"Boltar" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
Apparently Livingstone wants to fit GPS-controlled
speed limiters to buses and taxis which will prevent
them from ever breaking the speed limit.


http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...nderbonnet.htm

The consequences seem fairly obvious to me.

How does he expect this to work? Any tall buildings
or tunnels will disrupt the satellite signal plus ,
though I expect bus & taxi companies wouldn't
break the law , there would be nothing to prevent
an owner-operator taxi driver disconnecting or
shielding the aerial of the unit wherever it may
be in the vehicle so it can't pick up any satellite signals.

The PCO is legally entitled to visit a taxi-driver's house at any time of
the day or night and inspect his taxi there and then, waking him if
necessary. Any taxi driver who did the above would lose his badge. Anyway,
since the only places where a GPS unit would lose the signal for a
significant period of time are all 30mph limit anyway, the unit would
probably default to 30 unless it has reason to believe that it is on a road
where the speed limit is higher.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

"John Rowland" wrote in message ...
"Boltar" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
The PCO is legally entitled to visit a taxi-driver's house at any time of
the day or night and inspect his taxi there and then, waking him if

Ah , didn't know that. HOw often would they actually do it though? After all,
he might be out working.

necessary. Any taxi driver who did the above would lose his badge. Anyway,
since the only places where a GPS unit would lose the signal for a
significant period of time are all 30mph limit anyway, the unit would
probably default to 30 unless it has reason to believe that it is on a road
where the speed limit is higher.

You mean like the dartford tunnel? Yeah , 30mph would go down well there!

B2003

"Boltar" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
"Boltar" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote in
message
...
The PCO is legally entitled to visit a taxi-driver's house at any time
of
the day or night and inspect his taxi there and then, waking him if

Ah , didn't know that. HOw often would they actually
do it though? After all, he might be out working.

Or he might live in Brighton! I haven't a clue how often they do it... Mike?

Anyway, since the only places where a GPS unit
would lose the signal for a significant period of time
are all 30mph limit anyway, the unit would probably
default to 30 unless it has reason to believe that it is
on a road where the speed limit is higher.

You mean like the dartford tunnel?
Yeah , 30mph would go down well there!

Since the unit would know that it had been on the Dartford Tunnel southern
approach road a minute earlier, it would have (quoting myself) "reason to
believe that it is on a road where the speed limit is higher".

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
Apparently Livingstone wants to fit GPS-controlled speed limiters to buses
and taxis which will prevent them from ever breaking the speed limit.


http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...nderbonnet.htm

The consequences seem fairly obvious to me.

1) Taxis will become significantly slower than minicabs, and so will
become
a distress purchase for people who can't get a minicab. People will prefer
any minicab, even an illegal one, to a taxi.

2) Car drivers will do everything they can to prevent taxis pulling out in
front of them, so that they won't be held up. This will make taxis even
slower with respect to minicabs.

3) Taxi drivers will earn less money, because there will be less demand
for
them, and they will take longer to do the jobs that they get but won't get
any extra money for them. Minicab drivers will earn more money, because
there will be more demand for minicabs.

4) Although taxis will probably survive in Central London, they will cease
to exist in the suburbs, because there will be no point in spending a year
or more doing the suburban knowledge and buying or hiring an expensive
wheelchair-accessible vehicle if you can earn more money as a minicab
driver.

5) The decimation of the suburban taxi trade and growth of the minicab
trade
will mean that the disabled won't be able to get around at all.


This rather hysterical scenario is all based on a false premise.

People don't choose to use a black cab because they think the driver will
break the speed limit to get them home quicker. The black cab's advantages
are all to do with safety, reliability, solidity, legality, etc. So they
have nothing to fear from this measure. It could even become a selling
point.

If I wanted a driver to speed, I'd avoid black cabs and offer a minicab
driver an extra fiver. I very rarely see black cabs speeding.

Jim

In article , John Rowland
writes
Apparently Livingstone wants to fit GPS-controlled speed limiters to buses
and taxis which will prevent them from ever breaking the speed limit.
[...]
1) Taxis will become significantly slower than minicabs,
[...]
3) Taxi drivers will earn less money,

So you believe that taxis can't survive as a commercial proposition
without breaking the law? What *are* you taking?

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

In article ,
Clive D. W. Feather wrote:
In article , John Rowland
writes
Apparently Livingstone wants to fit GPS-controlled speed limiters to buses
and taxis which will prevent them from ever breaking the speed limit.
[...]
1) Taxis will become significantly slower than minicabs,
[...]
3) Taxi drivers will earn less money,

So you believe that taxis can't survive as a commercial proposition
without breaking the law? What *are* you taking?

He's taking the Piccadilly line, everyone knows that ...

Nick
--
http://www.leverton.org/ ... So express yourself ...

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 09:34:50 +0100, "Clive D. W. Feather"
said:

So you believe that taxis can't survive as a commercial proposition
without breaking the law? What *are* you taking?

Dunno what he's on, but they make him think that the Evening Standard
and a conspiracy theory website are reliable sources of information
too.

--
David Cantrell | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

John Rowland wrote in message
...
Apparently Livingstone wants to fit GPS-controlled speed limiters to buses
and taxis which will prevent them from ever breaking the speed limit.


http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...nderbonnet.htm

The consequences seem fairly obvious to me.

1) Taxis will become significantly slower than minicabs, and so will
become
a distress purchase for people who can't get a minicab. People will prefer
any minicab, even an illegal one, to a taxi.

2) Car drivers will do everything they can to prevent taxis pulling out in
front of them, so that they won't be held up. This will make taxis even
slower with respect to minicabs.

3) Taxi drivers will earn less money, because there will be less demand
for
them, and they will take longer to do the jobs that they get but won't get
any extra money for them. Minicab drivers will earn more money, because
there will be more demand for minicabs.

4) Although taxis will probably survive in Central London, they will cease
to exist in the suburbs, because there will be no point in spending a year
or more doing the suburban knowledge and buying or hiring an expensive
wheelchair-accessible vehicle if you can earn more money as a minicab
driver.

5) The decimation of the suburban taxi trade and growth of the minicab
trade
will mean that the disabled won't be able to get around at all.

--


Are taxi drivers the only ones earning a living on the road?

Is it acceptable for a black cab to undertake just ONE car by darting into
the Bus Lane?