Keeping limit on taxi numbers is an essential task

This is not just a problem in Tampa it is world wide,

Governing Body's all over the world are adding to the numbers of taxis on the streets.

As it says in the story there can be a shortage of cab's at off times, but that will happen no matter how many permits a city or town putts out there.

It looks good for the politicians, they can tell the general public that they improved taxi service, but we all know no matter what the number of cabs is, some calls at some times in some areas will have problems getting covered.

It was big news on Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune a few years ago about a cab shortage in Y-bor City a few years ago on New Years Eve.

It seemed people in some 7th Ave watering holes could not get a cab, maybe the problem was 7 Ave gets shut down every Friday and Saturday night and on all big occasions, yeah I guess New Years Eve is a big occasion

I e-mailed the Trib and Channel 8 and wanted to explain, I got a short reply, basically its old news.

This story is from the News Scotsman.com and is from Edinburgh, Scotland.


Published Date: 14 February 2009

YET again we have Jim Taylor being economical with the truth (Interactive, February 12). He seeks to give the impression that the number of taxis in Edinburgh has not increased in seven years .
This is incorrect. In addition, most taxis are double shifted now as the cab test is perceived to be easier to pass in its present modular form.

We are entering a recession of indeterminate length and since this began taxis, like every other sector, have begun to suffer.

The alleged difficulty in hailing a taxi refers to a couple of hours on a few Saturdays in the early hours of the morning. It is unreasonable to expect taxis to clear the streets in an hour when people have been pouring into town by train and bus for the previous six or eight hours and these services effectively disappear when needed.

Hopefully when the trams come in, there will be a lobby demanding that they run throughout a Friday and Saturday night. That would be a far more effective measure.

At a time when taxi drivers see more and more private hire drivers picking up off the streets out of sheer desperation to make a living, and a time when it is almost impossible to make money during the week, and with a recession that sees the numbers out on the streets falling dramatically and with less money to spend on taxis, the last thing that is needed is to destroy the balance that the council has striven to maintain.