Taxi Driver Online

Hello.

What I'm about to ask is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is, so at this point you're either rolling your eyes or getting ready to give me some great advice (perhaps)!

I'm 55, no mortgage, my wife works, and I'm thinking of a change of career. I live on the South Coast, decent size town, and am looking at getting my private hire license.

Like many others, I'd like to specialise in luxury airport, city and corporate runs, but assume I would probably need to do some regular cabbing while I build-up. I'm going to get a private hire licenese,not Hackney, because down here they'll only license new vehicle if they're wheelchair accessible.

I don't mind early mornings or late nights but my mental make-up means I don't want the Thursday/Friday/Saturday night mayhem.

I guess I'd need to turnover £35K+ to make it work for me. Am I being at all realistic?

A shedload of different factors to consider, but that kind of sector tends to be more competitive, so difficult to get into, particularly from scratch.

And if you want to be earning from day 1, you'll need to be working for a circuit, and basically paying them to feed you work, which in turn means you'll get your fair share of the dross

And then because you're working for a circuit, it means you can't really build up your own work alongside (unless you work for Uber, maybe), so it's a bit of a Catch 22.

You'll probably be able to make a bit of dosh with a circuit, but you'll need to put in the hours, and if you don't want the drunks and dafties market then that'll make it a bit more palatable, but on the other hand that's when the best money tends to be made.

And you may in fact find that it all starts to grind you down fairly quickly, and it's never going to get any easier to drive around anywhere, or at least not in our lifetimes

Anyway, that's a few generalities, but there are many niche firms and markets around, depending on your local area and also licensing policies (like the WAV thing for HCs, which you mention locally) therefore there are exceptions to the above.

But, basically, unless you can afford to start from scratch on your own, you'll need circuit work, which then makes it difficult to go it alone, if you get my drift.

And last thread like this I recall is here, which may contain some useful stuff:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=40913&p=434319

Thanks for that. I need it, warts and all!

I was thinking about Uber, that might fit better, though if I was in a bigger city would be better.

Without generalising, I always get the impression that 'regular' cab drivers hate Uber and those that work for them. Is that true, load of old tosh, or somewhere in between? They still need the same licensing etc. from what I can tell.

Yes, I had read that thread.

Just checked and my council doesn't license Uber, but I guess I can get myself and my vehicle licensed in a different city that does license Uber, while still operating here, as long as I'm PH and not hackney?

Yes, Uber will probably direct you to a convenient licensing authority, and you can get badged and plated there and work in another area. If there are Uber cars working where you live, but Uber doesn't have a licence there, that's probably what's going on

Check out, for example, the latest article about Gatwick in the news section. It's about TfL Uber cars working in Crawley. Months and months of huffing and puffing about illegality, but at the end of the day it's just how the legislation works.

Well indeed, but it's just the old industry animosities and competitive environment writ large, as far as I can see.

So there's always been a big HC v PHV conflict, particularly in London (where minicabs were only licensed as PHVs about 20 years ago), but just about everywhere really, to a greater or lesser extent.

The main difference with Uber is basically one of scale, and a national brand was unknown in the industry prior to Uber, never mind a global brand funded by Wall Street.

Uber has also been very good in pushing the booking and despatch technology with the app stuff, but app-booking is ten a penny these days, even in the legacy trade.

But Uber's size, scale and reach means it's managed to unite the legacy HC and PHV sectors, to an extent at least, against a common enemy.

And 'experts' and the legacy industry use terminology like 'ride-hailing' to make it sound like Uber is something different. That's either born of ignorance, or it suits the narrative of some people to portray Uber as something it's not.

But, fundamentally, it's a global minicab/PH firm.

Here's a flavour of what I'm on about. New kid on the block TaxiPoint the other day referring to 'ride-hailing' regulations. Er, there are no 'ride-hailing regulations'. It's private hire regulations and law, in simple terms:


Government minister faces flurry of questions from MP over cross-border and ride-hail regulations

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/gover ... egulations



Meanwhile, London black cab stalwart Grant Davis on GB News yesterday referred to an 'American minicab firm'. Which makes a nice change - that's what it's all about, really

On the other hand, Davis tries to portray Uber as something new when he talks about using the 'family car' after 'dropping the kids off', blah, blah. Yes, that's what's been called minicabbing for decades...

In fact, contrary to what he says, in some ways it's a lot more difficult to become a minicab driver in London these days - prior to 2003 or so, you didn't need any kind of licence at all

https://youtu.be/fgoaKxCj7O4?t=6840

And, for what it's worth, Grant Davis is also spinning a line a bit about David Cameron and Uber. Of course, there was no doubt lobbying and the like going on, but the 'safety' stuff was basically about making it more difficult for Uber just because of the competitive threat, essentially.

A good example of that later on GB News when a former Labour MP tries to resurrect the proposal to have a twenty minute or so gap between app booking and pick-up

Problem is, of course, that that would have to apply to all PHVs. Was never going to happen, and very probably never will

And note also how he tries to portray something from the past that never was - private hire runs were always booked the day before, or something like that

(Of course, and as per earlier in the thread, the app stuff has changed the whole booking dynamic, but to an extent that's just the onward march of technology, as mobile phones had done previously, particularly with regard to late-night bookings in pubs, clubs and in the streets.)

But it's really just political spin and the like from Davis and the former MP, but it's no different in the 'taxi' industry than anywhere else, just that it's normally local and relatively low profile.

https://youtu.be/CtewYuMEBSY?t=3135

All slightly off-topic, obviously, but it was related to what you asked. And I was thinking about starting a new thread about the stuff in the press/on TV yesterday, but wasn't sure whether to bother

That's a good read, thank you. All insight is useful at this stage! I'm going to root through some more threads to get a steer on what car to buy - even though I know it will probably be a Skoda

most councils will encourage you to put an EV on the road but how many experienced drivers actually drive electric.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Had a Tesla. I actually thought it was pretty good - easy to use, good range, great charging network, loads of space and in my case great reliability. Then the windscreen cracked. 6 months. The lease had finished before it got fixed.

Corporate will be very hard to break into. What happens when they want 5 cars? What happens when they haven't paid the bill for 6 months? Most of the bigger firms have most of the corporate firms for a reason.

As for the airport work, that's very competitive and for someone new to get into it you would need to undercut the existing suppliers. A mate of mine has built up a huge airport workload, but it has taken him 30 years to do so.

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IDFIMH

One option would be to buy a saloon plate off an existing owners.

But if you are going PH I would start with a firm to see how it goes, and maybe consider joining Uber. If you join Uber you can still build up your airport/corporate work whilst still earning.

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IDFIMH

Only if you have your own operator’s license, if licensing private hire.