Taxis in PDLA

Wish I was a driver over there they were kept busy.

Now here is a question, we spoke about taxi drivers ripping people off and Gypsy saying she has not been ripped off by drivers its just people dont understand how they work so here is my little experiences.

On jumping in a taxi at the airport on a Saturday night heading to PDLA lots of taxis standing no waiting around, a taxi marshal told us which car to get in, we were told by the forum it would cost around €25ish which it was about a €1 over as their was some sort of concert going on in the town so the traffic was crawling along so was happy with that but the driver was a maniac, driving right up close to cars in front I felt I was breaking for him all the way, I hate that your not going to get anyway any faster by driving like that, when we were going round corners it felt like I was going to fall off the seat Im not kidding he got hot money (meter fare) and that was it.

Now Monkey Park, I was told it was about €6 it ended up about that maybe €6.60 around about their BUT on the way back it was about that again but the guy kept trying to add €1.70 on but the meter was keep ejecting it although he still charged me for this, now I remember reading on here if you dont get a car from the rank it costs you more, now this taxi was sitting in the Monkey Park waiting is that not classed as a rank well needless to say he didnt get a tip, dont forget Im a taxi driver and an honest one and I always believe in driving sensibly looking after my customers and never rip them off, I always find this policy pays me back, Karma.

Now taxi back to the airport was brilliant a car was sitting right outside the apartments, he loaded the car (Mercedes estate) and drove like a professional limo driver, nice and steady and at the proper speed limit, it was a pleasant experience nice and safe, when we got to the airport the guy charged me €22 and that was adding on the extra for the luggage too, it was a Saturday at 6pm. He opened the door for the girls and was very polite wish I had got his number for you guys people like that deserve extra work, I give him €30 thanked him and away he went.

That airport run guy,, you should report him driving like that and only charging you €22, obviously not got his taxi licence and doing the job on the side...

Answered you then got kicked out again ..........  so once more

In all honesty Daryn I have never been ripped off by a taxi driver.  
I just wonder do you own your own taxi or do you work for a company?  
I assume like most things, getting a taxi driver's license here is a very expensive and long winded affair, which means many don´t own their cars but work for companies and are paid (don´t quote me on this but I read) just €1 per fare irrespective of how much or how far it is. So this could explain the speed they drive in order to get as many pickups as possible. In desperate times it is little wonder that some will also try to make a bit extra.  I am not condoning it but sometimes needs must.  
I read in the paper this week that Santa Cruz Ayuntamiento will this Saturday proceed with the applications for refunds for a maximum of 26 licenses between 09.00 and 12.00. I am assuming as it is compensation that is being offered it will be for drivers who are no longer driving for whatever reason and depending on the length of service the amount reimbursed is 'up to €28,000  paid to the beneficiaries in a lump sum'.  If that is the ‘compensation’ I guess the initial payment is high.

€22, yip that's what we paid each way, that's about £17,50 in our money, curiosity Daryn, what would you charge in the UK for the same run...

Just checked the mileage its about 11.5 miles. 

I go from my town to Newcastle city which is about the same distance, Tarrif 1 is about £17 Tarrif 2 after 10pm any day and all day Sunday is about £19.

So near enough the same but the difference in fuel prices they are better off than me.

Airport work, well my nearest airport is Newcastle and its about 17 miles, on the meter from my home town the cost is about £28/£30 we dont charge extra for luggage and dont charge a fee to drive to customers homes, I always do a set fare of £26/£27 depending where they live, £25/£26 for the job and £1 to get out the car park, yes they charge us £1 to drop off the robbing gits.

Gypsy I own my own taxi always have done it was a struggle at first due to the high cost of insurance when I started off about 15 years ago, then I got a loan and bought two other hackney carraige plates plus a car, it was a gamble but paid off for me in rentals.

How it works here is you rent a taxi and what you make is yours after paying the rent of course, I rented my taxi with plate out for £150 a week that was about 7 years ago the price has gone down now due to not as much work, I paid for the maintenance of the car and the insurance the council test fees for that price, the driver paid for punctures and that was it, its now not worth doing that these days. 

As for renting out plates I charged £60 a week the driver used his own car paid for his own maintenance and insurance again I got rid of mine after seeing the way the town was going, you can now rent a plate for £35 a week its that bad.

Prices above are only if you work from the ranks/streets if you work from a taxi office thats upto the driver, that would be about £120 a week extra, its a tough life now, I have my own phone number and regular work so dont use an office, again it pays because I look after my customers, infact one customer wont let her 18 year old daughter use anyone but me.

I would be very surprised if they dont operate the same way as us, getting €1 per job just wouldnt work if you got distance it wouldnt be worth your while, maybe a percentage would work but they could fiddle really easy by doing the job off the meter. It must be rent the same as the way I done it but who knows.

As for driving fast in towns etc any professional driver will tell you that you dont make any extra income out of it, Ive studied this over the years, every new taxi driver drives fast although not up the arse end of another car, Ive seen me drive back into the town at the maximum speed limit and had other drivers over take me driving like maniacs BUT when I get back into the town I normally catch up at traffic lights etc, they have risked their licence, used more fuel and brakes and for what to get one car in front, so you get down to the rank who is to say he will get a better job than me because he is infront lol, it just doesnt work like that, he could end up giving the better job to me. 

They learn the hard way, we have already successfully got rid of one driver for dangerous driving, he was a total idiot, we recorded him and asked customers to report him, we are now trying to get rid of another one before he kills someone, putting pressure on the council and telling them they are to blame if someone gets hurt.

Check out your sat nav when your driving around, doing distance run at an average of 60mph, then put your foort down to 80mph and see how much time you will save, maybe 10minutes if your lucky, is it worth it.

Agree, I speed limited our trucks before it was a leagal requirement to do so in a bid to cut down on running costs and accidents, one driver complained like hell saying it was adding hours to his day and causing delivery time issues with customers, trucks basically did same journeys each day, his run involved him leaving the depot, about a forty mile motorway run to the town of his deliverys, zig zag around the town doing the deliveries them back to the depot.
I carried out an in depth study of his tachograph charts pre the speed limiter fitment and after, there was absolutely no time difference while the truck was in town doing the deliverys, but he was right, the motorway journey time there and back had increased,,, by two to three minuets each way,,, nothing compared to the savings...
Oh, and while checking the charts I noted that at his second delivery point he regularly exceeded what would have been expected as a reasonable delivery time by about half a hour, I questioned him on this, "oh I take my break there", no you don't, it's to early for your break, your breaks timed for between drop six and seven, your tachograph chart shows it clearly,,, "silence",,, advice, whoever your shagging it stops now, I expect to see that truck back in the yard at it's expected time,,, great things these speed limiters, savings on overtime, fuel, tyres, maintenance, world population and sexually transmitted diseases...
Result.

People ask me why i dont run any Taxi's because our family firm have been going since the late 40's,
Easy i said, not one of them have owt so why would i do that,   
You will earn a living and thats it, My eldest son joined up, he is a peasant too, 
I used to look after them all but i binned that too, Liberty takers all of them,  

I done alot of reading, one programme that surprised me was Top Gear yes you read that right, watch the episode where Clarkson does a big journey in a large Audi A8 he was astounded at how far he could go on a full tank after taking advice, he done the same with a Jaguar on another episode, watching ahead letting the car slow itself down saves brakes and fuel, speeding up at the right time on hills and letting the car coast in gear saves huge amounts over long journeys, I always thought coasting in neutral was the way to go but no that costs you more.

So your into haulage tell me more and educate the drivers with this video., it will save you a fortune if they listen, its saved me a fortune although I do speed up a little on the motorway its now rarely above 65mph and I speed up slowly instead of putting my foot down you would be amazed at the savings.

Although its sometimes nice to feel the power after all I am a petrol head so days off are for me lol.



Also look up top gear race to blackpool, its a one tank episode and he uses the same system but in a Jaguar

Im actually considering getting a PSV and buying a mini bus, a guy I know has done this and never off the road, booked up every day, its tempting although I do like my time off relaxing lol, its working out the costs and seeing if it really pays, like operators licence, extra fuel, higher maintenance and insurance where the feck am I gonna park the thing lol, its alot to consider but Im looking into it, you have to move on sometimes although Im stuck in the rut and love taxi driving most of the time lol.

Include wheel chair people, They dont mind spending to go to the coast to have fish and chips then home again, You can charge double if they smell of pee which some do  

Get yourself a bus licence Daryn, the top grade one. Bingo run or Beano, same result, piss. Then when you get old you can drive the 1980s antique bus on the school run, if you move to somewhere rural like me anyway.  

When I left Brighton area it was around 42 quid for a trip from Brighton to Lancing to ghet Clare home, about 11.5 miles.

I had 2 taxis rented along with my own a number of years ago. Just wasn't worth the hassle in the end. Started off charging 150 a week per car. That went down to 60 by the time I decided to sell them. The taxi industry is unregulated over here. That means anyone who passes the exam can set up. No limit to the amount of taxi licences issued.

Answering a few posts in one go here... (Oh, in no particular order).

Something wrong with having to buy a licence to do something your qualified to do, mmmm, cartel...

Sex can be expensive...

I know someone who drives a nursery bus, we call her Edie McCredie behind her back...

I've only got an international cpc, (for trucks), so sorry...

Chris Evans,,, next on the list is he...

ohhhhhhhh the nana smell as we call it, you are putting me off lol

You also mentioned coasting in neutral,,, tut, tut, tut,,, the gearbox don't like that, say your doing seventy, knock it in to neutral and let the engine either tick over or switch it off, inside the gearbox the main shaft is spinning at seventy miles per hour, but the lay shaft is only revolving at about a couple of hundred revs per minute, or not at all if the engine has been switched off, it's the lay shaft that throws the oil up from the bottom of the gearbox to lubricate the main shaft, so if it ain't turning or not turning fast enough, lubrication breaks down and gearbox failure follows...
This is why if your going to tow a vehicle a long distance the prop shaft is removed, cos the gearbox don't like it...

Informative forum this, innit...  

LOL I wouldnt dream of coasting in neutral at 70mph lol.

No point at doing it at any less speed, rolling resistance, wind velocity, bla , bla, blazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I was reading about rolling resistance on my new tyres....boredom damn near killed me!