREEN YEARS…
Continued from March Bad news, good news, bad news and more good news…! Once again the prophets of doom and gloom can be seen and heard everywhere; on TV, radio and newspapers. And again the London cab trade is being hailed as the first harbinger of doom. We are held up as the first to go slack and sometime in the future, the first to be busy. Strangely enough this has always proven true in the past, so will it prove to be right at this time of credit crunches, redundancies and job losses in those major City institutions such as banks, insurance companies, stockbrokers, equity and finance houses that have provided the taxi trade with so much work. But will it have much effect on the London cab trade in general and the radio circuits in particular? I’d like to tell you that it will have little, if any effect on our work… but that would be untrue. Any large-scale downturn, or even the threat of transatlantic cutbacks must have an effect on every type of business, including taxis. Now for some good news! Most, if not all, of TfL’s public transport network is regarded by the majority of London’s working population as being so badly run, overcrowded, unsafe, unreliable and costly, that other forms of commuting to and from work could be seen as being preferable. Often, depending on the journey and those potential fares co-operating between themselves by hiring the same taxi, up to 5 of them can often make hiring a taxi more cost-effective, convenient and comfortable than travelling on public transport or trains -and	In 1650 cabs were already at Temple Bar... safer! Other advantages to the hirers and accompanying passengers are that taxis are door to door, can run even when there are leaves on the road, it’s raining, stormy, road or vehicle maintenance is being undertaken - and even if some taxis have been temporarily taken out of service! So all those apparently insurmountable obstacles that stop TfL public transport and trains from operating, don’t stop the majority of taxis from working. Another advantage is that a taxi, even when working at full capacity and carrying its full complement of passengers and luggage, still provides seats to all its passengers. No standing throughout the journey even though you’ve bought and paid a lot of money for the seat! But all these benefits have to be sold to commuters and only, in my opinion, can these multiple benefits of using taxis in preference to public transport be marketed and sold by radio circuits to actual and potential users. The radio circuits have the personnel, facilities, experience and expertise. They	also possess varied and effective ways of communication to this vast market. As we face any downturn in taxi work caused by the growing economic woes, which have in my opinion been brought about by various factors including poor Western government economic management and in the UK by the Bank of England, FSA and several other so-called watchdog authorities, plus the lack of control over of credit givers such as banks, mortgage, loans and credit card companies, so our taxi trade has to be ready and willing to change its ways of working if to continue providing workers with a decent living. So remember, every job you broom off, every fare you turn down, may never ever come back to spend their money with the taxi trade again. There’s also licensed private hire and illegals, whose numbers many including me expect to expand rapidly as difficult times approach. But now for some really good news. Bad times have happened before and have even seen taxi businesses of various kinds suffer, some have gone out of business. So what is the good news, you ask? There have been taxis since before the Romans started installing under floor central heating and public bathing. Even today, when man is seeking to travel further than the Moon and beyond Mars, we still have taxis operating in every country in the world where there are at least two, or more places with some form of road between them. 350 years ago they were at Temple Bar and in 350 years time, they’ll still be there… Continued next month Sunset Strip

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