This was mentioned in the other Swindon thread, but I just want people to see how easily the scare and doom mongers from the T&G can be put down.
Transport and General Workers’ Union Objections to De-limitation, and Officer response to those objections.
T&G: Myth
The OFT’s argument that more vehicles automatically equal better service and availability is not sustainable. The problem in London is that Transport for London have no means of ensuring that drivers will work the unsocial hours. This has led to the introduction two years ago of significantly higher night tariff which has gone some way towards alleviating problems of supply. However, in areas with restricted numbers, the Local Authorities are able to take advantage of a “double shift” system to ensure better coverage during the night time hours.
Officer response: Reality
This is essentially an attempt to make a virtue out of the fact that a restricted numbers policy assists in the aim of many plate-holders to have their vehicle on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There could be a tendency for plate holders to work during the day, while those renting vehicles may effectively be forced to work the more lucrative unsocial hours in order to pay high rents to plate holders. The most acute availability problems arise late at night at weekends when revellers leave pubs and nightclubs and then try to get home by taxi. Unsocial hours premiums added to fares by licensing authorities are thought by the trade to be totally inadequate to deal with the higher earning required by market conditions. This results in availability problems for customers. The imminent liberalisation of the licensing laws should assist the problem of a short demand peak – indeed, it is reported that when Manchester’s licensing laws were relaxed during the 2002 Commonwealth Games, taxi availability problems were almost completely eradicated.
T&G: Myth
With the proposed de-restriction of taxi numbers there is no guarantee that at “peak” loading there would be sufficient supply of taxis to meet this demand. The OFT also fails to take into account double-shifting, which is very prevalent in restricted areas, and which assists with round the clock coverage.
Officer response: Reality
It is not suggested that de-limitation will guarantee taxi availability at times of peak demand, however this is not a valid reason to oppose delimitation, since if the problem is in some way alleviated it is clearly better than the current position. Similarly, the claim that around the clock coverage deteriorates with delimitation is based partly on the claim that there is oversupply during daytime hours in many Authorities which have either derestricted or never restricted. There is no conclusive evidence of this.
T&G: Myth
Our analysis of the [OFT] report would indicate that the actual waiting time reduction following de-restriction and an increase of 50% in taxi numbers is merely 15 seconds in the area (Sheffield) that the OFT chooses as a model.
Officer response: Reality
A major effect of de-limitation is to allow drivers to run their own vehicle, which does not in itself increase supply. As befits most taxi studies, the OFT did not supply comparative driver numbers, so more accurately comparing supply before and after delimitation is not possible. Another consequence of de-limitation has been shown to be a shift from the private hire to the taxi sector. Again, there is no concrete evidence in the OFT report although the report did make the point that overall combined private hire and taxi numbers in Sheffield barely changed, suggesting some shift between the two. However, despite a real increase in supply, several factors could explain the limited decrease in customer waiting times:
i) More work secured by plying for hire due to better servicing of the rank and hail markets;
ii) Customers shifting from pre-booking to hiring in the street;
iii) A higher proportion of taxis doing pre-booked work – ex private hire drivers in particular may still choose to be attached to a private hire radio circuit.
T&G: Myth
In its report the OFT has largely ignored the effects of de-limitation on the Private Hire trade. Nor does it take into account the effects of telephone bookings which is the major segment of the taxi and private hire market. There is no analysis of the effects of de-limitation on waiting times for telephone bookings as a result of PHV drivers becoming hackney drivers, moving off circuits and into independent, rank operation. This we believe is a strange omission for a report that repeatedly champions delimitation as the deliverer of better services, less waiting time and most curiously “more choice” for the customer.
Officer response: Reality
Perhaps these comments should be turned around and it should be explained why a system can be defended that has controlled the number of hackney carriages to such an extent that a huge private hire sector is required to service demand which the taxi sector cannot hope to cope with. Officer opinion is that restricting the number of hackney carriages has allowed them to “cherry pick” the areas they serve (primarily the bus and rail stations) and in other areas the private hire companies have developed to service the gap. It is not just a question of taxis servicing more of the rank and hail market which at present does not exist because there is no taxi supply, but also pre-booked work which could be serviced by taxis if their supply was not artificially stifled and is consequently covered by the private hire trade. The Transport and General Workers Union argument on telephone bookings is something of a red herring. Delimitation will mean more hackney carriages serving the pre-booked market as well as plying for hire on taxi ranks. In the opinion of officers, “For hire” vehicles that have access to both the street and pre-booked markets would be generally preferred by both owners and drivers where they have the choice, and this flexible supply side must benefit customers. Clearly, de-limitation will not end prebooked work but it will shift the balance towards more convenient and efficient street hirings.
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