Secret green shelters that feed London’s cabbies | Hacker News Reader

Secret green shelters that feed London’s cabbies

bbc.com

82 pointsMiriamWeiner34 comments

As a Londonder, I regular switch between black cab, uber and gett (hailing service for black cab). I wouldn't say the 'trade is dying', the quality and reliability of London taxis are far more superior than Uber drivers (with occasional exceptions). Also I've seen and known of these little green 'sheds' but never approached them. Always thought they were a "little cult" themselves in an endearing way.

I appreciate that Cabbies generally know their way around the city but their preference for certain routes can be a serious disadvantage. I switched to only using Uber when going to the airport as the navigation they use steers around traffic whereas cabbies will usually use the same route they always use. At busy times, that often leads to black cab traffic jams on some side roads even though the main road would've been less congested.

And it's probably just me but I find the standard Toyota Prius more comfortable than the black cabs (esp due to engine noise and vibration). But obviously for quick trips within the cities they're still much faster than an Uber.

London is probably one of the few cities where I prefer taking a cab over an Uber or something else.

I can't even count the number of times where I've had Uber drivers tell me they have no clue of where they're driving (i.e. I have a better understanding of the city than them) and they used to be UPS drivers before turning to driving for Uber.

The problem with black cabs is that what they consider London and what actually is London is very different. I can walk to Paddington so I don’t have that much of a problem with getting cabs but if you live outside of Zone 2 it will questionable if you can get one also getting them to go outside of the center is usually near impossible despite the fact that they aren’t allowed to decline fares.

If you are however disabled, have pets or a baby trolley you’ll likely have quite a bit of a problem with Uber et al. Black cabs are big and afaik all of them can accommodate wheelchairs.

The flipside is that Uber drivers tend not to have preferred routes or even particularly know where they're going - instead, they dutifully follow whatever their satNav tells them, despite any logical reasons not to, better shortcuts, etc.

Heck, one recalled Uber started off in the completely wrong direction, despite my protestations, getting caught in a local one-way system that took a good 20 minutes to get out of. I was not a happy bunny.

> And it's probably just me but I find the standard Toyota Prius more comfortable than the black cabs (esp due to engine noise and vibration).

It's true, a lot of the older black cabs were loud and didn't have great suspension. I'm starting to see a few of these (http://www.theelectrictaxi.co.uk/) on the road now, which will at least be much quieter - not sure how the ride is but I'd hope it's better too.

The one thing wrong with black cabs is that they rarely take cards - either don’t at all or they say the machine is broken. I don’t want the hassle of using paper money so I can’t use black cabs. If I could reliably use my card, as I can with Uber, I’d use black cabs again.

That's not been the case for some time. All licensed cabs must have a working card reader. See https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/accepting...

They can be sanctioned by TfL if they don't.

I guess the problem is that some charge a 10%+ fee for card usage. That shouldn't happen, honestly.

No, they can't do that either.

From the TfL link above

"Since 13 January 2018 it has been an offence for companies, including private hire operators, to charge their customers a surcharge, or extra, because they are paying by credit or debit card."

Or see this news story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40648641

Seems to be quite a new rule. Last time I was in town was in December last year. Good improvement I’d say!

They just say the machine's broken!

You might say 'you don't have to pay if it's broken' or 'you can report them' but I don't want to have an argument with an aggressive cab driver! I just want to pay by card in the first place, which Uber lets me do 100% of the time without hassle.

Report them after your transaction is finished and do us all a favour.

I suppose that's what Uber and Lyft fixed. They made "reporting" bad drivers and credit card transactions mandatory so no one has to do anyone favours.

Exactly. What's bettter than a solution is not having a problem.

Honestly had no idea this was in place. Black cabs are back on the menu! As with OP I never used them due to the requirement to have cash on hand

Have you tried MyTaxi (formerly known as Hailo)?

Ages ago, I wanted to use Hailo/MyTaxi to take me to Heathrow – a trip I typically make once or twice a month. They quoted me some crazy amount, like more than double what my local preferred minicab firm or Uber would charge, whereas from my gf's flat around 1.5 miles away it was in roughly the same. Playing with it, I narrowed it down to a point roughly 200 yards from my flat where suddenly the price skyrocketed. I got in touch with them over email, their tech staff replicated and recognised the problem and assured me they'd look into it, seeing as it appeared to be a bug in their algorithm for how charging increases with distance but this step change was ludicrous.

Never heard anything back, even after I followed up months later. I checked repeatedly over time and never observed the problem to be fixed, so I gave up on them.

I haven't seen a black cab for years in London that didn't have a card reader - its actually a safty advantage as cabbies no longer may have large amounts of cash.

This is a serious point as only a few years ago one of the local minicab drivers for the company I use got killed for his takings.

For years? That's very out of sync with my experiences. Yes, since 2012, it's generally been feasible to find a taxi that accepts cards, but far from the default experience.

I took a black cab from the rank at Paddington almost every week for 2017, and getting one that accepted card required asking the rank attendant and having him do a special wave to the waiting taxis to see who accepts cards. It was practically never the first one, although to be fair, I never had to wait long.

This, and the charging of absurd processing fees, continued right up to the January deadline. London cabbies did not want this, they were dragged into it, kicking and screaming.

> London cabbies did not want this, they were dragged into it, kicking and screaming.

I presume they don't want to start paying tax on their income.

"Bed and breakfast owners and taxi drivers are the British workers most likely to underpay their taxes when filing self-assessments, a new analysis shows." — https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/26/bb-owners-a...

Yes you know that includes all those minicab companies/drivers and gypsy cabs as well, not just licenced cabbies.

For non uk readers there are two types of taxis in the UK Full Taxis which can be hailed on the street and minicabs which have to be booked by phone - plus there where a lot of illegal cabs in places like London (presumably now gone legit with uber etc)

> I haven't seen a black cab for years in London that didn't have a card reader

Well I don't know what to say apart from that's not what I experience. I'd love to stand on the pavement with you now and hail three random taxis! I'd bet you £50 at least one of them doesn't take cards or 'it's broken mate'.

This may have been a problem in the past but I had multiple trips to London last year and paid for cabs exclusively by card.

Take a cab and if the driver says the machine is broken just say you can't pay then. This fixes most card machines, regardless of the fault.

Great so it's just like Uber apart from I also get to have an argument with an aggressive lying driver while captive in the back of his taxi!

Although you can't eat inside unless you're a cabbie, some of them will serve you tea and a bacon sarnie through a window (I'm thinking of the one outside the V&A and the one at Temple)

That's mentioned in the article:

> Most serve breakfast (sausages, eggs, bacon), sandwiches and hot drinks, with the occasional pie or lasagne cooked by the owners at home and reheated in the skinny kitchens. Non-cabbies aren’t allowed to sit inside – unless issued with a rare invitation – but can order through a window hatch.

> “We bring in more money that way,” said Jude Holmes, who runs the kitchen at Russell Square. “I can serve hundreds of people while a driver sits with one cup of tea.”

I wonder how articles like this fuel some kind of FOMO in the non-cabbies. Like, if someone decides to make it their mission to open up these spaces to all, just because.

Not in this case I'd hope, since the charm of these shelters is the fact that only cabbies use them. Letting the public use them would remove any interest... "nobody goes there anymore: it's too crowded!"

Great story. Thanks for posting.

I drove a taxi many years ago as a PT job and while we never had anything like this (it was in a small city in the U.S.) there was definitely a family feeling and an identity, particularly among the people who had been driving for years. Of the three companies that owned medallions in the city back in the 80s only two are left and I am pretty sure it will be down to one before long, for obvious reasons.

Buzzfeed's Worth It program visited one of these shelters on its Tea episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88bGDNRyyg

ooh so that's what those things are! :D

oh thats cool. new to me!

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