LIVERPOOL

ECHO readers have been sharing their experiences of journeys with taxi drivers who appear to have a fundamental lack of Liverpool “knowledge”.

The comments come after we revealed that Mayor Joe Anderson is working to clamp down on drivers coming into the city from far and wide and plying their trade here.

It also follows dramatic scenes over the weekend in which some local drivers blocked in a private hire vehicle with a Transport for London licence, before the vehicle was “escorted out of the city.”

One of Mayor Anderson’s major gripes with the current “free for all” private hire system in the city and city-region is that drivers are arriving for work here with poor geographical knowledge.

He is looking at bringing in a universal licensing system across the city-region as well as a more general knowledge-style test for drivers to take.
The Mayor shared a story of a driver who had no idea where Dingle was and now ECHO readers have been offering up some of their more frustrating experiences.

Scores of readers responded to the story on Facebook, including Mary McArdle who said: “My granddaughter gets a taxi to school most mornings, got one last week told him co-op by Walton church he took her to North Park in Bootle.”

Lauren Adele Bunting added: “Most of the taxis don’t even know where Kirkby is when you get a taxi you have to direct them all the time.”

Diane J Dodd said she had to direct a private hire driver to the city centre, adding: “You couldn’t write it could ye!”

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Taxi drivers are threatening to bring Wolverhampton to a standstill with thousands of private hire cabs flooding the city in a row over licensing standards.

They say drivers from as far away as Sheffield and Manchester are applying for private hire licences in the city as it can take just 28 days – instead of 10 months elsewhere.

But city licensing boss Alan Bolshaw says the threat is ‘staggering’ and warned: “I will not have a gun held to my head.”

Licensing committee members are furious over a letter from the Wolverhampton Private Hire Drivers Association (WPHDA) setting out a list of ‘red line’ demands and threatening to block the road network with drivers from across the UK in an escalation of their go-slow protests.

The authority is accused of low standards of entry for the private hire trade.

But councillors have rejected the claim, saying that taxi drivers from outside the city are applying to Wolverhampton because the fee is cheaper and the turnaround is faster.

The council has taken advantage of new government deregulation which allows drivers to shop around for their licences. The council is now planning to reduce the cost of a taxi licence by between 12–15 per cent.

Councillor Bolshaw, licensing chairman, said the authority had simply acted quicker than its neighbours to ditch red tape that was holding up the service. He added: “If anything, we’re a victim of our own success.”

It is claimed 200 drivers took part in a previous go-slow in October although the council says the actual number was 77.

WPHDA vice-chairman Ebrahim Suleman’s letter requested that the council set up a focus group to look at drivers’ issues, in particular introducing a ‘comprehensive’ knowledge test, requiring drivers to pass a Driving Standards Agency test and refusing licences to drivers intending to work mainly outside Wolverhampton.

It states: “The council has the option of co-operation or facing further action. Any future go-slow protest will be organised to bring drivers in their thousands from across the UK. Hopefully you will see sense.”

Councillor Bolshaw called the letter ‘staggering beyond belief’, saying he was ‘outraged’ and that the committee would ‘not be dictated to’ by Birmingham taxi drivers.

The licensing committee agreed to set up a focus group but only on the basis that its concerns were reported to and agreed by an existing working group. The drivers did not want to feed directly into the working group, claiming they could not speak freely in front of the big private hire operators.

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DUBAI

Dubai is aiming to become the world’s first city to have passenger-carrying drones operating in its skies. Speaking at a summit in the city on Monday the Emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said they are on track to launch them by July.

The RTA have been working alongside Chinese firm EHang, whose autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) the EHang 184 looks set to taxi passengers across Dubai’s impressive skyline.

“The RTA is making every effort to start the operation of the AAV in July 2017,” RTA executive director and chair Mattar Al Tayer said at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday.

Using a touch screen to select a preset destination, passengers will be able to travel in the vehicle for up to 30 minutes at a top speed of around 100kph (60mph), all overlooked by a ground-based control center.

"It replicates Dubai Self-driving Transport Strategy aimed at transforming 25 per cent of total individual trips in Dubai into self-driving trips using various modes of transport by 2030,” Al Tayer said.

"In case of any failure in the first propeller, there would be seven other propellers ready to complete the flight and a smooth landing, while mitigating the impact of the fault sustained by the first propeller."

First unveiled at the Las Vegas CES tradeshow in January 2016, the EHang 184 is described by its creators as “the safest, eco-est and smartest low altitude autonomous aerial vehicle” for short to medium distance travel. The drone does not allow users to fly manually; an automated destination input/delivery system is designed to eliminate human error.

https://www.rt.com/news/377219-drones-taxi-passenger-dubai/
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HYDERABAD: Even as the drivers of private taxi aggregators protested against the methods adopted by the companies, an Uber cab driver, who was unable to pay the down payment on a loan taken to purchase his car, ended his life in the city on Sunday.

The driver, Kodaiah alias Praveen (34), consumed poison on Saturday. Praveen, who is survived by a wife and two daughters, succumbed at Gandhi Hospital on Sunday.

“Praveen had been a taxi driver for over two years and joined Uber as a driver seven months ago. He took a TATA Indica V2 car with a down payment of Rs 33,000 financed by a private institution with a monthly down payment of Rs 27,000. He was unable to pay the EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) for one month and the finance people harassed him. He was able to earn only Rs 20,000 a month,” said a relative of Praveen. When Praveen joined Uber, he was promised that he would be able to earn up to `1 lakh a month, the relative claimed.

“Taxi aggregators have increased the number of taxis but the customer base remains the same. This has been eating into the profits of taxi drivers and many, who have taken cars on EMIs, are struggling to repay the money,” said Shiva Vulkundakar, president, Telangana Cab Drivers and Owners Association (TCDOA).

The union, which is not recognised by taxi aggregators, has been fighting to be heard by both the taxi aggregators and the state government. The union launched a protest from December 30, 2016, to January 5 this year but it failed to evoke any response.

They launched a protest again on Friday and Saturday but had cases of public nuisance slapped against them by the police.

Both Uber and Ola say they will only respond to grievances — “if any” — of individual drivers. An email questionnaire sent to Uber representatives went unanswered while representatives from Ola were unavailable for comment.

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