Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
![]() |
|
London Transport (uk.transport.london) Discussion of all forms of transport in London. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#2
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
In article ,
(JNugent) wrote: On 19/03/2013 19:59, wrote: In article , (David Cantrell) wrote: On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 11:40:47PM +0000, Charles Ellson wrote: On 15 Mar 2013 23:03:57 GMT, Neil Williams wrote: Outside London, anyway, people tend to call both varieties taxis. There is a lot of "outside London", have you travelled all of it ? For some years now the difference between taxis and hired cars has been hammered into the public for various (usually crime-related) reasons so I expect most people do know the difference. In most places there only exists one type, so no, I wouldn't expect many people to know the difference - the difference only exists in a few large cities. And even when people do know the difference, I still wouldn't expect them to pedantically use the correct word all the time, just like I don't expect Londoners to only use "tube" to refer to the deep tunnels. It's a lot more complicated than that. Both exist in Cambridge, not a very large city. The difference here is that our hire cars have meters and charge the same fares as taxis do. Most other cities, e.g. London and Birmingham, don't allow meters in hire cars which generally charge different fares from taxis as a result. Birmingham was cited by the PP. The City of Birmingham operates under exactly the same legislation as the City of Cambridge in this area of activity (essentially the 1976 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act). So unless the City of Cambridge has acquired specific local authority legislation (eg, via a local Corporation Act promoted through Parliament), it does not have the power to force the owners of private hire cars to install or use meters, any more than Birmingham does. Indeed, it doesn't have the power at all to control the fares of private hire cars. Or, for that matter, to seek to control the route(s) taken by private hire cars carrying fare-paying passengers. Those are a couple of the main differences between taxis and vehicles which are not taxis. I think you are correct about the law. I reported what happens in Cambridge. It is a choice of the operators. Unlike in many places, hire cars are allowed in areas restricted to buses and taxis here. This may have been influenced by the practice on fares at the time (in the 1970s) and may therefore have influenced the trade to maintain the local system ever since. Removing those freedoms has been touted as a possible consequence of the Law Commission proposals which would ban meters in hire cars. Colin Rosenstiel |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Slam door carriage torn apart on BBC South Today | London Transport | |||
Staff with the J Door Open | London Transport | |||
Staff with the J Door Open | London Transport | |||
Staff with the J Door Open | London Transport | |||
Tube door opening and closing times | London Transport |