This is on the Echo's website. Not only is the possible cross-border issue not mentioned, but the passage about the legality of an HCD using the meter isn't just clunky English, it's an utter car crash
Or maybe it's just me, but see who else on here, er, construes what the journalist says in the same way as I did...
I was shocked when the cab driver named his price - things have to change
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... e-28017717
After a battle to get home, ECHO reporter Dan Haygarth calls for change in Merseyside's late night transport offering
After Uber let me down, I thought the black cab coming into view would be my saviour.
It was the early hours of Sunday. I'd been out for a few beers and had maybe stayed out a bit late, so I decided it was time to head home.
My night out came after a late shift at the ECHO's Liverpool city centre office. I clocked off shortly after 11pm, so made my way to Dale Street bar Dead Crafty for a Halloween party. After a few beers, I called it a night at around 3.30am.
A cab or a private hire taxi were my options to make the approximately 4.5 mile journey home to suburban Liverpool. The last Merseyrail heading in that direction left Moorfields before midnight and any night buses that could've helped the journey were axed during the pandemic.
I first opened the Uber app and was greeted by an appropriate scare for the Halloween weekend. £23 was Uber's offer. It was an offer I did not take.
The journey back from town usually costs in the region of £11 to £15, which I can just about put up with. Now, I accept that the Saturday just gone was a very busy one.
The Saturday before Halloween was always going to be heaving and Uber's prices were going to surge. I didn't expect a jump of that size, though.
However, the next fright was delivered when I flagged a black cab on Dale Street, opposite Thomas Rigby's. Hoping the driver would be friendlier than Uber's algorithm, I told him my destination.
He then informed me it would cost £30 to get me there. That journey has never cost me close to £30 in my life - usually the meter would've hit a maximum of £15 in a black cab before I stumble out and head for the front door.
Regardless, black cab drivers cannot quote you a price and must go off the meter. But I got the impression that this driver had no interest in doing that and fancied his chances of getting £30 from me.
Thinking I'd find a better offer easily, I decided to wander in the direction of Water Street.
I was wrong. I spent the next half an hour fruitlessly wandering around the city centre - down from Water Street to The Strand, then back up Duke Street and finally around to the Bombed Out Church as I searched for a black cab or a lower Uber price.
In the end, I had to settle for a £18.60 fare on Uber. That was a result that I was not happy with.
My colleague Jamie Greer recently wrote about his frustrations of getting a cab back to the Wirral after nights out. Things aren't much better if you're going from town to the city's suburbs.
We don't have the tunnels to contend with, but an increasingly pricey taxi journey is the only option once the last trains or buses have departed. On busy nights, fares are getting to a point which are frankly unaffordable.
It should not be like this. Things can be better.
Every time I visit friends in London, I'm impressed by the city's night buses and tubes. They are affordable and environmentally-friendly ways of getting home from a night out, which other cities should aspire to replicate.
I appreciate that London is the capital and has a much bigger population than us. But I'm also very aware that we could only dream of the public transport luxury that they enjoy.
The night buses that we had in Merseyside until the pandemic were a step in the right direction. Hospitality businesses and MPs have recently called to reinstate them, saying that the cheaper options would increase footfall for venues and offer more safe options for people to get home.
Late night public transport ran in Merseyside during Eurovision and it was great to have. Here's hoping it could become a permanent solution.
It is an idea that the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is open to. In June of this year, a spokesperson said: “We are in talks with private operators and stakeholders, including the LCR Music Board, to explore the feasibility of a late night bus trial between Liverpool and the Wirral and will provide an update as soon as possible."
The return of night buses and trains would be a gamechanger. Hospitality is Liverpool's lifeblood - those using that industry shouldn't have to pay so much to get home.
