Taxi Driver Online

At our monthly meeting last night, some of the oporatores did not know that there is no requirement to use a meter for runs outwith the council area or Zone for that matter.
I had to point this out to some of them as they where under the impression they had to use the meter all the way, even for example a run to Manchester
Some where still unsure after the meeting ended

Brilliant....why not carve up the borders into 35,000,000 individual zones and Make meters redundant...or just go PH which makes Meters redundant in any case.

Or why not just use the meter in the first place as all borders Zones use the same Tariffs anyway...unless of course you think the tariffs are to high to start with...and whats the Punter going to think half way through a Hailed taxi Journey when the Driver switches the meter off.
Be simpler to do what all taxi drivers know they can do and offer a Price for the run as a PH driver does....but that would only apply if the Cab had been pre booked....which in itself flys in the face of switching off the meter Mid run on a hailed run...

Did Andrew Glen turn up?

We also had a visit from SBC, a Mr Mattew Mace, passenger transport manager.
he outlined the local transport act 2008-public consultation on the local services
private hire vehicles regulations 2009.

His talk was most welcome by all,
he pointed out that some of the bus companies are finding some of the rural routs not viable for normal busses, and that any person who wished to run a bus service may do so by applying to the traffic commissioner for a rout that they the owner may wish to cover, and that that rout would subsidised by the council
We asked about the bus passes that are now used and he said that the council would pay 70% of the bus pass fare
The question regarding all busses to be wheelchair accessible was pointed out and he said that they must all be by 2015

Blood if a punter from Hawick kelso Jedburgh, or peebles wants to go from Gala, its £30 up front it stops the runners,
if someone wants to go to the airport they normaly phone and ask how much and with so many companies in Gala they normaly phone them all to get the cheapest quote but its always money up front

I wish we could bin the meters and go back to set fares folk would know how much they needed before getting a cab

Do they also ask, "ye'll nae be havin' a sale, weel yer?"

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Former taxi driver

As PH for nigh on 8 years I think I can count the number of runs ive asked to be paid up front on the fingers of one hand...........guess Hacks dont have that same luxury.

What counts as a Bus...sometimes the S B Council talk about using any Vehicle with four or more seats to do service work, fair enough it needs to be able to issue tickets and be Designated a route number and be destination signed but it could still be a PH or HC....then along comes VOSa that say that a 4 Seater could be used as a Bus provided its Coif certificated and has an Vosa Operators Licence to allow it to charge individual fares to Individual Customers who may or may not be picked up at various stops on its dedicated route. the problem with this is that it still defeats the needs of flexibility on rural services which would allow operators to digress from the main route to collect passengers that may live off the route itself. The SBC played with this idea a couple of years ago but im not convinced they have any real idea whats involved, they talked then of a Scheduled route that had to be booked the day before by the customer and if no customers at all wanted a vehicle on any following day the run would not go ahead.

Routes are either Scheduled or theyre not...someone in Vosa or the council has to clarify the Laws on this one...even if a 9+ seater Minibus was used it would still need to be tachoed if that route was more than 30 kms in range and its speed regulated to 56 MPH to comply with vosa rules.

Does anyone really know the Facts of what can or cannot be used on a bus Scheduled service?...i sure as hell dont!!!.

My long lost brother?

TBH I'm just impressed there is such a thing as the border whatever it is.

Good luck to them.

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IDFIMH

You should be...we are very Impressive up here

http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/ope ... rtact2008/

This is the consultation that was discussed


Bloodknock is the first line of defence, I am the rear gunner

Q. How much will it cost to get a special PSV licence and register a route?

A. The application fee for a special PSV operator's licence is £58.00. (This licence lasts for 5 years, then a further fee of £58.00 is payable to apply for the continuation in force of a special licence.) The application fee to register a local service is £57.00.

This is a dam site cheaper than the PH licence, and you can still do PH work on top
blimey you could save nearly a grand over the 5 years in licence fee's

and will it wash with the Vehicle insurers

and how do you apply for a route and what does it all entail

and where would you find a regular sheduled route that would be Profitable thats not already being servied by a bus

And what equipment like meters to work out part fares or ticket machines would be all needed aboard your PH vehicle

And does the Driver need a PSV or just their car licence

http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/ope ... 008/annexd