CAPITAL NEWS
REACTION TO CHANGES TO PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE CONGESTION CHARGES:
PHCA
TfL are proposing removing the exem- ption from conges- tion charging for London’s licensed private hire vehicles (PHVs), and chauf- feurs, which are an integral part of Lon- don’s Public Tran- sport system. If London’s PHVs are congestion charged some fares will tre- ble,most fareswould need to increase by between ten and twenty per cent and minicabs could be- come as expensive as black cabs. TfL are not propos- ing that London taxis should be con- gestion
charged,
which may have serious equality and
competition issues. The travelling public, hospitals,
gestion in London and
congestion, sports
facilities, businesses, places of entertain- ment and local auth- orities are depen- dent on London’s PHVs as a primary form of affordable transport. The LPHCA has set up an online petition
www.change.org/p/ sadiq-khan-say-no- to-london-s-private - h i r e - v e h i c l e s - being-congestion- charged because congestion charging is
intended to
reduce congestion, not to make it more expensive to get to work or home safely. There are many things that TfL can do to improve con-
charging PHVs is not one of them, it will simply be a tax on those who need to use PHVs the most. Steve Wright said: “This appears to be a stealth tax that will ultimately fall on the NHS, local authori- ties the elderly and some of most vul- nerable groups in London. We would urge the millions of Londoners
and
many businesses that will be affected and ultimately pay the cost, to respond to TfL’s consultation:
http://tfl.gov.uk/ccy ourviews.” Please visit www.
lphca.co.uk for more details
GMB
GMB has slammed new proposals from TfL, that would see changes to Lon- don’s congestion charge scheme, in- cluding the removal of PHV exemption from the charge. An Integrated Im- pact Assessment from TfL stated that they are considering the proposal
to
remove the PHV exemption from 8 April 2019 onwards. PHVs which are des- ignated as wheel- chair accessible will continue to be exempt from the charge under the proposed changes. Simon Rush, GMB Professional Drivers
Branch Secretary, said: “We always suspected that TfL would bring out a consultation on the removal of our con- gestion charge ex- emption, as yet another way to cover the shortfall of their income as cen- tral government has removed a large amount of funding. “This is yet another attack on the private hire trade, a trade that is on a race to the bottomwith ever decreasing rates and increased overheads. “The driver, not the operators, will bear the brunt of the cost as the operator will not want to pass this cost on to the public.
“It’s a restriction of trade, it’s unfair to the trade, and it’s discriminatory as it’s not been currently passed to London’s black taxi trade. “We have told TfL that if we see such a consultation we will grind London to a halt. That time has now come! “We cannot allow our members and wider trade to fund an extra expense of up to £57.50 a week and if you include other pay, the so- called toxic charge of £12.50 aweek, this will decimate the trade and leave the public vulnerable to touts and other ille- gal activity.”
CHANGES TO TAXI LICENSING IN THE CAPITAL COULD FORCE WOMEN AND ETHNIC MINORITIES OUT
A report has warned that
forcing taxi
drivers to take addi- tional licensing tests could force ethnic minorities and wo- men out of the trade. A recent report on ensuring public safe- ty in minicabs, com- missioned by Tran- sport for London (TfL), looked at the effects of introduc- ing further licensing requirements on London taxi drivers. Evidence suggests that requiring taxi drivers to take an advanced driving assessmentto ob- tain or keep their licence would have a negative impact
20
on ethnic minorities and women. This is because of the extra cost of tak- ing the test and the loss of income while training for it. It is expected that most drivers will have to cover the cost of
vanced driving test themselves. It currently takes 16 to 24 weeks to get a PHV driver licence and can cost ap- proximately £724 for the application. Because of the high- er proportion of women working part-time the test may act as a greater barrier to women
the ad-
entering and re- maining in the profession. The report also says that drivers that hold an EU driving licence will find it harder to pass the additional driving test because the requirements in- volved differ from EU requirements. But Helen Chapman, TfL’s interim director of licensing, regula- tion and charging, said the proposals would be “pivotal” in protecting the pub- lic. Ms Chapman added: “The experiences of passengers and their safety is at the heart of everything we do.
We’ve worked hard to drive up the stan- dards of the in- dustry, from signifi- cantly increasing the number of compli- ance officers to ensuring passengers know who their driv- er is and what the vehicle details are. “With the dramatic recent changes in the private hire industry transform- ing
passengers’
experienceswe need to go further.” There are more pri- vate hire drivers than ever. From 2009 to 2017 the number in- creased from59,000 to 113,600. TfL has estimated on
an average day there are approximately 265,500 minicab trips across London. TfL will decide whether or notto adoptthe proposals in the upcoming months. Val Shawcross, dep- uty mayor for tran- sport, said: “Keeping Londoners safe is our number one pri- ority, and since Sadiq took over as Mayor we’ve been determined to drive up standards across the private hire industry.” Mmmm… There is a very fine line bet- ween raising stand- ards and maintain-
ing those standards – which clearly TfL is attempting to do – and making licens- ing parameters so strict as to exclude whole segments of the population. That doesn’t just apply to ethnic minorities and women; what about all the men who wish to drive part-time? Surely there must be a way to phase in some of these requirements, as the Taxi and Limousine Commis- sion does in New York City, so that drivers can earn a living whilst under- taking these ad- ditional tests. – Ed.
AUGUST 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
