What about Black cabs? Most polluting cars have pref treatment
The black cab lobby enjoys a disproportionate amount of power when it comes to policy-making on transport. Most Londoners would not miss them if black cabs disappeared overnight but somehow huge allowances are made to ensure they continue to operate the way they do, often at the expense of everyone else.
> bus lanes
This exemption is completely ridiculous.
I recently asked "What would the outcome be of a total taxi ban in a major city" in a similar thread [0]. An interesting answer was the disabled would struggle. I've since discovered Dial-a-Ride [1], which is good to see and now strengthens my convictions against black cabs in London.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21268807 [1] https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dial-a-ride/
Which does nothing to help visitors. My own trips to London would be significantly more problematic without black cabs.
Huh? A black cab seems like the great equalizer. People of almost all social classes, professions, rich and poor, get the same cabs.
In fact, the wealthy are probably the only people not taking cabs I would have thought, as they have their own cars and chauffeurs.
> The resulting financial incentive for diesel cars helped to prompt a "dash for diesel" after it came into effect in 2001 and was extended in further years. This particularly happened within company car fleets which were responsible for a substantial proportion of new car purchases.
> There are now 12 million diesel cars on Britain's roads, while back in 2000 there were only three million. And in recent years diesels have accounted for around half the new car market, whereas in 2000 only one in seven new cars was a diesel model.
- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41985715
This was a massive 180 by government, which explains some of the exceptions for black cabs.
However, anyone who bought a car after they realised the mistake and repealed it, deserves less sympathy. I wish the ULEZ exception took that into account.
When I'm in London I can put my toddler in the back, still in the buggy.
Outside of London most places have ordinary taxies, I can either bring along a carseat, or hold my toddler which is not as safe.
Uber taxies are just ordinary cars and have the same problem.
Although I have seen an improvement in density of taxis idling their engines while waiting, though I now regularly ask normal drivers to turn off their engines when why’re clearly just waiting, often getting angry or hostile reactions.
So many drivers aren’t even aware that they shouldn’t run their engine while parked. At least in most London boroughs idling has become illegal with on-the-spot fines.
Some boroughs let you report any idling vehicles, eg Westminster : https://www.westminster.gov.uk/report-engine-idling
I dare say the old ones will trundle around a while yet. Nothing's prefect.
So it isn't overnight, it's gradual, it will accelerate fleet replacement significantly, but not 20% of the fleet overnight.
According to that, max age of a black cab is 15 years. On the plus side, given the age distribution shown, then about 10% of the black cabs will already be 0 emission.
Ugh. I don't know anyone who at some point or other doesn't use cabs.
Demonstrably false. I have taken an Uber while my friends jumped in a black cab, both going to the exact same destination(because stupidly you cannot order 2 ubers at the same time), and yes, the "base price" for uber was cheaper, but the final bill was a good few quid higher than the black cab.
The same model stagecoach used after buses were privatised in the UK.
I'm mostly an Uber user now, but even I still end up in a taxi on (very rare) occasions at home and more often when travelling and unable to use Uber or another ridesharing app for some reason.
There's also a decent population of older people who don't use rideshare apps and depend on the taxi system (I write from the perspective of an Australian, not a Londoner, but I'm guessing it may be similar there).
Addison Lee works in London.
There used to be loads of taxi offices, you would go in and talk to a human and outside you would get into a taxi.
Now, the offices still exist - but if you go in, it's just an empty room with a phone for you to speak to some central room.
Uber has killed all these small businesses.
I do use uber or other private hire in London on occasion - when shifting lots of stuff around, but Black Cabs?
1) Worse to use (standing in the rain with you arm out in the hopes someone will stop, let alone trying to get one on a side street)
2) Based around getting lost (taxi drivers are too arrogant to use technology so will drive into roadworks and traffic jams when modern cars use things like waze or whatever to avoid them)
3) More expensive
4) Less safe (who's driving? Who knows! Lets hope it's not John Worboys)
The fact that Uber hasn't yet broken laws in the UK doesn't make using them more defensible. Would you accept a babysitter that only abused children when on holiday in Thailand?
Undermining unionisation and actively promoting the casualisation of labour in the way they have are to be discouraged whether legal or not.
In the black cab I can leave my toddler belted into the buggy, which is much safer.
I won't take her in an Uber as without bringing a car-seat it's not safe.
And its common for groups to use cabs in London and also for those with heavy luggage or who are disabled Black cabs a re a godsend in London
Uber service is better and cheaper. Why would you ever use a black cab when they're so expensive and often refuse fares or try to scam you by going weird routes?
Also, the old terrible diesels still have lots of time left where they are allowed on the road.
Taxis are awful at lining up outside entrances to stations (e.g. kings cross and at pancras) and leave their engines running as they slowly slowly creep forward picking up fares. There are often 20 or 30 diesels basically just idling right outside the main entrance to major stations.
Or you can also take photographs and report them to the TfL.
Even as hybrids, I guess the engine can run more efficiently, only runinng as needed and never idling so it must be a win.
Even if they theoretically get 80 miles of electric only range, and can be plugged in, the reality is the drivers force the engines to run to provide cab heating, avoid downtime while charging, and to avoid wear on the battery.
My guess is in the real world, even excluding manufacturing, these produce more CO2 per mile than the TX4.
One of the main reasons to go all electric, maybe there’s some design slight of hand that can be used to increase the time electric power is used.
The reality is due to a series of poor design choices, that's rarely the case. Normally due to certifications on the braking system, the regen braking isn't actually hooked up to the brake pedal, so most braking is done with the regular friction brakes. The engine also doesn't normally run at the most efficient RPM because users don't want to hear the sound of the engine revving while they're stationary. Combine that with the fact there are efficiency losses in the battery and electric motors and the added weight of the battery, and you suddenly have a system worse than a regular car.