Taxi Driver Online

There is a local council rural bus run out for tender, none of the main players bid for it on the first round.,
Its for an 8 seater mini bus. 5 year contract 6 days week about 900 miles a week or so.

Could I put a price in for it using my private hire liscence ( I don't think so). Or would I need a specific liscence?

any other pointers/suggestions?

Yes you can put in for it using your PH licence, as they only require an 8 seat vehicle, but you can also get a special licence from the traffic commissioner so that you can charge separate fares.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/ope ... rtact2008/

Think you will be ok under your PH license.

But the gov are just changing the laws to allow PH to be taxibuses.

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IDFIMH

OK. Thats handy, armed with that knowledge I am going to phone council liscening in the morning see what their take on it is.

Then the bank manager!

Will back to ask for recomendations for minibuses, will need a bit of space for goods etc.

Is minbus insurance nor expensive?, and being public service it will be more pricey?

Thanks for that, all information and ideas gratefully recieved.

If its an Eight passenger seater it aint a minibus.....if it were youd be in the realm of PSV....and besides the Differential costs between Minibus and MPV type insurance is Negligible..

how come they are specifying just 8 passenger seats?

if it were me id go for a lwb transit 16 seater and remove seats down to a PH 8 passenger limit.

id guess you couldnt do "halt" stopps as a PHV but getting a rural area HC plate cant be that hard

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

You cannot just take seats anymore, if seats are removed it is subject to a notifiable alteration, leave em in and it's psv.

Not sure about Scotland but in England Special licence is only available to TAXI licence holders (HC) but you could get a restricted licence. If you are doing a local service you can stop at all bus stops along route if your licensing is correct.

If your local authority are not silly about 8 seaters just stick with one of those, I have run two Merc Vito now with over 250k on clock with very few problems. Some other local lads have the VW similar to merc and say they are superb.

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you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Got a lot done today, sorted things out with the council to transfer from PH to Taxi as well as driver from PH to taxi straight forward swap, with fee of course.
When I get that (tomorrow) its send away to VOSA completed form with another fee PSV356 for special restricted public service vehicle operators licence.

Not convinced on what way to go with minibus, would hope to get a new to 6 month Tourneo rather than larger transit.

How many seats will the bus have?

needs to have a minimum of 8 passenger seats.

Thats why I was thinking the 9 seater Tourneo

http://www.jsharples.co.uk/minibus.htm

A mini bus with power doors would work a treat

I dont know if you can still get a transit version new or secondhand

needs to have a minimum of 8 passenger seats.

And I guess 8 passenger seats maximum too....if not its a PSV drivers licence for 9 passengers and up...then that also incurs tachos for regular routes of 30 kilometres, speed limiters, CPC training and other Krap that follows being PSV...

needs to have a minimum of 8 passenger seats.

And I guess 8 passenger seats maximum too....if not its a PSV drivers licence for 9 passengers and up...then that also incurs tachos for regular routes of 30 kilometres, speed limiters, CPC training and other Krap that follows being PSV...[/quote]

It would be of no intrest to me to go over the 8 passenger, this is a move up for me as it is. There are plenty other local operators with large minibuses and buses.

Thats was my thinking to...so I got rid of the bus and focused on an nice wee 8 seater, saves a whole load of grief and any loss of revenue was off set by lower running costs...so no net loss, ...good luck

you wont need any vosa approval for an eight passenger vehicle, if you intend to get the o-licence then dont buy a smaller minibus, get the 16 seater

you need a full d1 licence too

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most