In message , at 09:11:33 on Wed, 18
Jun 2014, tim..... remarked:
Surely if there was no demand for hackney carriages in South Cambs
previously, and this new science park creates such a demand, one thing
to do would be to allow a small number of South Cambs private hires to
become South Cambs hackney carriages.

There is no recognised system for that.

It would be just as easy - and probably more expedient - to simply
allow some or all of the hackney-carriage owners to apply for an
extra vehicle licence (or licences).

I don't think the same vehicle can be licensed as both a hackney carriage
and hire car.

What need would there be for it?

so they can "pick up" from a rank at the new science park station

You seem to have missed the problem here.

Because (it appears that) there are currently no ranks in South Cambs
and nowhere that driving around looking for a hire is worthwhile, there
are no licensed hackney cabs in SC. They all content themselves with
operating as mini cabs offering their pre-booked (5 minutes before by
phone) service both in SC and Cambridge City.

But Roland (and others), not unreasonably, think that there will be
business customers arriving at the new SP station thinking that the
20-25 minute walk to the company that they are visiting is too far,
expecting to jump in a un-booked cab.

But SC cabs won't be able to pick up there because none of them are
licensed to ply for hire and City cabs won't be able to pick up there
because (by a few 100 yards) the station is in SC.

That's an excellent summary, but there's one wrinkle which makes this
particular scenario stand out: The station will be at the end of a half
mile cul-de-sac where *only* that last couple of hundred yards is in SC.
The rest of it (and the main road onto which it emerges) are in the
City.

So people are suggesting solutions to this problem.

I'm beginning to think that locating the taxi rank 200yds from the
station as a monument to the inflexibility of the law, is the only
solution.

Either that, or have a minicab phone in the ticket office with the
availability of pre-booked cars generally being "as soon as you step
outside the building, Sir".
--
Roland Perry