MIG wrote:
On Feb 3, 4:58 pm, "John Rowland"
wrote:
MIG wrote:

Hailing taxis and having them dart over to the kerb is dangerous and
illegal in any case, regardless of any bus lanes.

It's not dangerous if the driver doesn't do it dangerously. As for
it being illegal ... what *are* you talking about? Are you thinking
of minicabs?

I believe that minicabs can be hired by telephone or from the office,
while taxis can, in addition, be picked up at an authorised taxi rank.

I'm not aware of any kind of taxi that can legally be hailed in the
street, unless the rules have changed in the last few years.

So how come safely responding to a street hail is specifically tested in the
taxi driving test?

Taxis can legally respond to a hail nearly anywhere within their licensed
area. Exceptions include zigzags, clearways (not including red route
clearways), and a few short stretches of road in Kings Cross and Victoria
(marked with a thick red line by the kerb). They are subject to the same
laws on obstruction and dangerous driving as anyone else, which rules out
fast roundabouts and narrow slip roads. They can't pick up within 30 yards
of a (visible) rank which has a taxi on it - so the existence of a rank
creates an area where taxis can't pick up, rather than creating a place
where they can pick up. They are also not supposed to pick up in the few bus
lanes from which they are forbidden, however, there always seem to be taxis
stopped in the taxi-free bus lane in Bishopsgate by :Liverpool Street
Station, so I don't know how well this last one is enforced.