Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies Furious at Forced Price Hike

9th August 2008

Taxi drivers have reacted furiously at a second proposed fare increase this year.

Drivers from three different firms in the Adur district, around Shoreham, do not want fares to go up and say it will lead to less custom for them with passengers put off by higher prices.

The increase in hackney carriage fares, proposed by the Adur Licensed Drivers' Association (Alda), has been met with opposition from drivers not represented by the body.

Alda argues the fare increase is to cope with the increase in petrol prices.

Mick McMahon, from Taxilink said: “The start rate will still be £2.80 but the yardage is coming down. It's more than a 15% increase.

“Our company's against it and other drivers are against it. It's the wrong time for an increase. The public cannot afford and increase.

“It's better to protect the revenue we've got rather than lose any more.”

The tariff increases, which were provisionally approved by Adur councillors last month, will be looked at again in a licensing committee meeting in September after several drivers complained.

Under law, hackney drivers do not have to charge the full rate set by the licensing authority, something which Mr McMahon's Taxi link has been doing since the last increase was introduced in April.

The new rates will see passengers charged 20p for travelling 150 yards instead of the current 176 yards.

If given the final go ahead by councillors, a one mile journey will cost £4.40, up from £4.20 while a five mile journey will cost £13.80 instead of the current £12.20.

Paul Hatcher, co-owner of the Adur Cab Company, said: “In the current economic situation it's too high. We had a rise a little while ago concerning the increase in petrol prices”

John Symington, manager of Bel-Cabs, also agreed the increase will put customers off and that it is being introduced at the wrong time.

Stephen Fleming, the chairman of Alda, said: “Taxi drivers have been severely hit by the serious rise in fuel charges.

“The public is well aware of this and has every sympathy with taxi drivers because of it.

“Taxi tariffs are occasionally reviewed to make sure that running a taxi is cost effective for the driver and reasonable for customers.

“Adur taxi fares have gone up by only 30p per journey in the last two-and-a-half years while fuel has risen by approximately 40% during this time.

“Increases have always worked on the principle of the further you go, the more you pay. This is the way we keep fares in line with costs.

“All Adur hackney drivers are invited to trade meetings at which tariffs are discussed. Any proposals are then put to the council. Some drivers chose not to take part in this.”

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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I hate to pi** on anyone's parade but if fuel prices are coming down that means less demand i.e. the economy is slowing.

This means the economy is fecked.


Think: less goods being manufactured, transported, sold and bought etc.

Taxi . .. . .

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

There is just so much I could say over this, but I wont.

Other than to say some folks just don't know how to add up.

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IDFIMH

Come on, don't be shy!!

Some of us may well learn from your comments & they may be beneficial in other LA areas.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

When you present figuers before a committee, FFS make sure they are the right ones.

Crazy thing is no-one noticed.

Not the folks presenting, not the LO, not the councillors, no-one.

Only when those crazy wrong numbers started to effect another area ( ) did someone find the errors.

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IDFIMH

Well, the next time they apply for a fare increase, they better get their figures spot on, because they the council will go over them with a fine tooth-comb!

I presume they used The Brighton Formula for the fare increase calculations & those calculations are relatively easy compared with the way London does it.

I don't like the London method of fare increase calculation, because if a mistake is made in Year 1, then it is prone to magnification in future years as their calcs are based on previous years calcs, whereas The Brighton Formula starts from scratch every time.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Less goods manufactured?

Where have you been.

After WWII manufacturing accounted for 40% of our economy. Now it's way less than 20%.

But you're right about prices. Price reductions are designed to stimulate a dropping demand. And lower demand means a struggling economy.

And a struggling economy means that we are the first to catch the cold.

Aaaatttissshhooo!!!!!!

They did, but they used the wrong average.

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IDFIMH

For what it's worth I also think the London way is a dog dinner, and can't believe there is a % allowed in their formula for time taken to do the knowledge.

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IDFIMH

You just cannot get The Brighton Formula wrong.

The two main input figures are Average Regional Earnings & Vehicle Running Costs, & both come off the Internet, from National Statistics Online & The AA Websites.

All they then need is the average total mileage & engaged mileage that taxis travel per annum & the average jobs done per annum in the given area .

What else is there to get wrong?

Are they all members of Dummies R Us?

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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As I said the wrong average. Mean or median?

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IDFIMH

Now I am fully with you!!

If they didn't understand the meanings of the words; that is what the dictionary is for!!

Richard Heads!!

They could have been miles out in their calcs!!

Another example of how the cab trades' image can be destroyed at a stroke!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

If anyone wants to know what the average fares are in their area then the Stats folks in London have done a nice little spread-sheet.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/ ... ab7_1a.xls

You will note that each area has a mean average, and a median average. The median being the lower, and the choice of gov.

Reason for this is the mean average includes all the billionaires (or in the case of Gateshead, blokes with a spare tenner), and that causes the numbers to be a tad iffy.

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IDFIMH

No way Jose!!! That's not on!!

Mean means average, and median means midway point.

No way should a midway point in a list of numbers be classified as an average.

Example;

10, 100, 1,000,000.

The median is 100, but the mean is 333,370; a world of difference.

It's just not on!!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

The gov have always used the median, but from memory, they lose the top 25% and the bottom 25% and get the average from the middle 50%.

_________________
IDFIMH