Taxi Driver Online

Hi,
The area where i live is semi rural and think i may have found a little goldmine.
2miles either side of my village are 2 other vilages now the taxi companies from the nearest town (15min drive) wont come out to these or charge £20 1 way to go from 1 village to another which is only about a mile or 2 away.
Now im thinking of setting up ap private hire firm because i know there are lots of people who want to go to the little pubs in the villages for a drink and go into the town but wont because of the cost or taxis aren't intrested.
What do you think?

So I take it that you aren't in the trade already Mr Egor?

If not then I would be careful - the costs of running your operation might be more than you envisage, and the work available less than you think, particularly if you have to make your self available for many hours a week and spend a lot of time doing nothing and just waiting.

The problem is that once you get down to villages of a certain size then providing a service might not be financially viable, and perhaps the lack of any service already might be indicative of this - why hasn't anyone started one before?

But then again, you may be correct, and it may be a goldmine.

Wharfy usually has plenty of advice about this kind of thing, but he seems to be having a day or two off from posting!!

Dusty

I think no, its taxis you want or need not private hire.

in rural locations like this you need to cut down your drive bettween two points, so if you go into a pub for a customer and someone says come back for me you need to do so its economy realy, also pick up the flagdowns to take you to your next call.

private hire in rural locations are bloody expensive to run and that is why they are not comming from the nearest towns.

learn from thier mistakes and ask council to issue taxi licenses, youve iudentified the need just come up with the wrong answer.

Wharfie

If you can egor, ask the lads in the other area the questions you ask on here. The trade can be great, and it can be not so great.

However if you have a goldmine, then make sure there is gold left in it.

Egor

I suspect you will face the usual problem. Not enough work Sunday to Thursday and fare to much to cope with on Friday/Saturday.

Try and be innovative.

Research the laws first because legit operators like me will be down on you like a ton of bricks if you aren't.

Work out how much you need to charge and not what folks are prepared to pay. That statement runs against the suggestion that you run as a Hackney. Your council will probably set tarrifs for hackneys. These may be to low to justify you offering a service.

Around me many villages have one man taxi companies, it suits folks who don't want/need full time employment.

One thing is sure, it won't be a goldmine, more probably a copper mine.

Thanks for the replys.
I guess if i applied for a taxi liscence not private hire, after i've taken people from the villages to the town i'd be able to work the ranks in the town as well as working them week days.
Are you able to run ascheduled service ie. have set pick up times in the villages going to the town and back the other way? Like picking up 8-8.30 and 5.15 for the return jouirney or is that invading the bus operators terrortory to much?
By the way i'm not already in the trade i'm a postie so have a good working knowlege of the town/streets and all the ratruns.

Forgot , what do you mean research the laws because legit owners like me will be down on you like a sack of nails?
Do you mean people driving private hires picking up punters off the street?

Talk to local councillors about bus services. They might just bite you hand off to do a heavily subsidised Taxi Bus service.

There is far more to our trade than simply not being allowed to be flagged if your are a PH. You need to know about cross border issues, Hire or reward insurance (at least 2K per annum) and many other things.

Egor it might be an idea to drive someone else's PH or HC for a few weeks or months, to see if this trade is your cup of tea.

If it is, well welcome to the funny farm.

Alex

EGOR,
i HAVE TAKEN TO YOU AND CAN HELP YOU LOTS, BUT i NEED AN E-MAIL ADDRESS.

forget about having a taxi and running from town that defeats the object I will tel;l you where you can get grants, how to run your scheduled service at a profit, and can tell you of some pitt falls.

if you say its a gold mine it is.

Wharfie

use this one- egor110@hotmail.com

Wharfie- i didn't mean a run a taxi from the town i was going to run it from the village i live in which is inbetween the others , so i could pick up the trade the town taxis don't want because its to far to travel.
Thing is its only 5ish miles and a 10-15 mins journey to the town is that far?

Egor, i always find if someone can stick this lark for more than 6 months, then there a good chance you will be doing it forever.
So think twice before you go past the event horizon.

Egor I have a postie drives part time for me. why not get a job with your local towns operators part-time first to see how you get on. you may find if you work for a big operator they would be willing to let you work in the area you wish. so long as you bring in the dosh. Down side - if it is a gold mine a large operator may move in. However if you are a local lad you should be able to push them back out should you start out on your own.
Good luck either way

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