Department for Transport (DfT) officials are in the midst of one of the most wide-ranging reviews ever of key policies affecting the UK taxi trade.
Revised ‘Best Practice Guidance’ for local taxi licensing authorities is expected to be issued by the DfT later this year. And make no mistake – the review tackles many of the key issues that do and will shape the foundations of our trade.
Top of many people’s lists will be the thorny matter of ‘quantity restrictions of taxi licenses’. That’s regulation – or deregulation – to you and me. At face value, few would argue with the basic idea that market forces should ideally be left to decide how many cabs are needed in Anytown, UK. Unfortunately the reality has been that wherever deregulation happens the whole trade goes downhill, while the punter is no better off.
Deregulation Threat
Certainly thousands of career cabbies know only too well that the creeping spread of deregulation has had a devastating effect on the trade in numerous towns and cities over the past few years. You know the script – more and more newcomers jump into the business; suddenly finding a space on rank becomes harder than Strictly Come Dancing with your right leg in plaster.
Then, as your daily takings melt away like snow on a hotplate, the quality of vehicles gradually drops as the professional driver can no longer afford a decent cab. Indeed, he or she ends up working longer and longer hours in what is already a hard enough game, simply to try and earn enough to cover the basics.
Whether all of this really means kids get home quicker in the wee small hours a couple of nights a week is dubious, to say the least. But surely there has to be a more efficient way of tackling ‘peak’ demand than forcing thousands of decent, public-serving cabbies to rank up for hours on end, seven days a week, with precious little chance of earning enough to pay the fuel and feed the family. Ultimately the result can be, literally, fatal. Work, wait, drive long enough and any of us are at risk of losing focus.
Cab Direct Backs Limits
You might assume that deregulation is manna from heaven for the cab suppliers. Yet even leading taxi maker Cab Direct has come out in favour of sensible control of cab numbers. Cab Direct Managing Director Paul Nelson comments: “Of course we’re here to build and sell vehicles but equally we respect the right of cabbies to make a decent living.
“We see ourselves very much as part of the taxi trade and it’s in everyone’s interests that our industry as a whole stays healthy and competitive. Feedback we see from all over the country suggests that where deregulation has occurred the opposite is true”. Cab Direct has made a strong case for measured control of cab numbers in its submission to the DfT’s consultation.
Quality Control
Another focus of the DfT enquiry with huge implications for taxi owners is vehicle testing. This includes issues such as frequency of quality checks, the criteria that should be applied in taxi tests and availability of sufficient testing stations.
On age of vehicles, the Department appears likely to oppose specific limits, acknowledging that: “It is perfectly possible for an older vehicle to be in good condition.” It does however propose more frequent testing for older vehicles, suggesting twice-yearly tests for vehicles more than five years old.
Cab Specifications
Happily the DfT is alive to the benefits of choice and plans to encourage local authorities to favour licensing a range of vehicles, adding “The Department believes authorities should be particularly cautious about specifying only purpose-built taxis, with the strict constraint on supply that that implies.” This approach will of course ensure that drivers will benefit from fair competition between manufacturers to supply the best vehicle and the best service.
Thankfully the Department also appears to have taken on board concerns about the continuing violence against taxi drivers. CCTV in cabs is encouraged but with the helpful hint that funding could be made available by local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships across England and Wales.
Taxi Fares
As you would expect, fare setting is one area the Department’s draft proposals leave very much up to local authorities, though it does say that it’s good practice to review fare scales at regular intervals. It also supports the case for higher taxi fares at times of peak demand.
Exactly what the agreed fare tariff actually means appears more debateable. Certainly hears from operators irate about anyone who ‘breaks ranks’ and charges less than the set fare for, say, a longer hire. Equally we hear from others – including an increasing number of black cab drivers – who argue that operators need to compete and be prepared to negotiate a lower fee if it suits the job.
The DfT seems to be suggesting something of a middle road. Its proposals recommend that set fares should be seen as the going rate that everyone charges for street and rank hires. Pre-booked hires, on the other hand, they see more as a maximum, with operators otherwise negotiating whatever they see as a commercially viable rate for the job or offering particular incentives, for example for off-peak trips or for pensioners.
Still, just what happens when the bling-laden football star turns up at the head of the rank in Portsmouth asking to be taken to Newcastle remains to be seen.
Recommendations
The Department is expected to publish recommendations in late 2009.