A Possible Solution To Having An Acceptable Wheelchair Accessible Fleet
Roy November 11th, 2009
The Commission For Taxi Regulation is currently assessing the feasibility a new Fleet License,
From their website:
Reform
The Commission will investigate the feasibility of a fleet licence for multiple vehicle licence holders, considering the most appropriate licensing criteria and operational model.
Rationale
Introducing a fleet licence could improve the monitoring and enforcement of compliance in the rental market. It could also help provide a more efficient licensing renewal process for multiple vehicle licence holders.
They also have the stated aim of increasing the quality of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (To EU M1 Standards) and insisting that new entrants to the Taxi fleet should be Wheelchair Accessible Taxi only.
From Their website:
Reform
The Commission will only issue new taxi and hackney licences for vehicles which meet the Commission’s new wheelchair accessible vehicles standards. The Commission will continue to monitor entry to the industry at regular intervals. Should service levels to consumers be impacted the Commission will reconsider issuing standard taxi and hackney licences to ensure effective competition and supply. Existing wheelchair accessible vehicle operators are aware that they have to meet these new standards in 2012.
Rationale
The issue of wheelchair accessible vehicle licences only will seek to bring a stock of new vehicles over the next number of years to offset potential loss of numbers caused by the necessary introduction of the new quality standards
The above reform will reduce the existing fleet of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles as the cost of renewing a vehicle that does not meet the new standards is prohibitive and the trickle of new entrants into a over supplied market may not even meet the existing numbers of accessible Taxis.
The Solution!
Use the new Fleet License (Rental Companies) to insist that all Rented Taxis must be Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles built to the new standards, This would be simple to enforce as anybody driving an SPSV vehicle they do not own, must be driving a Wheelchair Accessible Taxi.
If the Commission for Taxi regulation is serious about tackling the only real shortage in the Taxi business (accessible vehicles) then this is the only way forward, it might well reduce the number of rental vehicles available (no harm there, many are of poor standard, operated by gangsters who don’t care who is driving them) but would have the immediate! effect of increasing the Wheelchair Accessible Fleet to what I believe would be an acceptable level
The rental sector is one of the few profitable areas within the Taxi business presently. a reduced fleet with greater returns may suit the serious players in this sector, with poor quality competition removed from the marketplace
(Thanks To Stephen, a regular contributer on both the Blog and Forum for coming up with this notion)
- Taxi News
- Comments(5)
well thought out, non partisan, measured and intellectual. Na that couldn’t be Stephen, could it??
All slagging aside I think it is an excellent suggestion and I wish you well in this endeavor.
@Anonymous. Thank you but it is not a one man project, it’s a forum project, all input welcome.
Could’nt believe it, sat on Aston Quay in early hours Tuesday morning i was first car to go for over twenty mins, and i was the only car on the rank when another pulled in after me, he i would say was there for ten mins when he pulls out from behind me, took off like a rocket straight across the road and fifty yards up from the rank to take three passengers with luggage obviously going to the airport. they where snatched so quickly i did’nt even have time to react he had the cases in the boot of his car so fast he was obviously used to slinging post bags or something into the back of vans, if the low-life had told me just how worried and concerned he was about 2010 I would have given him a few euros. Sorry for getting of the above issue but perhaps Roy you could set up roof sign numbers and shame column on this site.
A good example of “The quick and the dead”
(among the increasingly desperate taxidriving fraternity?)
(In the Apostles’ Creed the phrase appears in the following passage (taken from the Book of Common Prayer).
“He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead”
Dear All,
As a former production manager manufacturing WAV vehicles i can honestly say that there are a number of manufacturers out there that you really need to be wary of. In my engineering experience i have seen vehicles returned with cracked axles leaking bodywork excessive cabin noise, incorrect exhaust arrangement and thus wrong emmissions and 35% of these have leaking fuel pipes!
Now most of this is down to poor design and the hunger for profit from mobility
Now you might say that im being a little heavy on this but when I see honest hard working people forking out a fortune on these vehicles regardless of ownership status it’s concerning to say the least. And just to blunt the knife prior to stabbing you in the back the residual value on a used Wav is pretty much Nil!
If anyone is considering purchasing a WAV ask a few very important questions such as:
1. Can you have a copy of the NCAP test results
2.can you have a copy of the stress test on the axle
3.can you have a copy of the emmissions test
Obviously I cant tell which companies are the ones to watch out for as that would be liable and incidentally there are some very good manufacturers out there whom manufacture fantastic vehicles that exceed the requirements by far! but there are some that are down right dangerous! proceed with caution.