Taxi Driver Online

Yes that is my point, almost! The same Jockeys/PH drivers now will take control of their own destinies & obtain a HC themselves. These things normally find their own level after a time.
From my perspective Edinburgh CC is doing the right thing. You can get any vehicle [of reasonable size] & start up no WAVs great! I tell you there are many more in England & Wales who are not as professional as Edinburgh CC.

Its good that Edinburgh has the knowledge test for new drivers,
But if they de reg, all that is required as well as the above, if they want to come on to obtain a free plate is a new WAV, of the types approved by the council
This would stop the stampede

Edinburgh require a purpose built WAV - no saloons are allowed. Most are LTI vehicles or Metrocabs, with some E7s
They also haven't issued a new plate for many years without a court case.
They maintain the cap on licences, and look set to continue to do so.
Members of their licencing committee have interests in PH firms and work for the council controlled bus company. Very professional

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Ahh I see, so very similar to Chester then. But at least you dont have to buy a brand new WAV like in Cheser. Still I cana see how there will be a massive increase in plate activity, just a period of adjustment. There will be some PH drivers willing to splash out but I dont think you can get much for under 10k & even if you do, they will be clocked & a bit tatty.

but then if every driver was to get there own cab the work would not be there..through the week it is crap as it is with the cabs we have the now.I would put my life on it that if you got a vote from all the drivers 99.9 would not want change so whats the problem...when i wanted in when i was a driver i bought in I didnt take a tantrum cause i didnt get my way and get my free plate..

Sorry dug, that just doesn't add up.

Hiring is more expensive than owning.
If a driver can afford the rental and make a living from the takings he makes now, why can't he do it as an owner with less overheads?

I think those who bought in and still have a huge loan to pay are the ones who would struggle. Most of their cabs are currently double shifted.
They did their arithmetic assuming a rental income which would no longer be there.
New owners won't need a rental income to get by, since they won't have a huge debt to pay back for the plate.
Delimiting would produce more cabs, but not one single new driver or one single less customer.
Same number of shifts being worked, fewer double shifted cabs and more single shifted ones. Same amount of work among the same amount of drivers.

Owners who don't drive at all would be in real trouble, as would anyone relying on a lump sum from the sale of their plate to fund their retirement.
There would still be drivers who, for various reasons, prefer to rent - just fewer of them.
A restricted pool of rental drivers would force owners to compete for them, driving rentals down.

The trade as a whole will survive and grow. Some individual plate holders will not.
The trade may even win back some of the custom lost to PH and other forms of transport.

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so 99.9% wouldnt want change ??
even if that change meant that they were paying out less while making the same money.

well they must be getting bum info then.

you never had the balls to ask for a so called free plate.
you just took the route that yer peers told you to take,only now do you question youre choices only when they are under threat.

Yes Chester did it quite successfully. Not everyone wants to spend 25k on a new van & sit around chewing the cud. Not sure on exact numbers but I think it was no more than 15 new WAVS. Its a way of dereging & improving the average age of the fleet all at the same time a Win/Win situation for the council. Most newbies were ex PH anyway who just fancied a shot at indy.

Renting or owning, not much difference money wise. It's the owners who take the risk, and have all the worrying to do. I'll tell you right now, in good ole Embra you can't even get on a rank, it's that quiet. Even Friday/sat nights your sitting twiddling your thumbs for most of the evening until they all come pouring out the pubs at 1 or clubs at three and even then that's mopped up in around twenty minutes ! So putting more Cabs on would be suicide for us. As Dug says, if you were to ask the drivers what they thought I'll wager most of them wouldn't want any change !
Open it up and all that happens is more [edited by admin] old bangers will appear because nobody will beable to afford a new motor that's for sure. We currently have one of the newest fleets in the country, we have surveys done every few months to guage whether there is a need more more Cabs. You don't get much fairer than that in my opinion. Everyone is a winner !

Really?

Buying, say £600 a month for a TX4, £450 for an E7.
Insurance £150 a month, maybe more maybe less.
Tax/licensing fees/maintenance £200 a month.
So that's, say, £950 a month for a brand new motor, maybe less.

Rental, £350 a week = £1510 a month.

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IDFIMH

The owners/Barons dont want the drivers to know that info sussex it may give them ideas above their station

350 I ok then there was an exclusive at 270 that people thought was to much.. get back to your calculations..and ali I have balls o steel thanks ..espescially when under threat...

On a more serious note, I find that a lot of drivers carn't get credit so are forced to rent. Also some other drivers may be able to get credit but won't take the plunge, for obvious reasons.

I have rented and been on both sides of the coin and there is times when my taxis fooked i wish i was still renting but then i get a good spell again and its good to be an owner it swing in roundabouts espescially when you drive a tx11

Even if I take your lowest figure it still works out cheaper to buy/run a brand new TX4 than to rent one.

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IDFIMH