Taxi cars on the streets

[LongLensPhotography]

... no I'm not getting one.


Lately I see some very strange choices for taxi cars here in Bristol. Some recent examples include:

Kia Ceed!!!! (5 door)
20 year old beaten up Land Rover
petrol Vauxhall Meriva

the old Toyota hilux and converted peugot vans just don't surprise me any more.

There are less and less of the big salloons or even TX models, unlike the Midlands or London.

I wonder what's next? 3 door Clio?

I guess it's the recession doing it's job. I've seen some pensioners well into their 80's driving a PHV.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

... no I'm not getting one.


Lately I see some very strange choices for taxi cars here in Bristol. Some recent examples include:

Kia Ceed!!!! (5 door)
20 year old beaten up Land Rover
petrol Vauxhall Meriva

the old Toyota hilux and converted peugot vans just don't surprise me any more.

There are less and less of the big salloons or even TX models, unlike the Midlands or London.

I wonder what's next? 3 door Clio?

I guess it's the recession doing it's job. I've seen some pensioners well into their 80's driving a PHV.

Must be an English thing, up here there are strict regulations over what can and can't be used as a private hire and how old it can be, the cars can even be ordered off the road if they're dirty.....

 

[faddius]

Same as in Nottingham, all the taxi's are either saloons or saloon style 5 door cars (vauxhall vectras, ford mondeos etc.) that are well maintained and very clean. The larger taxis are all fairly modern high spec people carriers.

 

[nilagin]

As far as I'm aware the only regulation on a licensed mini cab, is it has to pass a specific MOT. Having the standard MOT certificate is not enough.

 

[Garry Edwards]

As far as I'm aware the only regulation on a licensed mini cab, is it has to pass a specific MOT. Having the standard MOT certificate is not enough.

It depends on the licensing authority (the local authority), each has their own rules both on the vehicles and on how easy/difficult it is for the driver to get and keep his/her licence, how often they have health checks, drug tests, etc - I think you'll find that it's only easy to get a licence in the soaps

In Leeds, after a certain age it becomes uneconomical to run an old car because the MOT tests are more frequent/tougher/more expensive and there is an upper age limit too. I have a son who has a Leeds licence, he told me all about the rules.

 

[wegotitugetit]

i saw a taxi last night a lincolnshire taxi and it was one of the cars smaller then a smart car it was rediculously small

i wondered how many times she had to call for a bigger car lol

 

[LongLensPhotography]

As far as I'm aware the only regulation on a licensed mini cab, is it has to pass a specific MOT. Having the standard MOT certificate is not enough.

I am aware that there are some garages that would pass a supermarket trolley through an MOT test.

Just a thought - is it possible that some of those private hire 'taxis' only got their permit to use bus lanes? It doesn't quite make enough sense in Bristol, but certainly would do in London. Again just a thought.

 

[trencheel303]

Must be an English thing, up here there are strict regulations over what can and can't be used as a private hire and how old it can be, the cars can even be ordered off the road if they're dirty.....

not everywhere in scotland - where I live some of the taxis are falling to bits (and yes I do mean that literally) or upwards of 15 years old. We have no hackney cabs here either, it's all private hire taxis, a good amount of them petrol too...

Many of them don't even have the taxi license thingy on plain view.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

not everywhere in scotland - where I live some of the taxis are falling to bits (and yes I do mean that literally) or upwards of 15 years old. We have no hackney cabs here either, it's all private hire taxis, a good amount of them petrol too...

Many of them don't even have the taxi license thingy on plain view.

The likes of Glasgow have a cut off point of between 5 and 8 years old and some areas, whilst they have both phcs and taxis don't allow the traditional "London" type hackneys - East Renfrewshire, for example.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Well, if there really are old bangers out there then it will be down to the economic climate.
Before private hire was regulated there were always about the 'right' number of drivers working, the lack of qualifications/licensing meant that people would be minicab drivers when there was plenty of work and would stop when there wasn't enough.

Now, with the problems and costs of getting a licence, drivers just keep driving even though they aren't earning. They just can't find any other way of earning a living.

Here's an example of how it works for one licensed driver...
Car rent £150 pw
Base rent £90 pw
Work minimum 12 hours Monday and Thursday.
Work minimum 15 hours Friday and Saturday
Work minimum 10 hours Sunday.

Monday - Friday just about raises enough to pay the overheads, leaving just Saturday and Sunday for 'profit'.
Nett take on Saturday (after replacing diesel used) was £120
Nett take on Sunday was £42, which means that in return for 64 hours of work, he earned £162 before tax, or £2.56 per hour.

And yet the low life still 'do a runner' or even try to rob him.

 

[trencheel303]

agreed with that ^

most of the private "one man band" taxis in the town here work all day every day just to earn a crust. makes me happy to be in my 9-5 job. The ones that don't work all day every day must either have some other form of income (or savings) or work for one of the town's taxi "companies" (still not hackney cabs though) and get most of the money they earn shovelled straight into the boss's pockets.

massive respect for taxi drivers and I have pleasant dealings with most in the town, but would never ever want to be one.

 

[Laudrup]

Skoda Octavia seems to be the vehicle of choice in this part of western Scotland, although not sure if we have different rules here on becoming a private taxi.

 

[slinky1989]

There's a taxi driver in swindon who has one of these as his car: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3572632.htm

Can't imagine what his fuel costs are like as the last time I saw him, he did full bore drag race style start away from some traffic lights!

 

[Garry Edwards]

The Skoda is a good choice because they're cheap to buy, cheap to maintain and reasonably economical. After 5 years and 300,000 miles, no car has any real resale value so it makes perfect sense to use a car that doesn't hold its value.

Another popular choice is Citroen. They drop to bits pretty quickly but customers like them because they're comfortable.

My son is currently driving a Mondeo - supplied by the Company and he hasn't any say in it. Again, the passengers like it but it's heavy on diesel and as he is covering 1200 miles per week with no passengers (about 400 miles actually with passengers) and as fuel seems to be rising yet again), it's not the best choice

 

[Flash In The Pan]

The Skoda is a good choice because they're cheap to buy, cheap to maintain and reasonably economical. After 5 years and 300,000 miles, no car has any real resale value so it makes perfect sense to use a car that doesn't hold its value.

I'd have to take issue with that, Garry. The Octavia holds it's value really well,there are loads of them for sale round here with that sort of mileage and, considering they were around £10K new, they still fetch up to £2k secondhand, I'd say that's pretty good going.....

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'd have to take issue with that, Garry. The Octavia holds it's value really well,there are loads of them for sale round here with that sort of mileage and, considering they were around £10K new, they still fetch up to £2k secondhand, I'd say that's pretty good going.....

Perhaps I should have said that they don't lose any more of their value than any other 5 year old ex taxi with 300,000 miles on the clock, worn seats, and dings and scratches

 

[scorpius]

The regulations on Taxi/PHC are nationwide in Scotland, minimum standards/rules but with local authorities being able to add their own extra conditions.

They are covered by the same Act (Miscellaneous Provisions (Scotland 1978) or it might be 1976) that licence window cleaners and sex shops

In England/Wales as stated they are set by each local authority and some of them have very weird conditions, or at least they did when I did a study of Taxi/PHC laws for TRRL/DoT in 1985.

 

[Splog]

I'd have to take issue with that, Garry. The Octavia holds it's value really well,there are loads of them for sale round here with that sort of mileage and, considering they were around £10K new, they still fetch up to £2k secondhand, I'd say that's pretty good going.....

So they're not actually selling then

 

[Flash In The Pan]

The regulations on Taxi/PHC are nationwide in Scotland, minimum standards/rules but with local authorities being able to add their own extra conditions.

They are covered by the same Act (Miscellaneous Provisions (Scotland 1978) or it might be 1976) that licence window cleaners and sex shops

I seem to remember that it wasn't always so - we used to sell a lot of Ladas for use as taxis in Ayrshire, but in Renfrewshire where we were based they didn't meet the minimum width requirement. Mind you I was never sure who worked these things out - whilst the Ford Orion was perfectly acceptable the Escort, on which it was based, wasn't, purely because someone decided the Escort was narrower...:shrug:

 

[Yardbent]

in Lanarkshire PHCars have to be younger than 5 to get initially licensed and can work to 10yo

from 5-10yo they are subject to a semi-annual Council MoT [not always enforced as its random] a £55 rip-off IMO

 

[Flash In The Pan]

in Lanarkshire PHCars have to be younger than 5 to get initially licensed and can work to 10yo

from 5-10yo they are subject to a semi-annual Council MoT [not always enforced as its random] a £55 rip-off IMO

It's 5 and 7 in Glasgow, which can only be a good thing - I remember the scrap that used to be on the roads round here, one company had a fleet comprised almost completely of (badly) rebuilt q-plated write offs...

 

[nilagin]

Up until just over a year ago, a bloke at work used his Ford Galaxy for mini cabbing on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday nights every other week to supplement his main job as he'd taken on a big mortgage. He used to clear at least £200 a night after paying for his radio hire etc. His car was around 7 yrs old when he gave it up due to being unable to afford the insurance after a couple of accidents. He use to get all the "big" jobs because all the others just had saloon cars. He also used to make sure he got other fares sorted for return trips etc.

 

[specialman]

Mainly Focus, Avensis and Octavia estates in Rugby, with some some people carriers and the odd Mondeo thrown in for good measure. Mind you, there is a guy who has an S-class merc and a minty 735i, and one even has a properly nice X-type estate.

 

[towershot]

Must be an English thing, up here there are strict regulations over what can and can't be used as a private hire and how old it can be, the cars can even be ordered off the road if they're dirty.....

My cousin has a cab around welwyn-garden-city and says the inspectors there are very picky.

 

[purpleclouds]

What I don't get, is why taxis may use bus lanes. They have to do 2 trips for every one trip done by normal journeys where the customer drives themselves.

 

[Yardbent]

What I don't get, is why taxis may use bus lanes. They have to do 2 trips for every one trip done by normal journeys where the customer drives themselves.

not 100% accurate

our company covers a large area with 99 designated sub-areas
so I will sit where i ''drop-off' until another job comes in for that rank

obviously not in the outermost fringes where job frequency is small
so would then return to a more productive rank

 

[inaneredstripe]

Well, if there really are old bangers out there then it will be down to the economic climate.
Before private hire was regulated there were always about the 'right' number of drivers working, the lack of qualifications/licensing meant that people would be minicab drivers when there was plenty of work and would stop when there wasn't enough.

Now, with the problems and costs of getting a licence, drivers just keep driving even though they aren't earning. They just can't find any other way of earning a living.

Here's an example of how it works for one licensed driver...
Car rent £150 pw
Base rent £90 pw
Work minimum 12 hours Monday and Thursday.
Work minimum 15 hours Friday and Saturday
Work minimum 10 hours Sunday.

Monday - Friday just about raises enough to pay the overheads, leaving just Saturday and Sunday for 'profit'.
Nett take on Saturday (after replacing diesel used) was £120
Nett take on Sunday was £42, which means that in return for 64 hours of work, he earned £162 before tax, or £2.56 per hour.

And yet the low life still 'do a runner' or even try to rob him.

Exactly why i'm an EX taxi driver.

 

[purpleclouds]

not 100% accurate

our company covers a large area with 99 designated sub-areas
so I will sit where i ''drop-off' until another job comes in for that rank

obviously not in the outermost fringes where job frequency is small
so would then return to a more productive rank

That's fair enough! I regularly see 15-20 cabs lined up outside Manchester Piccadilly (and can be over 40 during busy times).. and these will all head out of, and back into Manchester along routes that have bus lanes - which are in force during the busy hours. All the black cabs I have ever taken out of Manchester have all headed immediately back.. whether they pick someone else up on the return is unknown, but it's not often I ever see folk hailing cabs these days!

 

[Garry Edwards]

I think you'll find that it's Hackney Cabs (the type you can hail in the street) that are allowed to use bus lanes.

This thread is about Private Hire cars (minicabs), they don't get any concessions AFAIK

 

[wack61]

On the M1 near Nottingham a couple of weeks ago I saw a D reg Toyota marked up as a taxi, 26 years old

 

[nilagin]

I've not seen it for about a month now but one of the neighbours down the road used to get a visitor in an old lemon coloured SEAT Ibiza on foreign plates, but it was done up to look like a NYC yellow cab. Still unsure whether it actually gets used as a cab or not in it's home land.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

I think you'll find that it's Hackney Cabs (the type you can hail in the street) that are allowed to use bus lanes.

This thread is about Private Hire cars (minicabs), they don't get any concessions AFAIK

Private hire cars are allowed to use the bus lanes in Glasgow.....

 

[purpleclouds]

I think you'll find that it's Hackney Cabs (the type you can hail in the street) that are allowed to use bus lanes.

This thread is about Private Hire cars (minicabs), they don't get any concessions AFAIK

I am positive I've seen private hire cars in bus lanes, though I may be wrong.

None the less, going off Yardbent's comment it seems that it'd be mostly hackney cabs that cause more traffic than they relieve in going back and forth twice, where normal journeys would just consist of back and forth once!