Tuesday, February 21, 2017

London Councils Looking To Give Most Taxi Card Work To Private Hire?


Taxi Leaks has been informed that London councils are looking to change the Taxi card system. In a recent consultation sent to all card users, they are asking a series of loaded questions seeking to include in the service app based private hire....and we all know what that means. It certainly looks to us that they want to change the ratio of Taxi service and private hire jobs giving Taxis just the street hails.


The consultation states :

The contracts for both the Taxicard and Dial-a-Ride services are due for renewal and, as part of the renewal process, we may make changes to the contracts that mean you see changes in the service you receive. Currently, the contracts are separate, but provided by a single company. One option under consideration is for TfL and London Councils to merge similar elements of the Dial-a-Ride and Taxicard services (advanced and as soon as possible (ASAP) bookings) in one contract and have a separate contract for street hailing.

To get the benefits from a merged contract, it might be necessary to align both how the service is delivered and the performance indicators used to measure success. This could mean that Taxicard users would see changes to the way in which the services are delivered.

Splitting off street hailing from the rest of the contract could also mean that this element of the service is provided by a different company to the advanced and ASAP bookings. Such a move might mean that more private hire vehicles are used to deliver the service, but it could also mean the opposite. Currently for Taxicard, 85-90 per cent of journeys are delivered by licensed black taxis, with 10-15 per cent provided by private hire vehicles.

Changes to the service may also impact upon the cost to you (or the number of trips available) availability of vehicles, waiting times and the nature of the service e.g. upgrading from a ‘kerb-to-kerb’ to a ‘door-to-door’ service.


The survey allows anyone to fill in the survey as their is no need for a name, address or email address. 


Do you have a view on Taxi Cards.

If so, have a look here >Taxi Card consultation <

As we all take credit cards, why not suggest they issue a card similar to an Oyster card, that can be used in the same way allowing wheelchair users to make use of all Black Taxis not just ComCab.

The consultation runs till Wednesday 5th April.

 

Below are the yearly figures for the number of Taxi Card trips please share, if we lose this contract we lose over a million Taxi fares


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will PH be allowed to use bus lanes when carrying out Taxicard jobs?

Lambros said...

They really want rid of us ..For so many yellow badges this is their bread and butter work and they do a great service

Tom Scullion said...

Interesting, I was part of the team who won the very lucrative Taxi card account around £18m 10 years ago the criteria was full accessibility including: wheel chair accessible vehicles, hearing aid loops, high visible handle, low step along with a fully trained disability aware trained driver I actually put the training program together.

The PHV market will never for fill this criteria, so what's changed ? and don't say brown envelopes.

Bob123 said...


Brown envelopes. ( sorry )

Unknown said...

The problem is apart from obs they are using PhV
They don't have disabled access
How do you get a wheelchair in
My mum and sister use the taxi card system because of the taxi has access
Mainly because from a black cab family
How will it work?!

Jonathan Myers said...

The cab trade should refuse to do wheelchair jobs unless we get the lot.

Michael Brewster said...

How they going to cope with the wheelchair users and/or assisted step, hearing loop users etc ffs that's why our vehicles are the only ones fit for this purpose 😡

Alex Doodle said...

My carer said something came through the post, we were going to check it out this week so taxicard holders should be receiving something this week. But this makes no sense.

I only get 52 ride a year.
Going to pain clinic takes two swipes there and two back as does Royal free hospital,
I also use it for visiting someone in Tottenham Hale.
But the taxi apps are so fast, waiting half an hour is archaic as is driver turning up 15 minutes early or late.
At least have a proper app we allowed to use so you can see the cab coming.
I've waited over an hour before and still been late for hospital appointments.
So haven't fought trying to get more rides.

Waiting 1-5 minutes for a cab reduces risk to my health, to paralysis to seizures to losing consciousness among things.
It's a pity it's not a better scheme, better at paying up for cab drivers one that all black cabs used and you got paid the same week. I.e. The swipe card takes the payment like a credit card.

Less paperwork more action.

I bet as they hand it over to inaccessible minicabs, the waiting will be much longer, I wouldn't feel safe and I'd stop using it.
Which is probably what they want...

Anonymous said...

we,ll still have a monopoly on the wheelchair jobs,what a joke we,ve been taken for mugs for far too long

Anonymous said...

Do you really think thats.a council decision ??
They've been told what to do same the TfL arswipes.
This country is rotten to the fucking core it's about time
some people woke up.
It's the same ole faces doing the same ole shit
And still getting away with it.
Sort out the real enemy for fucks sake!!!!!

Paul Morson said...

When Com Cab went onto their new system in the space of 6 months the taxicard work I did was cut in half.
For me as a YB the job wasn't viable to do full time anymore.
The boroughs use PH a lot already so if any more Taxicard work goes to them that will be the end of the suburban driver for sure.

colin said...

Just thinking,i believe Tfl have dropped the requirement of Ph to have a fixed phone line,if true will this lead to disabled access Ph being abled to be hailed on the street.

Friend's of mine that work the port for Hal/Baa have said to me that in a yearly wage round in the past something daft is agreed on then in 3/4 years you see why.

Just a thought,but it's plain to see Tfl want us gone.

Anonymous said...

will kill off the yb that's for sure but who cares. No one. Not many gentleman left in this game anymore. R.I.P THE TAXI TRADE

The olden said...

Inch by inch, second by second those cowboys from frisco steal our work, reminiscent of Hitler initial March into Europe meeting little or no resistance. Let us learn from history stop it now! All our energy must now be directed at stopping this insidious incursion into our legal right to work in this, the greatest city in the world