London’s famous taxi trade has a new boss. Transport for London (TfL) has announced that Peter Blake will be taking up the role of Director of Service Operations for Surface Transport.
The appointment comes several months after Director of Taxi and Private Hire, John Mason, left his post suddenly.
Established in September 2013 the newly formed Surface Transport Service Operations Directorate integrates a number of TfL’s high profile business areas including Taxi and Private Hire Licensing, Congestion Charging, Cycle Hire, Dial-a-Ride, River Services and Victoria Coach Station.
Currently Mr Blake is Head of Integrated Transport at Worcestershire County Council, where he is responsible for public, education and social services transport, as well as the county’s highways and traffic management services. There are some 1,600 taxi and private hire vehicles within Mr Blake’s jurisdiction. London has 15 times that number.
Best Man for the Job?
Commenting on the appointment, Garrett Emmerson, TfL’s Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport, said: “I believe we have recruited an excellent new director. I have every confidence that Peter will help build on the track record of achievement, continuous improvement and operational delivery within Service Operations.”
However, chairman of the London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC), Grant Davis, is far from convinced. The main basis for his doubt concerns Mr Blake’s experience – or, more specifically, lack thereof.
Mr Davis says: “It’s of great concern to us at the Club that someone without any working knowledge of the unique way in which Licensed Taxis and Private Hire co-habit on the streets of this capital city has been given this post.”
Mr Davis continued: “We at the LCDC have been opposed all along to the integration of all these services into one department. Anybody who has tried to contact TFL regarding their licences, change of address etc will know only too well that it has been the unmitigated disaster we always believed it to be.
“To then go and appoint an individual with no working experience with our great capital city and all our transportation problems quite frankly only adds insult to injury.”
Uncertainty
Mr Blake is set to have a busy in-tray from the off. The Law Commission is due to report any day now on its proposals for reform of taxi and private hire services in England and Wales. Mayor Boris Johnson has written to the Commission implying that it should keep its hands off taxi policy in London.
The mayor also recently announced that all London taxis must be ‘low emission capable’ from 2018. This new standard is yet to be defined in detail but none of the vehicles currently available in the capital meet this standard.
Options proposed for the future include a Nissan NV200, although many consider this under-sized and underpowered for the job. A Turkish car maker, Karsan, has proposals to develop a new vehicle but it’s not known yet whether this plan will go ahead.
Another company, Fraser Nash, hopes to develop an electric cab, using the brand name Metrocab, which it bought when that company last went into receivership. Meanwhile Chinese car maker, Geely, says it plans to create an electric TX5.
All of this leaves the future of the London taxi trade looking uncertain – not to mention expensive, while the London private hire sector continues to grow.
Peter Blake will be tasked with leading a path through these and other challenges over the coming years.