Letter To Taxi Leaks, In Regards To The Mayfair Mob's Hit On Forge.

Last night on the Forge was a really outstanding performance by the Mayfair Mob. The turnout at Finsbury Square was 25/30 which boded well.  Spirits were high. 

Then many more cabs appeared when we arrived. There were moments when the marshals could barely load the punters in fast enough. It was a triumph for all those concerned. 

 I was sorry to have to leave early quite frankly.  

I just wanted to pass on my honest opinion in more words than Twitter will permit and reiterate my admiration for the way this group of drivers has taken control of its own destiny in such a determined and effective manner, causing no grief to anyone other than the scabs. 

Exemplary.

Frances Wyhowska.

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Camden's Traffic Schemes Designed To Make Things Worse.

Camden's guerrilla cyclist led council have again shown no consideration for anyone other than cyclists.

 

Their traffic schemes constantly rolled out across the borough, have bought about not only gridlock, but also exstream pollution issues. Euston road, already one of the most polluted roads in Europe, is about to get much worse.

One of the capitals major arterial routs, which circumvents the congestion charging area is about to be reduced to two lanes as construction on Cross Rail escalates. 

Anyone in their right mind would believe that a progressive council would be falling over itself, putting in place new traffic systems which will ease the extra pollution caused by the perceived gridlock about to hit the area. Instead Camden's cycling transport department have introduced measures to insure traffic will not be able to use through routs surrounding the Euston Road.   

On top of the new Tavistock Place trial, Camden have reintroduced the no right turn from the Taxi rank in Pancras Road. They say this is because of the congestion caused by Taxis to north bound traffic. Taxi passengers who wish to travel north will now be subjected to a trip around the station utilising Euston Road, York Way and Goodsway. This will mean not only higher fares but also extra emissions around the area. 

Taxis are still excluded from the bus lane, in front of Kings Cross, adding to the congestion on Euston.

The council however seem totally oblivious to the Private Hire Vehicles, illegally waiting, some double parked, outside St Pancras Station. These minicabs have been given free reign to do what ever they like with no restriction on waiting, double parking or u-turns.

Their explanation about congestion falls down in the fact that the enforcement camera across the road is pointed directly at the rank exit. 

So while minicabs are allowed to wait, park, double park, open tout and drive away in any direction they like....Taxis will be harassed and issued with penalty tickets at every opotunity. 

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Tavistock Place Experiment : Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard.

Tavistock Place Consultation : 

AskPOB is conducting an independent survey to establish driver opinion on recent experimental traffic changes between Torringnton Place and Tavistock Place. 

AskPOB is an impartial third party, working in collaboration with trade organisations and groups to reach as many drivers as possible and to understand how drivers and taxi customers are affected.

About the trial :

Camden Council is introducing a trial of temporary traffic changes on the east/west route that includes the streets Torrington Place, Byng Place, Gordon Square, Tavistock Square and Tavistock Place. The changes are planned to be in place for 12 months and will be introduced using an experimental traffic order. 

During this time detailed monitoring will be undertaken. Once the trial has been in place for a few months, the Council will write to local residents and businesses to formally seek views on the changes. 

All views received during the trial will help inform a decision on whether the changes should be made permanent. 

Works for the trial will take place between 6 and 23 November and will include closure of the westbound lane to traffic. 

During this period wheelchair users will be excluded from the area and cyclists will be directed to move into the new cycle lane when required. 

Please take a few minutes to complete this consultation

>CLICK HERE<

More information can be found here:>www.camden.gov.uk<

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£100 Wee Fees are coming to Camden as they shut down toilets!

Camden can afford to waste money on ridiculous schemes yet they cannot afford toilets with Lincoln’s Inn Fields moving to pay as you go...is this taking the piss?

PUBLIC toilets are to be closed down across Camden in a cost-cutting drive order from the Town Hall.

Labour cabinet councillors were last night (Wednesday) facing warnings from community groups, rival politicians and even some of their own colleagues that they must rethink the idea – or face a public backlash.

A briefing document compiled by council environment chief Councillor Meric Apak – seen by the New Journal – maps out a timetable, after a public consultation survey, for the closure of the free toilets in:

l Pond Square, Highgate village

l West End Lane, West Hampstead

l South End Green, Hampstead.

Automated lavatories in Queen’s Crescent, Leather Lane, Russell Square and West End Lane are also facing the chop.

Meanwhile, the well-used toilets in Camden Town and Lincoln’s Inn Fields will move from being a free service to a facility only used by those who pay, similar to toilets at railway stations.

The proposed closures and fees, which the council says will save just over £250,000, are being lined up almost immediately after the Town Hall introduced a £100 fine system for people caught urinating in the street, nicknamed “wee fees”.

The council will try to mitigate public anger over the suggested closures by establishing a community toilet scheme which would see private businesses and shops paid to open their doors to the public.

Cllr Apak’s battleplan briefing includes a plan to “set out the financial context in which decisions are being taken” to the public, and the hope the council will be able to “engage” with businesses.

But Catherine Budgett-Meakin, a former chairwoman of the Highgate Society, said the proposal for Pond Square would be “disastrous”.

She added: “Let alone it being in the centre of the village and very well used, we also have a bus terminus and I don’t know what the bus drivers would do without it.

“There was a tremendous row the last time they tried to shut it, the whole village threw themselves behind the lavatories. We have people coming up from the cemetery and the Heath, where else are they going to go?”

In recent years, public conveniences which have closed in Camden have been converted into a range of uses including an underground cocktail bar, a music studio and a coffee shop.

Keith Moffitt, the former Lib Dem leader of Camden Council who lives in West Hampstead, where both the free toilet and the automated lavatory are under threat, said: “This is massively disappointing. It feels like something Labour have wanted to do since 2002. Again, it feels like they are hurting the most vulnerable people, the people who are not confident going into places and asking to use the toilet.”

Conservative finance spokesman Councillor Don Williams said: “Just closing them isn’t the answer. The council has seen how volunteers have taken up the running of libraries when they were threatened with closure, and it should be seeing that if they can’t run a service then they should be asking if anybody else can. It could be a private operator, or it could be funded by a community response.”

Asked whether a community collection would mean only affluent areas saving their toilets, Cllr Williams said: “We’d have to look at it as a collective, but just closing them down isn’t right.”

Even some Labour councillors have raised reservations. Holborn and Covent Garden councillor Julian Fulbrook said the changes would lead to a “severe excremental challenge” in his ward. He said people “down on their luck” would not be able to pay to use the Lincoln’s Inn Fields toilets, even if the fee was 20p.

“‘Pay to go’ does not seem to me to equate to the principle of ‘from each according to their means’ as the users there are often down on their luck and might not be able to afford very much ‘to spend a penny’,” said Cllr Fulbrook.

“Regularly there are several hundred men – and occasionally a few women – waiting for evangelical groups from many miles around who do a ‘soup run’ there most evenings. If there are no free loos available for the masses, then there will be open defecation again in Lincoln Inn Fields.”

Cllr Apak has warned his colleagues that the issue could flare up in the coming months and that he would work hard to “reassure residents as much as we can”. Cuts to the department budget were agreed last December.

Cllr Apak said he was aware that the availability of toilets was a sensitive issue, adding: “The message is that we are working with the community on this and if they have any alternative suggestions we will listen to them. We have to make these cuts – we’re trying to make the best if it. We’ve all been asked to do our bit and I’m doing mine.”

He said that he had helped organise a successful toilet scheme in Kentish Town when public conveniences there were closed.

“After some initial protests, it has worked well,” said Cllr Apak. “The businesses would be paid because of the extra upkeep but they would have to advertise that their toilets are available for public use. It’s a community plan.”
Asked whether £250,000 would be seen as a significant saving in the bid to plug Camden’s multi-million-pound funding black hole, he added: “It all adds up.” 

Meanwhile in South Lanarkshire:

The council chief involved in closing public toilets has been left "embarrassed" after he was caught urinating in the street by police. 

South Lanarkshire Council's deputy leader, Jackie Burns, was spotted in the act in Hamilton town centre and was issued a £40 fixed penalty notice by police. 

                        Taking the proverbial?

Cllr Burns has since apologised and said he had been "embarrassed" by his actions near the Hamilton Palace nightclub. 

He said: "I was in a taxi rank at the Bottom Cross in Hamilton and needed the toilet. I went down a lane to relieve myself and was approached by police, who gave me a £40 fine which I have duly paid. I am embarrassed by the incident and have apologised."

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No More Mushing? As Mayor Considers Buying Unaffordable Zero Emission Taxis To Lease To Drivers

It has also emerged that Johnson is considering having Transport for London (TfL) buy zero-emission black cabs and lease them back to taxi drivers as part of his efforts to tackle London’s air pollution. The capital has been in breach of EU safety limits for nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas produced by diesel vehicles such as black cabs, since 2010.

In a letter to London assembly member Stephen Knight dated 3 November, the mayor wrote: “TfL is currently considering the proposal to purchase and supply zero-emission capable taxis to taxi drivers in London.” Zero-emissions capable taxis would suggest electric or hydrogen cars.

However, he cautioned: “This is a complex proposal and needs to be considered carefully given that TfL is the regulator for the taxi and private hire trades in London.” TfL already operates a similar leasing model for the new Routemaster buses.

Knight welcomed the possibility of electric black cabs: “Switching London’s black taxi fleet over from diesel to electric vehicles is an essential part of tackling dangerous air pollution in the capital. Electric taxis have the benefit of low running costs, but the barrier to their fast and widespread adoption is the very high initial purchase price of these new and innovative vehicles.”

Source : theguardian.com

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Guildford BC To Remove Wheelchair Requirement For New Taxis

Guildford Borough Council has set out new policy for taxi drivers, which include removing a requirement for new taxis to be wheelchair accessible.

Taxi drivers in Guildford will have to pay almost £1,000 to rebrand their cars with a new livery proposed by the borough council.

Changes to the borough’s fleet of cars will be discussed again next Wednesday (November 18), which also includes the need for drivers to pass a new knowledge test and the removal of the requirement for all new taxi vehicles to be wheelchair accessible.

However, drivers will be encouraged to make their cars wheelchair accessible by being offered a reduction in licensing fees for doing so.

Council cuts subsidy by two thirds:

The borough council has proposed to contribute 25% of the costs of the rebrand of the 178 vehicles in the first six months of the new policy being adopted, which is a reduction from the 75% it proposed earlier this year.

The cost is said to be £1,250 per vehicle, meaning the car owners will be left with a bill of £935.

Papers due to go before members of the council's licensing committee on Wednesday highlight one of the disadvantages to drivers with the new logo is that some use their vehicle for private use, and would not necessarily like it to be identified as a taxi when they do.

Councillor Graham Ellwood, lead councillor for community safety and licensing, said: “Our first priority is public safety and customer satisfaction with our borough’s taxi and private hire vehicles.

“We want to give members of the public assurance that by choosing a Guildford taxi, they will get a safe and professional service.

“These changes are based on local people’s views of what they want and expect from the taxi service. The new branding will be distinctive and associated with a service the public deserves.”

The council was due to discuss the changes at a full council meeting in April, but the item was deferred.

A spokesman for the council said: “It will no longer be compulsory for all new taxis to be wheelchair accessible, except those with council contracts to carry disabled passengers where the requirement to have a disabled access vehicle remains compulsory.

“However, those who provide for wheelchairs will benefit from reduced licensing fees.

“This decision is in response to public feedback and survey results that show many people, including those with disabilities, prefer to travel in a saloon vehicle.

"We have consulted with disability groups and they are in full support.”

Following reports to the licensing committee on November 18 and the executive November 24, the changes will be considered for adoption at a meeting of the full council on December 8.

Source: www.getsurrey.co.uk

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Hailo opens mobile payments to all of London's black cabs

After ditching its private hire business and recommitting to London's black cabs, Hailo has been pulling out all of the stops to get traditional taxi services back onside. On top of campaigning "every level of government" to protect the industry and reinforcing the benefits of the Knowledge, the company today announced HailoPay, a new service that let London's 22,500 black taxis offer free mobile payments to customers.

Unlike Pay With Hailo, which lets people who have already downloaded and registered via the official app pay for taxi journeys hailed from the street, this new service operates in the browser and allows riders to pay for any journey taken in a black cab simply by entering the driver's unique badge number. Drivers need to be signed up with Hailo to accept credit cards via this method, but with 15,000 already registered, the company is off to a healthy start.

As the taxi industry scrambles to keep up with the pace of private hire services like Uber, credit card payments were a bone of contention for passengers who didn't always have cash to hand. HailoPay eliminates that hassle by providing a quick way to pay for any cab, regardless of how it was hailed. Drivers don't have to install bulky credit card machines and riders can get a digital receipt emailed to them directly after payment.

"We're offering this service at absolutely no cost to passengers and drivers, as part of Hailo's commitment to create a world class taxi service for London that is 100% safe, 100% reliable, and 100% accessible," says Hailo CEO Andrew Pinnington. "Working together with drivers we'll continue to innovate and deliver a world class taxi service for London."

SOURCE: Hailo Blog

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