80 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
JANUARY 2009 MOBILITY...
BOOST FOR LEICESTER AS TAXI SCHEMES ARE EXTENDED
Initiatives in Thurn- court, Hamilton and Humberstone, Leices- ter, are for people aged over 60, or with disabil- ities, to get to their local shops and doc- tors’ surgeries.
They were launched earlier this year follow- ing changes to the bus timetable in the east of Leicester. Now, the scheme in Thurncourt is being extended, with people being offered up to £1.20 towards the cost of trips outside the ward for medical treatment. Councillors are expect- ed to give an extra £5,000 to Humberstone and Hamilton, where the cash ran out in Sep- tember. Barbara Potter, Labour councillor for Humber- stone and Hamilton, told the Leicester Mer- cury: “The first £2,000 ran out eight weeks ago, so although the
service has been fan- tastic, people are now stranded again. We are therefore looking for a further £5,000 from the city council at the local committee meeting.” The scheme kicked off in January with a £2,000 grant for Humberstone and Hamilton ward. Then the neighbouring ward of Thurncourt received its own £2,000 for a scheme which began in the summer. Mandy Padgeon, 70, of Ivychurch Crescent, in Humberstone, said: “I’ve used the taxi service a few times and I think it’s a very good thing. “It’s getting more and more popular and I hope they keep it going.” In Thurncourt, the taxi scheme has just started subsidising trips to medical appointments. Previously,
people
could only get free trav- el from their homes to Thurncourt Road.
CALL TO REPLACE RURAL BUSES WITH SUBSIDISED TAXIS
Passengers in rural areas should be able to share publicly-funded taxis instead of relying on subsidised buses which run around the countryside largely empty, according to Government advisers. The current system lacks flexibility with many communities left isolated and reliant on infrequent bus services which finish early in the evenings and often do not run at weekends, says the Commission for Integrated Transport. Instead it says it would be cheaper and green- er to run a “TaxiPlus” scheme where passen- gers can pre-book subsidised cars or minibuses
The commission - set up to advise the Gov- ernment on public transport issues - says the proposal would help improve a transport net-
work which remains “patchy” in rural areas. Lynn Sloman, chairman of the COT Working Group, told the York- shire Post: “Dispersed, small populations are hard to serve using conventional buses, and in many rural areas bus services are infre- quent, stop early in the day, and don’t run at all at weekends.
“What we want to see is more flexible public transport services that can link people back into local facilities and core bus and rail networks.” The commission calls for a major trial of a taxi- share scheme modelled on examples overseas, in a move which will offer hope to scores of isolated communities in rural Yorkshire.
The commission wants a trial of the TaxiPlus scheme in a county council area next year.
DISABLED CAB BOOST IN TROON THANKS
TO NEW SERVICE Disabled residents in Troon will soon be on the move thanks to a new service in the town. Until recently, disabled residents in the town had to call for cabs in Ayr or Irvine, and paid high fares for short journeys as a result. Now, with a black hack- ney taxi designed especially lo accommo- date wheelchair users, getting around is going to be cheaper and easi- er.
Gavin Tennent has set up with a fully accessi- ble black hackney cab in the village of Dun- donald, close to both Troon and Prestwick. With less distance to travel to get to the resi- dents of Troon, Gavin doesn’t have to charge them for return jour- neys from his base to the job, like the compa- nies in Irvine and Ayr. The main problem is with mechanical wheel-
chairs that can’t be folded up and put into a private hire cars. With councillors and the local community council having peti- tioned for disabled access taxis in the town, the news of Gavin’s new business is well received. Nan McFarfane, coun- cillor for Troon, told the Troon and Carrick local press: “I have heard from people who have gone out for Christmas dinner to a hotel just a short journey away. Because of the lack of black cabs in Troon and the fact that it was Christmas day, that jour- ney ended up costing them £45.
“I welcome anything at all that helps disabled people and improves their qualify of life. This is just one man though and it is by no means the solution to the problem.”
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