DECLINE OF AN ICON
Article by Derek Myers (MCIPR)
derekmmyers@gmail.com
While politicians talk about limitations on private hire numbers and tweaks to the Knowledge, the real crisis in London’s taxi trade is being ignored. It’s not about new drivers, it’s about keeping the ones we continue to lose and, most importantly, ensuring there’s a need for London taxis well into the future.
TfL’s latest figures (w/e 19 October) show that London has lost another 68 licensed taxi drivers. The week before, it was 47. That’s 115 drivers gone in just two weeks - with no new licences issued.
It’s fascinating that only now, as numbers reach historic lows, the interest in ‘London’s dying taxi trade’ seems to have caught the attention of some politicians; when the problem began well before covid and then went into overdrive under mayor Khan’s leadership of TfL.
What exactly is the Icon? They often seem to focus on losing an icon although I’m not sure what the icon actually is. Is it the vehicle? There are currently five different shaped taxi models, many of which look like moving billboards - are these the icons? There are also the drivers who may have spent years studying the Knowledge - are they the icons?
Whatever the icon is, it’s already disappearing fast. Driver numbers have fallen by around 9,000 in a decade while vehicle numbers, which normally track around 2,000 lower, have fallen by c7,500. And, until the last Euro 5 taxi is forced off of London’s streets, this decline will show no sign of slowing.
The focus on PH limitation and The Knowledge: In order to save the taxi trade, we’re hearing of an increased call to limit PH numbers. When he was mayor, Boris Johnson actually spoke about bringing this in, but when he was, apparently, given a no-no by the government of the day, his efforts ended there.
Sensible limitation always seemed to be in the best interests of professional stakeholders within both the taxi and PH sector; but with driver numbers currently exceeding 105,000 and vehicle numbers of 95,000 plus (without the effects of cross-border licensing) coming up with a plan that might have any positive impact on what’s happening to the icon will be pretty long term.
There really is something about stable doors and bolting horses.
The other thing that seems is being highlighted is The 14
Knowledge; in the belief, or I believe misbelief, that changing the current system might achieve the blood transfusion that this dying patient, apparently, needs. But surely with 115 drivers leaving the trade in two weeks the real problem lies at the other end of the telescope, where there is very little focus; retention.
Retention, not recruitment: the taxi system always worked with a combination of full and part-time/semi- retired drivers, and the vast majority of those who have contributed to these reduced numbers (c,9,000 in 10 years) were those older/part time/semi-retired drivers. Many of whom would have liked, and indeed planned, to continue working as the years passed.
The mayor’s effort to substantially improve air quality in London by reducing the licensing life cycle of Euro 5 taxis from 15 to 12 years continues to remove a huge number of the most affordable, and often freehold, taxis from London’s streets. Along with this has come a substantial increase in insurance costs, with many older drivers now finding it difficult to get insurance at all, aligned to the stress of working within a 20mph zone where 6 points on your driving licence could lead to a temporary ban from working at all.
In addition, there are the high costs of the only new taxi that meets current regulations. All in all this has made part-time working less and less viable and, in many cases, as the taxi (icon) reaches its 12th birthday, it’s the driver (icon) who enters into unplanned retirement. While the vehicle, ironically, probably goes on to serve as a licensed taxi in major cities up and down the land.
And with a three-year driver licensing cycle plus annual medicals for most, even the official figures probably overstate how many drivers are actually still working.
What needs to change: London’s taxi system has always depended on a mix of full-time, part-time, and semi-retired drivers who, as part of London’s transport infrastructure, provided reliability and 24-hour coverage.
What’s needed now is a commercial strategy that retains drivers and, most importantly, sustains and eventually grows the need for licensed taxis in London within our current - and future environments.
Between late 2025 and September 2027, approximately 2,500 Euro 5 taxis will reach their 12-year limit and will no longer be eligible for licensing in London. Until this time, without a speedy and effective plan, taxi driver numbers will continue their fast decline, suppliers will continue to disappear, and the taxi system once envied by regulators and taxi services around the world will continue to slip quietly into London’s history.
NOVEMBER 2025 PHTM
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