Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

The Taxicard scheme does cover minicabs in some boroughs, such as
Hillingdon, AFAIK.

Sensible.


I bear no malice to anybody but if I ring a minicab firm, they can tell
me if they have cabs free in the area. If they have none, I can (& do)
phone another firm. ComCab can't do that (and their control centre is in
Aberdeen, giving them no local knowledge...)

Aah yes, the Scottish call centre. At one point (and I don't know if
this is still true), they were unable to process a call if you did not
have the *Post Code* of your destination. Unfortunately, (a) not all
destinations have post codes, even in London and (b) the chances of
knowing the post code of your destination are low if it is seldom used.
Post codes are difficult to look up when you are out and about. The
lack of local knowledge also tells.

Oh dear. you've got me started. Going up to a ComCab in a rank doesn't
work either, as many drivers claim their equipment is broken, or they
are driving the cab for a 'friend'. At least they now have the
'targets' on them so they can be identified from the front when being
hailed in the street.

This is NOT a rant about black cab drivers in general, just the
Taxicard scheme. A properly designed scheme that incentivised drivers
properly would have them queuing up for Taxicard business. E.g. making
the money earned from Taxicard tax-free, or requireing a certain
percentage of all journeys to be Taxicard journeys, on pain of paying a
fee if the percentage is not achieved. If there is an annual fee to be
paid to the local authority and/or PCO, that could be reduced if the
percentage were reached, for example.

Cheers.

Sid