Taxi Driver Online

Headline and most of this reads a bit 'meh', but sting in the tail with the numbers at the end

Can't think offhand why the numbers have gone that way, but I'm sure there's a good reason, and the article would be a lot more interesting if it explained that rather than what's in the rest of the piece

Or at least, the article does quote the council's report on why there's been a signficant downturn in HCD numbers, but not sure I believe it


Number of Wiltshire taxi drivers stabilising after Covid drop

https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news ... ovid-drop/

The number of taxi drivers has stabilised in Wiltshire following the decline that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This decline followed a national trend as drivers moved to industries with more sociable and regular hours.

According to a report presented to councillors at the latest licensing committee meeting, this trend has now stabilised, and driver numbers have risen by 11% over the last 11 months.

The report was discussed at the meeting on Monday, December 4, and indicated that 30 new licence applications and 114 renewals were processed during October 2023.

The total number of licensed hackney carriage drivers at the end of October was 697.

Although these numbers are rising, the report noted that they are not rising fast enough to meet the increased SEND demand.

According to the report, there is also a noticeable trend of drivers switching from hackney carriage to private hire, reflecting the lower footfall and business in town centres.

Since April 2019, the number of hackney carriage drivers has fallen by 182 and the number of private hire drivers has risen by 30.

Tom Ince, the principal compliance officer presenting the reports, said it must be ensured that improvements in Wiltshire’s taxi service remain “viable”.

He concluded that overall, the figures were “positive news” for Wiltshire.

I just don't believe that the shift from HC to PH is because of 'lower footfall and business in town centres'

The extra 30 PH might be something to do with school contracts.

The fall in hackney numbers might be drivers licensing elsewhere and working via the Uber app locally.

Lewes has lost significant numbers of hackney drivers, yet massively increased PH numbers, which never work in Lewes.

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IDFIMH

locally the numbers of drivers switching to days off nights is high because 20 years ago you could earn 60 to 100 on a midweek night now its 10 to 20 pounds people don't go out any more so demand in the less popular town and city centres isn't there anymore.

remember Brighton is unique in being a "party town" (City) and those are getting fewer in number

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Edders, not sure what your point has to do with what I said, really, or did you just quote me to wind me up?

Maybe there's less demand at night in some places, but not really sure how that affects the HC/PH split.

Maybe it's related to school runs, and/or the cross-border thing, but who knows. And can't really be bothered looking into it.

And who mentioned Brighton? I certainly didn't

And, for example, 90%+ of my work is off the ranks, but if I started handing out cards willy nilly etc (which I don't currently do) and got a lot more pre-booked work, would I change my HC plate to PH? Er, obviously not, because a lot of my work would disappear.

By the same token, even assuming there's less public hire work here late at night, would that be a reason to give up my HC plate?

Similarly, the HCs here working for the bigger offices do *most* of their jobs off the phones, but again, why would they give up their HC plate?

Nights are nowhere near what they once were, and drivers have to work longer to serve the same amount of punters they used to, due to the clubs going all night when they used to finish at 2.00 am.

There is still money to be made working nights, but you have to work harder for it.

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IDFIMH

In your manor they would be daft too.

But where you can license in a bucket council, yet work via Uber in a more vibrant area, it's commonplace for drivers to bin their HC vehicles and licenses to work PH elsewhere.

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IDFIMH