Forty Jobs a Month

We have recently acquired a very, very large account which will be going live within the next few weeks. Our coverage of this new account - together with the accounts of our existing clients - will be paramount if Dial-a-Cab is to continue travelling in an upward direction.
   That leads me to a point where I must admit to being very concerned over some members still not completing their minimum quota of forty trips per month. In fact, so concerned was I that I have had a report prepared conveying the number of members that do not complete their fair share of trips. Can you imagine my surprise in finding that there are 321 of you that do not complete forty trips per month!
   In future, the minimum trip quota will be strictly enforced, I owe that to the remainder of the membership in order that their work can be retained for the future. If you are not completing forty trips per month - hardly a huge amount - I would ask you to consider whether it is worth your while staying as a member of Dial-a-Cab and if it is not, that you consider returning your equipment to us or you will leave us with little choice other than to consider making a complaint against you.  
   There are a number of you who are paying reduced subscriptions due to ill health or being semi retired, Dial-a-Cab has in the past ignored the fact that you have not

completed your quota, however, in the future due to the huge increase in our work over the last few years, you will also be required to complete forty trips per month in order to subsidise your reduced subscription and more importantly, to help cover more work.

Fare Increase

There has recently been a fare increase of 4.3% or 4.7% depending on which trade paper you read. Consequently, the London taxi trade has become of interest to London’s evening newspaper, leading to them publishing a couple of articles concerning taxis. The main thrust of their articles appears to be the difficulty in hiring a taxi off the street late at night.
   I won’t bore you with the reasons why, we all know them, however I was very concerned to read their comments about possible solutions, one being a scenario that I have always feared and I quote from their

text:-(taxi drivers)-‘but if they wish to keep their privileged position, they should continue to ply for hire on demand and not compete with minicabs by taking radio bookings.’.
   So, all of a sudden radio work is the domain of the minicab only and not the licensed taxi even though taxis were doing radio work long before Gotla introduced minicabs to London. Make no mistake, some future Mayor of London could suddenly decide on an easy way of making more taxis available for hire late at night for street hails - remove their radios.
   Impossible? Well, it happened in New York ten years ago. In fact, Mayor Koch was elected with the above as part of his manifesto and whilst I have no wish to scare you as there are already enough scaremongers in the trade, I think the above scenario is something we should all be aware of.
   I believe the answer to be a complete supply and demand study. I have never subscribed to the theory of just issuing licences whether they are required or not - more should be issued if there is a shortage of vehicles and just as obviously, less if there is an over-supply. In addition, the whole tariff governing night-time working should be reviewed in order to reward drivers sufficiently enough to entice them out to work.
   I am sure that the Editor would be happy to publish any views you have on the subject.

Brian Rice