INDUSTRY EXPERT
possibly super, players may not be the most comfortable place to be. A lot will depend on licensing, on ABBA and on our new friends championing regional licensing so this is a subject we will no doubt turn to many times in the future, but make no mistake this is a generational adjustment in action and it is happening apace now.
And Another Thing….
seeing costs rise and transactions fall, the temptation of a quick buck rather than imposing the poison chalice that is increasingly small private hire companies on their kids is seen as a sensible business decision….and who can argue with that. There is a growing list of buyers each with their own approach to ‘the deal’. But for those left behind how will this era of larger regional (that word again) players going to play out?
My first question is a simple one – is a mom-and-pop business one that lends itself to a more corporate structure? When I was a kid, all shops were small and local akin to PH compa- nies, gradually the nascent stores such as Sainsburys and Tescos (Victor Value) moved from shops to stores to super- markets and eventually superstores. They brought many benefits – cheaper, probably better due to quicker turnover of goods, but what was lost was personal service. Given customers moved from corner shops to supermarkets with relative ease and without any conscience or concerns about personal service and where buying everything in one go and receiving green shield stamps on every purchase quickly and without any qualms, perhaps it was just a natural phenomenon an example of evolution in action. What it did do was to leave small shop owners floundering. So as AA Radio Cars, Streamline, Bill and Bob’s Cars or whatever move to become Take Me, Veezu or whatever, what does that do for the industry? For the customer? And for the survivors?
Clearly with thousands of operators across the country and with even tens in one town or city there is significant scope to remove duplicated costs. Joining, hitherto disparate fleets together will provide better and more reliable services and quicker cabs. It could of course remove choice, it could reduce driver autonomy and power, real or perceived. Commercially it opens opportunities for buyers of personal transport to deal with one organisation in order to service many locations making the taxi and PH industry more attractive. If supermarkets were the model, it should there- fore be good for consumers. Mid-sized companies are probably those at most risk. Not needing to sell as they have succession plans and management structures in place, often a dominant market share and a well-known and respected local brand. Squashed between niche players and big,
MAY 2022
I was pleased to see that the government has committed yet more money to beef up the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This is a step that is welcomed but it is only a step. The dream that somewhere the market would step up and begin building networks that would be self-funding and provide a comprehensive network remains forlorn. Whilst we can argue about whether EVs are actually as clean as politicians would have us believe, whether we have enough power to actually run them all if we fully migrate and what happens to all the batteries and other parts when they are obsolete, it does seem to make sense to clean up the air in cities even if it is simply displacing the poor air to somewhere else in the country. What doesn’t make any sense is expecting people to migrate to electric vehicles if there is not an adequate, working charging network in place……and bluntly there isn’t!
The challenges to EV migration appear to be mounting with the cost of electric as well as other fuels escalating. The busi- ness case for an EV; high up-front costs but low servicing costs and cheap electric charging seem to be waning fast. That’s before the issue of residual values are considered. Reports that some motorway service centre charging points now cost almost as much as filling up with traditional fuels may be a little overblown but the business case is looking increasingly shaky. A truism is that when we migrate to EVs some element of convenience will be lost. Instead of a quick pit stop to fill the tank we will be sitting somewhere for 20- 40 minutes to charge up our vehicle and if it is a long trip that may happen twice at least. If we are expected to pay through the nose for the fuel as well…….maybe the old jalopy will be good for another year or two.
So what needs to be done? There needs to be tariffs for motorway and roadside charging. Charging points should not just be allowed to charge what they like or to be more emotive hold motorists to ransom. The roll out of EVs requires carrots as well as sticks and showboating announcements about how the deadlines are being brought forward every year are likely to be shown to be merely hot air unless there is a business case as well as an environmental benefit to move from ICE to EV.
Dr Michael S. Galvin
mobilityserviceslimited.com
31
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 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
