TRANSPORT - TAXIS

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Taxi drivers want to be allowed to drive in all city bus lanes so they can make journeys faster and shorter for passengers, saving them time and money. The application to use all bus lanes is being made by the city's Hackney carriage drivers. Drivers have sent a request to Derby City Council's general licensing committee calling for the changes. Cabinet member for planning and highways, Councillor Ranjit Banwait, said the council would not be making all bus lanes open to cabs as a matter of course. The chairman of the committee, Councillor Hardial Dhamrait, said it was a highway issue which the committee was not able to decide.

Mr Dhamrait said, "I think this is a good idea because a few taxis using the lanes will not cause any disruption to the buses using the lanes and will mean that drivers will be able to cut journey times, which could even pass on savings to the customer. For example, if they were allowed to use the bus lane along the Phoenix Street underpass, it could save about 70p on a journey from the centre of the city out to Chester Green. It would be more economical and provide a faster service to customers." Wayne Everly, manager of Yellow Cabs, which runs a Hackney service in Derby, said being able to use all bus lanes would make a huge difference to journey times.

He said, "At the moment we can use some bus lanes but not all and there are some key ones which would make a massive difference to journey times and therefore costs to passengers as well. Also, if we are stuck in traffic, the meter is still running so it is still costing the passenger money. One lane which we would really like to be able to use is the one which runs from the Wyvern to the West Meadows Industrial estate. At the moment if we go from the Wyvern to Chaddesden, we have to use the A52 and can be stuck in traffic for ages. But if we could use the lane which runs to the industrial estate we could save ourselves a lot of time, at least 10 minutes, which would be a saving of £2 for the customer." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jan/08)

Cabbies have complained to the city council about the taxi ranks, which have been moved from one side of the Spot to the other as part of the construction work being carried out on the new Eagle Centre. Most of these are on the driver's side (offside) of the road. Taxi driver Unis Mohammed said, "The problem is that private vehicles park in the taxi bay, forcing us to use the one on the other side of the road. If you get a disabled customer, you have to let them get in from the road, because the door is bigger. It's quite dangerous." The same as taxis obstructing the bus stops in Victoria Street every evening. A council spokeswoman said, "We extended the taxi ranks outside Woolworths and put one outside Zanzibar to allow disabled people to get access to taxis from the left. Members of the public have tried to park in the bays, which are now taxi ranks. Westfield has responded by advising the public not to park in the bays." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, May/06)

Finding a taxi to go home at night is more difficult than it should be, the Office of Fair Trading has said. The OFT has called for the repeal of laws allowing councils to limit cab numbers in town centres. The laws cause long queues, public disorder and the increased usage of illegal mini-cabs, the OFT said. Nearly half of all councils restrict cab numbers, and the OFT estimates that another 15,000 taxis would take to the streets if the market was freed up. The OFT has been conducting a study of the £2.2bn UK taxi market, finding that there would be extra demand if more cabs were available.

The removal of a cap on the number of legal cabs in Sheffield and Cambridge cut the proportion of people waiting more than five minutes for a taxi from more than one in five to less than one in 10. Consumer groups welcomed the OFT's recommendations. "The OFT has recognised that the liberalisation of licensing must not compromise consumer safety, and that by lifting entry restrictions this will help starve the illegal market, which depends on the shortage of licensed operators," said Phil Evans of the Consumers' Association.

But the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), which represents thousands of taxi drivers, poured cold water on the OFT's recommendation. "Just increasing the number of cabs won't benefit either the consumer or the drivers (No?). What will be better for consumers is more robust regulation to outlaw the 'cowboy cabs' to ensure a safe and quality service," (Can't see how that will reduce the time having to wait for a cab?) Graham Stevenson, T&G spokesman said. The OFT also recommended that councils should protect consumers by setting maximum fare levels for taxis.

Passengers will face a second rise in taxi fares in six months in January 2004. The Derby Area Taxi Operators Association, which represents a group of hackney cab drivers, asked Derby City Council to approve a rise because it wanted the fare system to be simplified. The city's licensing and appeal committee last month approved a change which means the fare per mile for journeys under five miles will increase by 10p - to £1.40. The rate for over five miles, £1.40, will stay the same. The fares were only increased from £1.10 in the summer. It had been thought that the Derby Hackney Union, a rival group representing taxi drivers, would object as it had wanted the rate to be set at £1.30 a mile for all journeys, because of fears that hackney cabs might lose out to private hire companies.

Mohammed Saffaf, chairman of Derby Hackney Union, said, "We objected right at the start, but the city council chose to go with the other option so that was that. We didn't feel that there was any point in objecting again because the council knew what our views were. The rise has been imposed on us and I am disappointed about that because there is no need for it." Yasin Hussain, secretary of the DATOA, said, "When the increase was brought in earlier this year it made it very complicated. We think it will make it much easier for drivers and passengers when the new restructured fares are in place."

Councillor Ruth Skelton, chairman of the committee, said, "We decided that it would be better to go back to using a simple linear scale of charging. So it is really a restructuring of fares, although it does work out as a very slight increase overall. But we won't be thinking about changing the prices again for quite a while. We need a period of stability." The rise will not affect the basic charges, whereby all passengers are charged £3 for the first mile from 5am to midnight, and £4 between midnight and 5am.