Monday, 30 October 2017
TFL's New Cash Cow Announced, As They Intend To Raise Extra Funding From The 125,000 Minicabs.
Uber drivers are among those who face paying an extra £3,000 a year each to operate in London even if the company keeps its licence, according to The Sunday Times.
Transport for London (TfL), the regulator, plans to force private-hire vehicles to pay the £11.50-a-day congestion charge because of concern that the proliferation of minicabs is choking streets and emptying bus services. If Uber shoulders the payments, it could cost the company between £20m and £60m a year.
At a meeting of licensing and enforcement officers in Leeds this month Tom Moody, head of policy for taxis at TfL, said the authority would propose the move within months. “We will be looking at the congestion charge potentially for all private hire vehicles,” he said. “In the summer of next year, we will likely be consulting on that and other policies.”
It is understood that the “other policies” being considered by Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, include extending the charge from 6pm until 11pm or midnight and applying it on Saturdays for the first time.
Congestion and Uber competition have caused sharp drops in bus use.
According to a presentation to the TfL board, passenger numbers have fallen 5.6% in two years, creating a £100m hole in the authority’s coffers. In big cities outside London, bus use is down 4%.
Source : Sunday Times.
TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT:
It seems there was a method behind TFL's madness of giving out PHV licenses like sweets, after all....they are now going to charge them the congestion charge. That's 125,000 times £30k per year. The expanded London Minicab fleet is now being blamed by TfL for the massive congestion that is bringing London to a grinding halt.
Funny, when Tom Moody announced the proposed bonus to TFL's coffers, he never once mentioned the segregated cycle lanes or the fact that at any one time, there are twice the number of buses needed.
The daily spectacle of a wall of buses, adding to the congested pollution...Total number of passengers 6, not counting the drivers!
Outside the rush hours, you can see empty bus after empty bus. Driver etiquette is appalling with blatant disregard to yellow box junctions (which buses are exempt from paying fines).
We've also seen a huge upturn in the number of bus related RTAs, caused be driver fatigue. It's a well known fact that many bus drivers are supplementing their income by driving long shifts ironically working for Uber. TfL registered Prius can be spotted, parked up outside most bus garages.
from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2iMQNhr
via IFTTT
Saturday, 28 October 2017
Looks Like The Wheels Have Come Off Uber’s Operations On Another Continent
Uber now has massive concerns about the legality of its operations in South America.
The chief executive of Uber Technologies Inc, Dara Khosrowshahi, will visit its operations in Brazil next week.
The company told Reuters on Friday, that Brazil’s Congress nears a vote on legislation threatening Uber’s business model.
Khosrowshahi will visit Sao Paulo, Uber's biggest city by trips, and then onto Brasilia, the nation's capital, on Monday, according to a person familiar with the executive's plans.
from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2iEuNFv
via IFTTT
Canary Wharf Sales Worker Sacked After Bilking Taxis To His Home Near Brighton.
A serial fare dodger has been sacked from his job after it was discovered that he had failed to pay for taxis from London to the south coast.
Jake Dean, 24, who worked in sales in Canary Wharf, told cabbies that he worked for JP Morgan before setting off to Peacehaven, to the east of Brighton.
He admitted that he had racked up more than £600 in unpaid fares but said it was ‘just impulsive’.
Dean hailed a cab outside Waterloo train station in February and told the driver that he would get the £256 cash en route when he was closer to home. He told drivers that his card would not work so would offer to make a bank transfer or deliver the money to their address.
On one occasion he said he would sell a games console so that he could pay the driver back.
However, he failed to do so and ended up facing magistrates in Brighton.
He told them: ‘I take full responsibility and apologise to the taxi drivers, they just wanted to do their job. It was never malicious, it was just impulsive.’
The court heard of three other taxi fare dodging incidents between December 2016 and February this year, where Dean strung drivers along promising payments.
He told the court: ‘I was working in sales in Canary Wharf.
Due to the fraud, I have lost my position. These four mistakes were my own fault and I am very sorry for what I’ve done.’
He was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £621.40 in compensation and costs
Source : Metro.
from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2iaHBzF
via IFTTT
Friday, 27 October 2017
Here We Go Again, More Designed Chaos From TfL, The Borough Consultation.
TfL are proposing changes at the junction of Borough High Street with Marshalsea Road and Great Dover Street, in Southwark.
The junction carries high volumes of traffic from Elephant and Castle and Bricklayers Arms towards London Bridge and Southwark Bridge.
During the peak hours it can be heavily congested and this causes delays for the bus routes that use the junction, as well as for other road users.
Borough Underground Station is located on the western corner of the junction, and there is high demand for pedestrian crossing points as a result.
It has been the location of a high number of collisions, many of which involved pedestrians or cyclists.
TfL say they have looked closely at the issues and are now proposing a number of changes that are intended to make walking easier and safer and improve journey times, especially for the eight bus routes which pass through the junction.
To see what TfL are proposing, and have your say in this consultation, click link below
from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2zUXWQT
via IFTTT
Smart motorway revenue generation revealed
Smart motorways were originally sold to motorists as a more efficient way to use the roads. Their innovative technology and time saving insights were going to free up traffic flow and reduce air pollution. Apparently.
However, could it be that they are really just another means of raising revenue through driving fines?
The red X
There will soon be a £100 fine for anyone caught driving in a lane marked with a red X. The red X is used predominantly to indicate when the hard shoulder has been closed. Not only will defying the red X now garner drivers a £100 fine, it will also incur penalty points on their licence.
The fine announcement follows Highways England sending out 50,000 warning letters to drivers who had been caught using smart motorways wrongly. A third of those letters related to drivers who had driven in a lane with a red X displayed above it. If all those drivers had received fines, instead of just warning letters, a cool £1.6 million would have been raised. Clearly, someone in charge has been doing some sums.
Safety concerns
The RAC agrees that handing out these fines is the right thing to do. The organisation hopes that the implementation of the fine will deter people from driving in closed lanes, which is often dangerous due to a hazard.
Seeing motorists using these closed lanes also makes other drivers frustrated, which can be dangerous in itself. This is especially true when people are intentionally using the closed lane until the last minute so that they can then cut in and get ahead of other road users.
Education needed
The red X that indicates the closed lane is very clear. However, in the cases of other transgressions, it may be lack of education about smart motorways that is causing motorists to make errors. Many don’t realise they are doing anything wrong.
The Department for Transport is expected to release plans for the new smart motorway fees shortly. In the meantime, it has been suggested that drivers be given more information about how to use smart motorways in the correct way. This would mean fewer drivers ending up with unexpected fines.
Not only would this help people to avoid fines, but it would also make smart motorways safer to use. At present it seems that many drivers are unaware of the risks involved with not using them properly.
For example, many people are unsure of what they would do if their car was to break down at a point when there is no hard shoulder to pull onto. Without this knowledge, there’s much greater scope for a breakdown to result in a nasty accident.
(In case you were wondering, there are emergency bays spaced along smart motorways at regular intervals. These can be used in the event of a problem. Meanwhile, you are advised to always check your tyres, oil, fuel and water before making a journey, to reduce the risk of a breakdown.)
Unfair fines?
With so many drivers being unaware of exactly how they should be using a smart motorway, it could be said that it really isn’t fair to impose fines on people until they have been given far more education about the new way of using these particular roads.
The lack of effort in terms of educating drivers certainly points to an intention to use smart motorways for revenue generation. The move will add to the pressure on drivers already struggling with rising motoring costs. Clearly, using smart motorways incorrectly can result in dangerous situations. However, does that make it right to prioritise fining transgressors before sufficiently educating them?
A cynic might presume that information is being withheld in order to catch people out when they are unsure of how to drive on these new roads. Perhaps our smart motorways are simply offering a smart new way to make more money from the UK’s beleaguered car owners.
With this in mind, Highways England has been asked to provide motorists with a better education about smart motorways. Drivers need to know what they do, how they should be used, and what the different signs mean. They also need to know what not to do, so that they can avoid being fined!
Are you confident that you understand all the rules and regulations relating to smart motorways or will you be one of those who could be in line for a fine due to lack of knowledge?
Let us know your views by leaving a comment.
from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2gNPf6p
via IFTTT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)