Taxis - Day Of Action

[ans]

To be fair, aren't the charging structures set by the Government?

[r1man]

I do stand to be corrected here, but I think I read earlier in this thread that the government charges where the maximum allowed, not the absolute.

 

“There are numerous reasons why taxis are cheaper in England, or at least they are in most of England. Not least among these are the lower costs of fuel and living there.”

 

I can understand the fuel cost being passed on, fair enough but I can’t really believe it accounts for the significantly higher prices. Ok I understand that taxis in the UK have a far higher client base but then as it has already been said in this thread, there are areas where they are already delimited. Because of the wide variance in taxi set-up in England (Delimited or not, numbers of ply for hire against Private etc) I am not sure anyone can say categorically why taxis are cheaper, but as an end user, let me say this. They are cheaper.

 

Perhaps instead of driving around at 5mph beeping their horns (and charging high prices), taxi drivers might ask our omnipotent government, how delimiting them gives drivers the freedom to flourish?

[The Voice of Reason]

Perhaps instead of driving around at 5mph beeping their horns (and charging high prices)

 

You'd be a bit pissed off yesterday if you hired a cab to take you to say, Laxey and the driver started acting in this fashion (apart obviously from the high prices bit - that's a given)

[Sidney]

To be fair, aren't the charging structures set by the Government?

 

Almost. the taxi fares are decided by the RTLC then rubber stamped by the government. Same difference really.

The annual price rises are calculated using the rise in the Retail Price Index coupled with the last 12 months fuel price rises. Though many people think the taxi fares are inordinately expensive on the IOM, they are pretty much an average of the fares set by the various local authorities across mainland Britain.

A taxi fare which is cheaper in central liverpool or Birmingham would be a damn site more expensive in London or most of the south of England, a lot of this is due to the difference in the cost of living in these different areas.

[r1man]

http://www.britainexpress.com/London/taxis.htm

 

London by Taxi

Note: all fares mentioned in this article were correct at time of publication, but are subject to change at any time. Please verify current fares before undertaking any trip!

The legendary black taxis of London seem to have been around forever, though nowadays not all the 23,000 black cabs in greater London are black, and a modernised streamlined version has been added to the "lumpy" old beasts. The bulging roofline of these taxis was originally designed to accommodate the height of bowler hats.

Taxis are a good option for groups of people sharing the fare, which can be steep - the meter starts ticking at £1.40, and rises by 20p with every 219 metres travelled. You can hail a taxi by raising your arm when you see the yellow sign above the windscreen illuminated. If you don't see a yellow sign at all, you are looking at a minicab (see below).

Be aware that evening rates are more expensive, with a 60p surcharge kicking in at 8pm, up to 90p after midnight. Tipping at about 10% is expected.

 

Just out of interest, how does this compare to here?

[Sidney]

http://www.britainexpress.com/London/taxis.htm

 

London by Taxi

Note: all fares mentioned in this article were correct at time of publication, but are subject to change at any time. Please verify current fares before undertaking any trip!

The legendary black taxis of London seem to have been around forever, though nowadays not all the 23,000 black cabs in greater London are black, and a modernised streamlined version has been added to the "lumpy" old beasts. The bulging roofline of these taxis was originally designed to accommodate the height of bowler hats.

Taxis are a good option for groups of people sharing the fare, which can be steep - the meter starts ticking at £1.40, and rises by 20p with every 219 metres travelled. You can hail a taxi by raising your arm when you see the yellow sign above the windscreen illuminated. If you don't see a yellow sign at all, you are looking at a minicab (see below).

Be aware that evening rates are more expensive, with a 60p surcharge kicking in at 8pm, up to 90p after midnight. Tipping at about 10% is expected.

 

Just out of interest, how does this compare to here?

 

Slightly different rates are given here.

[loaf]

To be honest, it's not really the fare structure I complain about. Hell, you try getting a taxi in Geneva - supposedly a busy metropolitan area - and then you'll feel the pinch.

 

As for the Island, I've frequently met some nice, courteous, helpful and enthusiastic taxi drivers in my time, and to those people, I offer continual respect and thanks,.

 

It's the sneaky, dishonest, self-serving, law-breaking taxi drivers that piss me off and I have plenty of experience of them. I've been in a taxi that thought it was perfectly legal to career up Summer Hill at 50mph and mount the kerb to avoid oncoming traffic. Last month I pleaded with a taxi driver to come off the rank at the airport to help me get a car back to Ballasalla before I catch a flight off island, the driver said they wouldn't do it for less than £10. So fine, I agreed to this fare, and the moment my back was turned, the swine had picked some other passengers up and was off. There's a supposedly reputable group of cabs that have - to my knowledge - charged the company I worked for in Castletown the higher tariff at low-tariff times for airport runs because 'otherwise it just isn't worth their while'. Our receptionist was clearly far too 'nice' to object to this, and presumably under some contract law has thereby 'agreed' to accept the higher tariff.

 

So when a strike like this occurs, it's not the normal, courteous drivers I think of, but the nasty, selfish second group, enthusiastically 'going slow', tooting their horns through the streets.

To them actually providing a service is the last thing on their minds, and the public are just 'things' that they can use in order to get money.

[r1man]

http://www.london-taxi.co.uk/taxi/londontariff.htm

 

Use either figures, it’s only a rough estimate. Because of the traffic in London though, I think you need to refer to the text below the table, titled, Fares Detailed.

 

I'm just wondering how it compares.

[Lonan3]

With regard to fares; when the island was a genuine tourist centre, our fares were among the thirty-or-so highest in the national league table published by 'Private Hire Monthly.' In recent years, however, we have slipped further and further down that table so that we stand (in the last one I saw) at around No 150-or-so. (my apologies foe not being more specific as I don't have the data to hand). I would hope that people might understand that, given the much higher costs of items such as fuel (and even servicing, spare parts etc) that our fares are not unreasonable.

May I say to 'Loaf' that I thank him for his kind comments and sympathise with the others. It is only since the 2001 Act that taxis at the airport and in other rural areas have been required to install meters in their cabs. May I also inform him that using Tariff 2 (the higher one) at times when Tariff 1 (standard) should be used is illegal. If, however, you phone for a cab, what you actually get (according to the RTLC's regulations) is a private hire vehicle (regardless of whether or not there's a 'taxi' sign on the roof). In simple terms, this means that you can agree a price at the time of calling and, if you're not happy with what's on offer, call someone else - there are plenty of cabs sat at the airport with little or nothing to do for much of the day who would be glad of the business.

 

Personally, I've never 'enthusiastically' driven slowly. I did help to organise a protest in 2004 that upset a lot of commuters but also brought the problems in the trade back into both public and political focus - I have no regrets whatsoever about doing that although I did, at the time, apologise to those who were disrupted by it. Last Friday's 'Day of Action' was not organised by the Manx Taxi Federation, it was done by cabbies (some of whom were members, some of whom were not) because they felt they needed to do 'something' to make their concerns known. I, and others, took part in it because we felt obliged to support fellow members of the trade - but it was only on condition that public and the police were given advance notification so that they could make alternative arrangements, and that essential services such as to and from the hospital, were maintained.

Likewise with yesterday's 'drive-by' (which I wasn't able to take part in due to personal reasons), it was given MTF support provided that it took place after 9 am when the morning 'rush hour' was over. It was inteneded to be a demonstration of feelings - not a disruptive protest.

In response to r1man's question about why taxis are dearer here - in most cases they aren't (we're just about in the top half of the league) - but we also don't have a load of battered minicabs that charge very little, don't understand what you're saying to them, have no idea where the place is that you want to be taken to and are fairly likely to enter the wrong name into their GPS system.

[Pat Ayres]

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p285/sk...ey/LastScan.jpg

[Pat Ayres]

Sorry it's sideways on.

[mtj73]

A big difference here is that we don't have minicabs, they can be cheap but can have their own problems, ie drivers that can't speak english, fake licences. I find the black cabs in Liverpool about the same as here, taxis here effectively black cabs as the licence allows them to be flagged down on the street and pick up at ranks where minicabs have to booked, phoned or picked up from there office if you can call it an office.

 

There are bad taxis drivers here that weeding out, Triskilion is right the good ones need to do something to stand out and they will do well. I know a Douglas taxi company that started out with dress code for drivers, clean cars and good customer service but they have problems getting enough drivers so a few duff ones slip the net now and then. Will the new rules make it harder for companies like this to get decent drivers?

[andrew]

Whole thing delayed until December - just in time for more Taxi "protests" at Christmas time....

 

Can't the Govt ever get anything right?

 

Cabbies applaud taxi reform delay

 

CABBIES packed into the public gallery in the Legislative Buildings applauded as Tynwald voted to adjourn a debate on moves to reform the Island's taxi industry.

 

The 2001 Road Transport Act aims to bring more competition by removing government controls on the issuing of ply for hire taxi licences and replacing the current taxi districts with an all-Island system of licensing.

 

Watched by some 50 cabbies and their families in the public gallery, Transport Minister David Anderson argued that temporary provisions of the act brought in to give the taxi trade a 'breathing space' had created an artificial 'black market' value in taxi plates that have been sold in Douglas for in excess of £40,000.

 

But Brenda Cannell (Douglas East) accused the minister of failing to consult with the cabbies and claimed he had chosen to ignore the results of a Department of Transport-commissioned survey that concluded there was no unmet need for taxis in the Island.

 

Proposing an amendment to adjourn the debate until December to allow 'meaningful' talks, newly elected MLC David Callister said: 'I've never seen so many people in the public gallery in Tynwald. These are people who fear for their livelihoods.'

 

There was a round of applause from the taxi drivers as Mr Callister's amendment carried by 22 to one votes in the House of Keys and 6-2 in the Legislative Council.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Cabbies-app...elay.4107069.jp

[Pat Ayres]

Yippee, a vote for doing fuck all. Nothing new there then.

[pongo]

I don't understand why the black market plates can't be withdrawn.