Greens vote for cabs on Hackney Cab numbers

8th January 2008

At the Full Council Council meeting on Wednesday 9th Green Party Councillors will be voting for a cap on Hackney Carriage numbers in Sheffield. In a recent survey a cap was supported by 88% of current Hackney Cab drivers, as well as half of private taxi drivers. The survey made clear that the only times where there are not enough Cabs are Friday and Saturday nights, between around 10pm and 3am in the morning.
Whilst demand has increased since the introduction of new taxi ranks across the city, the issuing of over 150 licenses last year has meant there are around 130 more hackney cabs than needed at most times of the week.

Councillor Jillian Creasy said "Taxis are a public service and should be managed like buses so that taxis are available on late nights, for disabled people, and so on. Licenses could be introduced for Friday and Saturday nights only, but this idea would have to be explored further.
The pressure on those nights could be relieved with better public transport - all night buses on key routes at peak times or minibuses.
Some spare capacity could also be released by sorting out the congestion around the railway station. We cannot just have unused taxis crawling around Sheffield's streets during the day in order to have enough for the night."

Councillor Bernard Little added "My conversations with the taxi drivers last year showed the need for a cap on numbers so they could actually make a living from working reasonable hours. One private hire driver worked 127 hours in the week of the survey. For safety of drivers and passengers that is not something we want to see."

ENDS

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