Call Sign May 2009 - Page 5 - DaC Board reject pay increase!

DaC Board reject pay increase!
Following a decision by the Dial-a-Cab Board to reluctantly not offer any pay increase this year to staff members, DaC Chairman Brian Rice told Call Sign: "This is the first time in the thirteen years I have been Chairman, that our staff have not received an annual increase. We value staff greatly and our training programmes make them the best. However, this economic climate is such that companies are closing down, while others are actually ‘offering’ compulsory pay cuts. In addition to that, unemployment is going through the roof with well over 2million currently out of work and an expectation that figure could reach 3million before an upturn in the economy arrives. DaC has always prided itself on being ahead of the game and to increase our staffing costs at a time so soon after some positions were made redundant, would surely not be in the best interests of the Society."	*The Board at the recent AGM (with Mike Tovey)*
	Brian continued: "Some years ago, it was proposed at an AGM that the DaC BoM should receive the same increase as that given to drivers at the annual fare increase. This year that would have meant 3.4% added to our hourly rate. However, I’m proud to say that at a recent BoM meeting, the Board to a man decided that it would be wrong to take that increase whilst the staff had none…" Call Sign spoke to someone in	the Call Centre who had been with DaC for many years. He told us that the view of the vast majority was that they were just pleased to have a job without a pay cut. "One or two moaned briefly," he said, "but more out of disappointment than expectation. Most of our call takers and dispatchers had no problem with the decision and there was certainly no mutiny here!"

Electric taxi is a Metrocab?

It’s a long time since Call Sign had cause to publish a Metrocab photo. Could this be the new electric taxi?
It’s a long time since Call Sign had cause to publish a Metrocab photo. Could this be the new electric taxi?

The February 2009 issue of Call Sign revealed that the then-director of Dutch taxi company Taxi Centrale Amsterdam, Bas Vos, was considering placing an order for 50 electric TX4Es and that they would be on the roads of Amsterdam later this year. According to Mr Vos, he had visited the factory in Coventry and we assumed that meant LTI – even though everyone we spoke to there denied knowing anything about Mr Vos – although they were happy to talk about their projected TX4E.
Mr Vos claimed that the two rear wheels of his electric taxi would have two battery-operated electric motors that were expected to give around 150 kilometres before needing to be recharged. In addition, a one-cylinder diesel engine had also

been added as a generator that could recharge the batteries while driving along. This would increase mileage to around 200Km or 125 miles. Overnight charging would take around 6 hours, with so-called quick loaders that were said to be able to do the job in 15 minutes, placed at taxi offices and ranks.
   Now Call Sign has learned that Mr Vos did indeed go to Coventry, but not LTI. Instead he met representatives from Metrocab, who apparently still have an office there although no new cabs have come onto the London market in recent years.
   A U-tube of the cab can be seen at HERE. It is in Dutch but shows the new Director of TCA, Mr van der Veen, with the Metrocab and explaining that TCA’s taxi is currently the only electrical driven one in Western Europe. He adds that TCA hope to have 30 such taxis during 2009 and another 150 every year following. By 2015 he expects 60% of the total TCA fleet to be electric, before finally becoming 100%.
   Can this be the long-awaited Metrocab return or is it just another red herring. Time will tell…

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