Tristán White wrote:
"John Rowland" wrote in
:

Tristán White wrote:

The one on Queen Victoria Street is only a
stand in the evenings though, but this is not obvious... I can see
many tourists standing there waiting for a cab and not realising
that it only applies in the evening.

Hailed taxis can stop in most places, so the fact that it is only a
rank for a few hours is of relevance to taxi drivers, but is not of
much relevance to tourists or any other potential passengers.

In that case, one has to wonder... WHY has this been done, not just to
great expense, but also every bit of pavement furniture damages the
look and feel of our great city.

All it will do is confuse tourists in the daytime.

Actually, I got that wrong. Hailers queueing on a rank get priority over
hailers stood nearby - cabs should not pickup within sight of a rank if
there is someone hailing on a rank. Presumably there is a shortage of cabs
in the area during the evenings, so if you work nearby you should walk to
the rank because you are pretty much guaranteed a cab within a reasonable
time, whereas if you just stand at a random point (not near a rank) you can
wait for ages while seeing cabs all around being pinched by newcomers.
However, outside the few evening hours when there is a large demand and
short supply, the rank would serve no purpose. I'm not familiar with the
site, but limiting the hours of the rank stops cabs from blocking traffic
(or a bus lane?) by sitting on the rank when there is little demand, while
it doesn't stop passengers from standing there and hailing cabs at any time.
So it does make sense!