Mike Hughes typed


Just like any job there are always some who hate it. Personally I love
the job. I start when I feel like it, finish when I feel like it, don't
have to ask anyone for permission to take holidays. I work nights. You
develop a sixth sense when it comes to people. As for the money, well
you'll never get rich as a London taxi driver but you'll never be poor
as long as you have your health.

Quite. The cabbie who drove me home from Waterloo was about to take a
few months off work and working much less as his wife was expecting
their first baby very shortly.

He was taking the opportunity to help his wife and get to know the child.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

John Rowland wrote:

Boltar wrote:
Most London roads do not have u-turn bans. Which road was it?

Farringdon road (or whatever its called) down near Blackfriars.

So what makes cabbies exempt?

The law. That's the whole reason red routes were invented, as distinct from
Clearways (where not even taxis can stop).

I still don't see why taxis are a special case. Taxis are a virtual
irrelevance
when it comes to a list of relative importance of vehicles on the road
since there is always the public transport alternative. Shops and
businesses
HAVE to have deliveries, people do not have to travel by cab unless
they're
going way out into the sticks (and then the cabbie probably wouldn't
accept the fare anyway) where there might not be public transport.

Because those deliveries would take MUCH longer than the 5-100 seconds that

Not necessarily. Depends what it is. If its just a parcel in might only
take a minute
if they've phoned ahead and someone is waiting to collect.

B2003

"Boltar" wrote in message
oups.com...

d wrote:

"Boltar" wrote in message
And I've seen some private cars do all of the above... bang goes your
"noddy" theory...

Not nearly to the same extent given the number of private cars versus
the number of black cabs.

I guess we could try to come to some conclusion by just grabbing numbers out
of our asses, but what would that achieve?

This is a pointless endeavour. Some cabbies drive like ****s because some
PEOPLE drive like ****s, regardless of what vehicle they're driving at the
time. It's not the vehicle but the fact they're people which condemns some
to driving like ****s.

B2003

In message .com,
Boltar writes

John Rowland wrote:

Boltar wrote:
Most London roads do not have u-turn bans. Which road was it?

Farringdon road (or whatever its called) down near Blackfriars.

So what makes cabbies exempt?

The law. That's the whole reason red routes were invented, as distinct from
Clearways (where not even taxis can stop).

I still don't see why taxis are a special case. Taxis are a virtual
irrelevance
when it comes to a list of relative importance of vehicles on the road
since there is always the public transport alternative.

WRONG. Trains, buses, planes, ships all stop at some time or other
either through breakdown, planned maintenance, no late night service or
a variety of other services. That's when the taxis fill in the gaps.

Indeed, London transport couldn't get their staff in and out of work
when the tubes are shut without taxis, many local authorities wouldn't
be able to get their disabled residents to and from hospital, etc.
without having to provide expensive alternatives to taxis which are
available 24/7

Shops and
businesses
HAVE to have deliveries,

Agreed, but they can have them outside the 'rush' hours.

people do not have to travel by cab unless
they're
going way out into the sticks (and then the cabbie probably wouldn't
accept the fare anyway) where there might not be public transport.

Because those deliveries would take MUCH longer than the 5-100 seconds that

Not necessarily. Depends what it is. If its just a parcel in might only
take a minute
if they've phoned ahead and someone is waiting to collect.

B2003


--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England

d wrote:

"Boltar" wrote in message
I guess we could try to come to some conclusion by just grabbing numbers out
of our asses, but what would that achieve?

So you don't think there are far more private cars than taxis?


This is a pointless endeavour. Some cabbies drive like ****s because some
PEOPLE drive like ****s, regardless of what vehicle they're driving at the
time. It's not the vehicle but the fact they're people which condemns some
to driving like ****s.

Taxi drivers are supposed to be professional drivers. So if they carry
out
stupid or dangerous manouveurs on the road a number of times they
should
be barred from driving a cab , just like a bus driver wouldn't be hired
by
any bus company if he had been sacked for some driving offense even
if he still had his PSV license.

B2003

Mike Hughes wrote:
Indeed, London transport couldn't get their staff in and out of work
when the tubes are shut without taxis, many local authorities wouldn't
be able to get their disabled residents to and from hospital, etc.
without having to provide expensive alternatives to taxis which are
available 24/7

I'm talking about black cabs , not minicabs. I can't see many black
cab drivers working at 3 in the morning without charging an arm and
a leg.

Agreed, but they can have them outside the 'rush' hours.

So limit black cabs to outside rush hours too if they're only important
when public transport isn't running.

B2003

Boltar wrote in message
:

Mike Hughes wrote:
Indeed, London transport couldn't get their staff in and out of work
when the tubes are shut without taxis, many local authorities
wouldn't be able to get their disabled residents to and from
hospital, etc. without having to provide expensive alternatives to
taxis which are available 24/7

I'm talking about black cabs , not minicabs. I can't see many black
cab drivers working at 3 in the morning without charging an arm and
a leg.

Agreed, but they can have them outside the 'rush' hours.

So limit black cabs to outside rush hours too if they're only
important when public transport isn't running.

So when public transport is running, people who are making a door-to-door
journey should be forced to make a less convenient journey from start
address to departure station (bus/railway) to destination station (maybe
with changes along the way) to destination address? Even when they are
disabled or have large amounts of shopping? Even if a taxi may provide a
quicker journey?

I see nothing wrong with black-cab taxis. On the occasions when I've driven
in London, I've found that they are almost always courteous and considerate
to other motorists (eg myself) and usually indicate their intentions. If I'm
following a black cab, I usually know that if I stay behind him and change
lanes when he does I'll get there faster because he knows the places where
the left lane becomes left-turn-only or becomes a place for residents to
park instead of a through lane. Yes, they sometimes do U turns in places
that I wouldn't, but that's because they have a turning circle to die for!
If I see a taxi parked at the side of the road with his right indicator
going, I tend to plan for him doing a U turn in front of me rather than just
pulling out ahead of me in the same direction. I let black cabs pull out in
front of me more often than I would let anyone else do (in the same way as I
would for buses) because I know that they are driving for a living and that
time is money: just as buses have a timetable to keep to, taxis need to fit
in as many calls as possible in the day, even if the fare that they charge a
given passenger will be the same no matter how long the journey takes.

Minicabs of the Fred's Taxis type tend to be much less considerate - less
likely to indicate, more likely to stop without giving warning, more likely
to try to drive aggressively, less tolerant of strangers to a place.

Martin Underwood wrote:
So when public transport is running, people who are making a door-to-door
journey should be forced to make a less convenient journey from start
address to departure station (bus/railway) to destination station (maybe
with changes along the way) to destination address? Even when they are
disabled or have large amounts of shopping? Even if a taxi may provide a
quicker journey?

No I don't. BUT - neither do I think black cabs are so much more
important
than other vehicles on the road that they should be given special
dispensation
to stop on red routes. Theres no reason there can't be set places to
hail
cabs just like their are bus stops (not a taxi rank as such but
somewhere
cabs can pull in briefly) instead of the cabs just pulling over where
they please
and frequently holding up the traffic.

B2003

In message .com,
Boltar writes

Mike Hughes wrote:
Indeed, London transport couldn't get their staff in and out of work
when the tubes are shut without taxis, many local authorities wouldn't
be able to get their disabled residents to and from hospital, etc.
without having to provide expensive alternatives to taxis which are
available 24/7

I'm talking about black cabs , not minicabs. I can't see many black
cab drivers working at 3 in the morning without charging an arm and
a leg.

So am I. As far as pricing is concerned London's taxis have a meter
fitted. Paradoxically, since the Private Hire (minicabs) have become
licensed their prices are now often more expensive - they've found out
that regulation means their costs have gone up!

Agreed, but they can have them outside the 'rush' hours.

So limit black cabs to outside rush hours too if they're only important
when public transport isn't running.

B2003


--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England

Mike Hughes wrote:

So am I. As far as pricing is concerned London's taxis have a meter
fitted. Paradoxically, since the Private Hire (minicabs) have become
licensed their prices are now often more expensive - they've found out
that regulation means their costs have gone up!

Minicab fares are usually based on distance only, no time factor, but
sometimes there are higher minimum charges for short journeys. Short
journeys are therefore often cheaper by taxi as long as the taxi does
not get caught in a major traffic jam.

Account fares are usually a lot higher for the company. Any major
company such as London Underground that has staff picked up by private
hire company would be paying account fares, and would probably be using
one of the bigger (and more expensive) companies. Black cabs could well
be cheaper.

In my opinion, the whole system would work better if they got rid of
all the little cab operators and centralised the whole system. The
operators could still be there to take calls but they would not
regulate the particular drivers. When someone wants a cab, they can
simply call one number and a cab nearby will be able to pick them up.
When a cab driver finishes a job they will usually pick up the next
fare where they are and not return to base empty. There may be some
exceptions to that rule in the evening rush hour where most of the
pickups are in town and they may head back to town empty because there
is a high demand there.

Driver hours should also be regulated. You say you enjoy it because you
can choose your hours and know you are not going to get rich, but there
are some drivers (both black cab and minicab) who work all the hours
they can or are even forced by their operators to work longer hours
than they are able.