Taxi Driver Online

new taxipoint piece says 350 vehicles still non compliant but apparently some have exemptions

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/more-than-300-taxis-remain-non-compliant-as-glasgow-low-emission-zone-deadline-draws-closer

In Glasgow, more than 300 taxis remain non-compliant with the city's Low Emission Zone (LEZ) regulations, despite ongoing efforts to modernise the fleet.

This was confirmed during a city administration committee meeting where council officers briefed councillors on the current status of compliance within the taxi sector.

Approximately 350 taxis have not yet met the LEZ standards, and 76 of these have been granted exemptions. This disclosure came as part of an update on Glasgow’s Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP), which outlines the city’s strategies to combat air pollution from 2024 to 2029. Initiatives under this plan include promoting the use of low-emission vehicles and alternative forms of transport, along with improvements to transport planning and traffic management.

The issue of non-compliance was brought to the fore by Councillor Saqib Ahmed, who enquired about the number of taxis operating in the city centre that do not conform to the LEZ requirements. In response, council officers revealed that a number of taxi operators are seeking financial support to retrofit their vehicles to comply with the regulations.

Councillor Angus Millar, convener for climate, the Glasgow Green Deal, transport, and city centre recovery, assured that the council would maintain a flexible approach after the 1 June deadline. He noted that many taxi operators are actively engaging in the retrofit process and applying for the necessary exemptions to complete the modifications.

According to STV News, a council officer stated: "At this point in time we believe that there are around 350 taxis which are still non compliant, 76 taxis have been granted an exemption to their extension and another 15 approved and pending.

“There are a number of operators now that are going through the process of submitting applications in relation to the new funding and availability.”

Many taxi operators in Scotland have welcomed a newly reopened fund designed to help retrofit older taxi vehicles to meet stringent Low Emission Zone (LEZ) standards. The ‘LEZ Retrofit Fund’ managed by the Energy Saving Trust aims to enhance air quality in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee, where LEZs are currently enforced.

The retrofitting includes installing exhaust after-treatment systems or re-powering technology, with funding covering up to 70% of the costs. Specifically, grants can provide up to £5,000 per vehicle for exhaust systems and up to £10,000 for re-powering.

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So it looks like about 250 cabs will stop being licensed soon, due to a council and government that are currently in a meltdown.

Maybe any new Scottish government or local council will finally wake up and realise no one has £60-90,000 to buy a new cab.

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IDFIMH

A few things in the mix for Glasgow.

At the last council survey, the vehicle-to-driver ratio was 1408/1756 (down from 1429/3139 in 2009). So the number of licensed drivers has dropped by around 45% in that time and there's now 1.25 drivers for each cab. That's getting close to 1:1.

Owner-drivers are slightly different but fleet owners certainly won't be motivated to invest in upgrading on those stats.

Of the 250-ish non-compliant cabs, I'm guessing some owners will be just running down the clock and will then upgrade or throw the towel in. I've heard talk around the ranks of some plates being surrendered.

Glasgow plates are still limited to 1420 total but I think the 'lower limit' of 1278 was ditched in 2023. So in theory, any plates surrendered now will become available to any new applicant owner.

My guess: a drop in total cabs around June and more owner-drivers going forward.

Any HC owner/drivers maybe plating a saloon and going private hire, Mr XH558?

Of course, with an HC badge they wouldn't need a different badge (in Scotland, at least) to drive PH, so any movement across codes wouldn't show in the badge numbers (and numbers probably too small to be easily discernible in the 3,000+ PHVs).

Don't know of any but it surely must cross their mind - vehicle costs (purchase and servicing) will be much less and I think another 180-odd PHC plates could be issued within the present council limit.

Both HC and PHC driver numbers are still down from 2019 levels, so room for both to expand in theory. But if Glasgow maxes out on PHC, pretty soon drivers could find their takings diluted while the surviving HCs start having good times.

Don't think anyone knows - I expect the worst and hope for the best.

Thanks, Mr XH588 - I'd completely forgotten about the PHC cap, but if there are 180-odd plates up for grabs, then presumably any shift from HC to PH could be accommodated with numbers like that available.

And, of course, even if there were none available it's unlikely they'd be too expensive to buy, in the short-term at least. And no doubt plenty of rental cars available...

you cannot buy a p/h plate in glasgow as theyre non tranferrable

whilst there are plenty of rental cars available the rates would make your eyes water

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i started out with nothing and ive still got most of it left

Here are the numbers.

So how were the hackney plates bought and sold, or have they changed the rules for the PHCs?

But if they're not allowing the PHC plates to be bought and sold they they're enabling a market in illegally hired plates instead. Or perhaps also a few illegally bought and sold

Thanks for the numbers, Mr XH588 - very interesting

For years I had it in my head that HC numbers in Glasgow were 1,428 for several years, but that number doesn't actually appear in your graphic...

However, I'm maybe forgetting how time is flying, and how long I've been taking an interest in these things. And how old I am

So your numbers go back to 2008, which is obviously quite a long period. However, the Coyle case on here states that the figure was 1,428, and that was decided in 1997

I remember years ago wondering why numbers actually increased by two to 1,430, but maybe that was because of the Coyle case?

Anyway, will be interesting to see how numbers have settled in the next couple of years - the latest figure of 1,408 was from January 2023, thus several months before LEZ was first implemented in Glasgow. And, of course, well before the effect of any transitional exemptions etc would have shown up in the numbers.

This is the 1997 Coyle case, for what it's worth

Which was posted on here in 2005, thus doesn't show up on the site's search function

But, unlike some other older stuff I was looking for recently, is easily found via Google

viewtopic.php?t=2433

So combined vehicle numbers have gone down roughly 10% from peak.

Whilst in the same time driver numbers have gone down by a third.

Blimey.

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IDFIMH

technically hackney plates arent bought and sold as they always remain the property of glasgow city council
yes,different criteria for p/h

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i started out with nothing and ive still got most of it left

You mean *combined* driver numbers?

I make combined vehicle numbers down 11.5% from peak (5,179 to 4,548).

Combined driver numbers are down from 7,828 to 5,068, thus 35.3%, or just over one third down, roughly speaking.

(Actually, forget me questioning what you said - either I was imagining that you'd said combined driver numbers had *halved* [when I read your post yesterday morning] or someone has been using the edit button )

But, yes, quite a dramatic fall in driver numbers, while vehicles numbers haven't dropped nearly so much. But obviously one factor is the long-term and significant downward trend in HC driver numbers compared to vehicles, which have stayed more or less static, obviously because they've been capped for decades.

The PH cap will also have kept the PHC numbers artificially high over lockdown - obviously it was never clear when it would all end (it was always just round the corner), while proprietors wouldn't want to give up the plates because of the cap - I seem to recall people talking about large fleets of driverless PHCs in Glasgow, which would have happened anyway because of the lockdown effect, but no doubt exacerbated because of the cap, which wouldn't be such a factor as regards *badges*.

Which also in turn explains why in 2022 there were actually more PHCs than PHDs

And also explains why, despite the PHC cap, the driver to vehicle ratio is still well below the peak of 1.39, which would have been around the time the cap was introduced. So while normally you'd maybe expect a PHC cap to increase the driver/vehicle ratio in the long term, the reduction in drivers due to lockdown has actually reduced the ratio.

But it's all a potential rabbit hole, though, so maybe best to stop here. For example, there seems to be an error with the total driver numbers in 2019 - combined vehicle numbers should in fact be 5,360...

(Which I only noticed because it looked odd that the combined vehicle figure didn't change between 2018 and 2019, which I assumed was an error in the individual HC/PH figures...but it's actually just an error in adding the two together...)

But which in turn means our vehicle reduction figures are actually wrong...it's actually around a 15% reduction from peak for the combined fleet. Thus slightly closer to the driver numbers reduction, but still a substantial gulf between vehicle and driver reductions

The thing is that those figures probably reflect nationwide trends . Covid 19 only accelerated the decline in the night time economy so the amount of work available will be down requiring fewer vehicles and drivers.

The ulez thing will only further cut the excess capacity and hopefully after the numbers drop further those left with massive finance costs for the newer compliant vehicles should get more work to compensate for the bigger bills. At the end of the day it's natural market forces working the way Adam Smith predicted.

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