CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh

Taxi 657 - dangerous driving

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  1. spitfire
    Member

    @chdot: "I can't keep everyone happy"
    That's unfortunate and also inevitable. Your censoring has made a couple of people unhappy (this time around I just found it amusing)
    My thoughts are don't try, we are (mostly) grown adults and if we get into a debate that irks us then that is our fault.

    @Steveo - I think it is because they have paid huge sums of cash to pass an exam so they can drive the black cabs and effectively "graduate" up from the private hire firms
    Also black cabs are the only ones allowed to pick up people on the street who wave them down, private hires can't do that and can only pick up people who have called and ordered one. Which is why the taxi rank at the airport has only black cabs and only from the two companies the council(?)/airport have selected (they have P and V numbers on their windscreens)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. SRD
    Moderator

    "@chdot: "I can't keep everyone happy"
    That's unfortunate and also inevitable. Your censoring has made a couple of people unhappy (this time around I just found it amusing) My thoughts are don't try, we are (mostly) grown adults and if we get into a debate that irks us then that is our fault."

    I would still like an explanation as to why ANYTHING I posted yesterday needed to be taken down. If someone asks for their own posts to be removed, it may remove all logic from the sequence, but why remove other non-offensive ones? And if mine were offensive, please tell me why, so I don't do it again.

    Don't see that assuming people to be adults who mean what they post is a problem. I prefer to see it as respecting other posters, not the reverse.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. steveo
    Member

    Guys i'm not comparing black cabs to private hire cars but black cabs to private individuals cars ie why does the black cab get preferential treatment to me or any other driver on the road. They don't seem to provide any benefit to the city other than the amount they pay for their plate every year.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. SRD
    Moderator

    Steveo - have always thought it was because cabs make it less necessary for people to own cars, and thus reduces number of 'unnecessary' journeys?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. steveo
    Member

    Not sure i buy that either...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. spitfire
    Member

    @steveo - <cynicism>possibly beacuse cooncilors love to jump in them and zip between meetings and lunches and don't want to be on a bus but do want the advantage of the bus lane?</cynicism>
    Business folk off the plane to hotel, hotel to office, office to hotel, hotel back to airport.
    Tourists, same gig minus the office
    Council want people to be able to come to the city and get around quickly and conveniently with luggage (I pity people with large suitcases trying to fit them into the buses)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I guess taxis are like the "premium lane" to get through security at the airport if you're in a hurry / carrying contraband etc. You pay them a fist full of banknotes for the priveledge of (legally) scooting past the traffic in the green lane.

    One would think the fact they are regulated and it's their livelihood would make more of them drive with more courtesy, care and attention. Like I said though, "would think". The irony is that the poorer-driven of them obviously don't appreciate that every cyclist on the road is taking a potential one-man-and-his-car off the road, giving them more road space, reducing traffic and generally actually making their job easier and more productive.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. steveo
    Member

    Aye Spytfyre fair points but these people and items could just as easily be carried by a cab in normal traffic, why does tourist with big bag in cab get priority over tourist with big bag being picked up by friend.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    why does tourist with big bag in cab get priority over tourist with big bag being picked up by friend

    Friend didn't pay the cooncil loads of money for their black cab licence?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. ARobComp
    Member

    I had a taser pulled on me by a black cab driver when I was Pedicabbing years ago. For no reason other than he tried to block me in but blocked himself in so I helpfully moved my bike out the way for him and he decided I was a smart arse.

    Got out, pulled the stun gun style thing from his pocket and stated he was going to "pump 50000 volts through me and see who's laughing"
    I asked him to try it but he backed off. An absolute mental.

    Flagged police - they hunted him down but he'd obviously dropped the thing off with a mate by that point and denied everything. Even though the passengers in my cab could give statements saying they saw it in his hand the police did nothing. Its a cat A firearm.

    Madness

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. steveo
    Member

    I smell i letter to my councillor on the brew, I wonder what the official line is rather than the probable one which is likely what Spytfire and Kaputnik have formulated.... Money.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. spitfire
    Member

    writetothem.com

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. Dave
    Member

    Taxis are a major source of revenue, one of the perks is that they get to use the reserved lanes. Simple as that.

    What I don't really understand is the private hires. They have all the perks of a black cab (especially as in practice, I see them picking up on the street all the time).

    Posted 13 years ago #

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