Call Sign October 2011
Page 5
Darren Johnson represents the Green Party on the London Assembly and according to many drivers, is
anti-taxi. See what you think after reading this...
Pollution and London Taxis
Given that the cabs in inner London spend
By Darren Johnson AM
the majority of their time idling, rather than
moving, this could potentially have been a
I have spent the last decade raising concerns
cheap and very cost effective way of cutting
about the impact of air pollution on
down pollution dramatically. Unfortunately,
Londoner's health and the failure of politicians
the TfL procurement process was faulty and
at all levels of government to do something
was challenged. Since then, the Mayor's office
about it. I am a Green Party member of the
has simply dropped the project, despite the
London Assembly. It is one of things I am
obvious benefits to cab drivers. This decade of
elected to do. I use the figures produced by
failures by both mayors and by TfL has led to
London Mayor Boris Johnson to highlight the
the current mess we are in. Pollution in
link between black cabs and air pollution,
London has not reduced fast enough and
because cabs are responsible for nearly a third
black cabs are still one of the major problems,
of particulate pollution in central London. It
despite the efforts by people involved in the
harms the drivers, their customers and many
cab trade to put forward positive solutions.
other Londoners.
The failure of the Mayor to help fund a
The result is that I get a lot of grief from
scrappage scheme for drivers forced to
such conformity testing and rigorous `on the
cabbies who feel that I am always having a go
sell their old cab is just another let-down.
road' tests, have supported a tick box culture
at them. I'm not complaining about it. I can
However, if pollution levels do not get
within the PCO, which has failed to deliver on
understand their reaction. Their cabs are their
reduced quickly, then expect the 15 year
pollution reduction. The result is the 15 year
livelihood and for owner drivers it is a huge
age limit to turn into a 10 year age limit.
age limit ban, which the mayor has been
investment. When I highlight the need for new
One area where black cabs drivers must
forced to introduce. The Mayor's push for an
regulations or pollution tests, then they worry
take the blame is when they got Boris
electric taxi attracts column inches, but in the
about who is paying the bill for it all?
Johnson to make the abolition of six-
short term (and the timescale set for reducing
Just for the record, I want to point out that
monthly inspections a manifesto commit-
pollution by the European Commission) sadly
on the issue of air pollution and how to deal
ment. It may have saved cabbies a bit of
they will contribute very little towards real
with it, I have a better track record of asking
money in the short term, but it has done
change. The Mayor's £1m pot of money for
the Mayor questions on behalf of people
long-term damage to the credibility of
the electric cab got a lot of publicity when it
involved in the cab trade than any other
both the Mayor and the cab trade.
was announced in 2009 and even more pub-
Assembly member. When black cab drivers
Over 2,300 cabs a year were being pulled
licity when it was re-announced in 2010, but
complain about the Public Carriage Office and
up and fixed, as they did not even meet the
the last time I checked, none of it had been
Transport for London letting them down, I can
minimal standards that we have. Given the
spent. The promise of an electric vehicle in
understand many of their concerns. It has
number of cabs pulled off the road and
the future has taken the place of a simple-to
been a two-mayor problem in that neither Ken
cleaned up, scrapping the test sent out a very
fit hybrid device in the here and now.
Livingstone nor Boris Johnson has moved fast
negative message that many cabbies really
Hybrid devices designed to fit existing
enough or far enough. A whole series of mis-
don't care.
engines sounded the most promising
takes has been made along the way by the
My advice to everyone involved in the cab
innovation of all the solutions to tackle air
PCO and both the current and former Mayor
trade is not to make the same mistake again.
pollution in the short to medium term
in handling London's air pollution problem.
Cabbies should be demanding that their health
when I discussed it with TfL in 2007 and
The biggest let-down is that innovation has
and that of their passengers is protected. The
was being taken forward when Boris was
been blocked, partly because of the rigid
solutions are there, we just need the political
elected in 2008. This device was cheap to
adoption of conditions of fitness which favour
will to make it all happen...
install and designed to keep the engine
a monopoly provider. More fuel efficient alter-
ticking over when the taxi was idling.
natives (with less CO2 emissions) to the TX
series have been consistently blocked because
of the PCO clinging to the turning circle.
I have pushed both Ken Livingstone and
Boris Johnson to put the environment first on
this issue, but neither responded and cab dri-
vers are now faced with having to sell their
old vehicles and buy one of the expensive and
still polluting TX series.
The infrastructure for gas fuels, like
LPG, has not been supported. TfL have
shown little willingness to support those
drivers who for several years have wanted
to reduce pollution by switching fuels
rather than buying a new vehicle. Instead,
cabbies have been required to fit clean-up
devices of dubious worth.
I have asked over 20 questions of the
Mayor, establishing that these filter devices
only work properly when the engine is
cleaned to high standards, but no checks are
made on whether this is done. The devices
remained untested on the road where they are
faced with working under load. The lack of
