CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Does anywhere track taxi speeds?

(13 posts)
  • Started 8 years ago by HankChief
  • Latest reply from HankChief

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  1. HankChief
    Member

    I have recently been musing about sharing the bus lanes with taxis and buses.

    Warning:     the next statements include generalisations and 'othering', but bear with me.

    When the roads are quiet you can get taxis racing up the bus lane to undertake cars already travelling at the speed limit.

    Why do we allow taxi drivers who are paid and licensed to drive us safely from A to B and given special access to bus lanes to disregard the speed limit?

    Given the technological advances of vehicle tracking, can we not have all Taxis tracked and any that repeatedly go over the speed limit have some form of sanction from the Council's licensing department (rather than the police).

    Appreciate that not all taxi speed and that this is singling them out, but they do a lot of mileage with the city and as they are licensed by the Council the Council should be able to put on conditions on them such as having a tracker installed.

    I did wonder if any city in the world is doing something similar already. All I could find is this article from Dubai 6 years ago

    http://m.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/transport/taxi-drivers-warned-to-watch-their-speed

    What do you think? An idea worth exploring?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    "An idea worth exploring?"

    Yes.

    The fact that taxis undertake doesn't actually mean they are speeding, but some certainly do.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. gembo
    Member

    Might give city cabs a slight angle for a minute or two over the new idea, what is it called Uberuce or something similar?

    Hire our taxis and we will get you to your destination in good time whilst driving completely legally and observing speed limits. The taxi firm you can trust. (And if you don't trust us you can use the app Map My Taxi Ride to check how we did)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. steveo
    Member

    Given how well represented the Licensed Taxi Trade is with the council I doubt this would get a lot of support.

    Personally I'd be much stricter with cabbies the standard of driving is no better than the general public but they're given many more privileges and should be held to a far higher standard.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. dougal
    Member

    @steveo Unless the taxi drivers' representatives can make the claim that speeding (ie breaking the law) is somehow necessary for taxi work then I can't see how any argument would hold up.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. cc
    Member

    Given how well represented the Licensed Taxi Trade is with the council I doubt this would get a lot of support.

    The council's perennial sickness.

    Any chance of including Private Hire vehicles too? And the internetty ones?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. wingpig
    Member

    "Any chance of including Private Hire vehicles too?"

    If this is going to be a "fantasy taxi driver behaviour regulation mechanism" thread: requiring all taxis to be fitted with those safe-driving-monitoring boxes AND requiring the results ("your driver currently has an aggression rating of 92%" etc.) to be displayed to the passengers. And on an internet.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. steveo
    Member

    @dougal, "the extra administrative burden on our already overworked and over regulated members would be intolerable. There is no evidence our members drive to anything but the highest standards this is further proof of the excessive sway the cycle lobby has with this city council"

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. Stickman
    Member

    The taxi drivers' responses to this consultation show they believe there is no room for improvement in their current standards.

    http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/51768/item_63_-_licensing_policy_development_-_taxi_and_private_hire_driver_training_consultation_update

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    only Mary Poppins is practically perfect

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. fimm
    Member

    @Stickman is that the consultation responses that you posted the other day? I had a read through a little bit of that. Lots of people going "I've been a taxi driver for 20 years I don't need training". Yes, well, somewhere there are a lot of taxi drivers who don't know about ASLs...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. HankChief
    Member

    So not such a stupid idea but politically difficult.

    Which kind if surprises me that it hasn't been tried on other cities.

    Would be easier to get it through if there was a city already doing it.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. HankChief
    Member

    Given Uberuce tracks your journey already, it would be fairly easy to add in a condition that anything more than say 3mph over the speed limit isn't charged.

    That would soon change behaviours.

    Posted 8 years ago #

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