Wednesday 7 May 2014

Location, location, location

Taxi drivers, who excel at rent seeking (by ensuring that there are barriers to entry, such as "The Knowledge" and a limited number of taxi driver permits, and restrictions on what mini can drivers can do etc) were back on top form in London yesterday:

NO SOONER had the dragons and indeed Boris left the Shard, a wholly different crowd descended upon it: London's taxi drivers, who staged a disruptive protest over [Transport for London's] failure to give them a taxi rank outside the Shard's revolving doors…
"
They've given us a rank 250 yards down the road and want to call us with a hailing light, while private hires sit and wait by the door – why should we be second choice?" one of the members of London Cab Drivers Club complained.

2 comments:

Tim Almond said...

There's some value to black cabs in terms of outsiders visiting the city. They're like a brand that you can trust.

They do take the piss but in this day and age, I can Google a minicab firm from a train and use them.

The US is worse - you don't even have minicabs in some places, which is why Uber got created.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Yes, black cabs, splendid, and if people want to take one and pay a bit extra, that's fine by me. That is no reason for them to try and f- over mini cab drivers.