London Banter - View Single Post - Heathrow black cabs

CMOT TMPV · December 17th 04, 11:23 PM posted to uk.transport.london

Once upon a time -- around about 12/17/04 19:10 -- possibly
wrote:

"Kooky45" wrote in message
om...
I took a black cab from Heathrow to Twickenham yesterday and suffered
the entire trip listening to the driver swearing his head off about
how awful it was for him having to do a short trip and the traffic
holding him up for over an hour. I fully understand he'd lose his
ticket back to the rank and instead have to sit in the feeder park for
a few hours, but that's the law and it's just tough. Because of him I
will never be taking another black cab from a Heathrow rank again, no
matter where I'm going, and I'm making sure all my friends and
colleagues know about this sorry tale too. This isn't the first time
I've had to suffer an angry driver taking his frustration with a crap
system out on me as a passenger, and I'm not going to put up with it
any more. I took the cab number but haven't made up my mind whether
to report him or not yet as he did take me to my destination.

Sorry for the rant. I'm hopeful some cabbies will read this and
realise they're causing their own problems by driving their customers
away (pun intended).

What *is* the system? What is the "ticket back to the rank"?

If the system penalises taxi drivers in some way for doing short journeys,
why *should* he suffer in silence? For all he knew, you might have been in a
position to lobby for changes to be made, so he had nothing to lose by
moaning. "That's the law and it's tough" is no excuse for people to have to
accept the status quo in silence.

They solved it here in Miami, FL quite simply. There are two Taxi stands.
There is one for short trips (about 5 mile radius from the airport) and
these also happen to a bit less expensive as well. Then there is a second
stand for trips further than that.

If you queue for long distance cab and ask for a short trip, he is within
his rights to refuse you and you'll have to re-queue in the right line. Vice
versa of course. It used to be quite nice as the local taxis were all
painted blue but now it's rather a mish-mash.

-- E

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