These are very trying times for the Hackney Carriage Taxi Driver and the Private Hire Vehicle Driver, but lets stop for one moment and examine the facts.
I came from the Bus Industry into the Private Hire Industry in 1994, not long after the FREE PRENSIONER BUS PASS had ended and in 1994 there was around 400 Private Hire Vehicles in Total in North Tyneside.
The FREE PENSIONER BUS PASS ending in the early 1990`s played a very big part in the Private Hire Customer Base explosion and the boom years for Hackney Carriage Taxi and Private Hire Industries because of Bus Companies reducing Service Route frequency times and the Pensioner having to pay for a pretty unreliable service back then and the Taxi and Private Hire Industries filled the Transport requests from the passenger with door to door service when they wanted the service, with the Bus Services being not to reliable because of ROUTE ALTERATIONS and general messing around with BUS SERVICES back then.
ALL THAT MESSING AROUND BY THE BUS COMPANIES HAS NOW CHANGED and the 900 PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES that is about an extra 500 VEHICLES compared with the 1994 400 Private Hire Vehicles are now suffering because of a lack of passengers for these vehicles to transport.
In 2006 the FREE PENSIONER BUS PASS was to be re-introduced and it has taken a little while for the BUS COMPANIES and METRO to start winning those customers back from the Private Hire Industry, but now probably because of the Credit Crunch when you have a means of TRANSPORT AT NO COST that is now more reliable, clean and with professional drivers who because of technology, now pretty much run on time with 10 to 15 minute services being re-introduced meaning if you miss one bus then it will only be a few minutes until the next FREE BUS arrives the PASSENGERS are going back to the OLD FASHIONED FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT between the hours of 9 till 6 when the frequency of the BUS COMPANIES reduces because of a lack of passenger demand.
Mr Shanks and other Private Hire Companies know they cannot attract the FREE PENSIONER BUS PASS PASSENGERS, because no Private Hire Company can afford to offer their services for FREE meaning a large customer base has now after many years of using Private Hire and Taxis during the daytime hours, have been removed from our customer base probably forever because we are not FREE and never will be.
The Private Hire Industry needs to accept this factor that has affected the poor Private Hire Drivers Earning, yet as we all know the rents have not reduced, PROFIT MARGINS have been reduced to the PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER THOUGH.
I am a Hackney Carriage Driver and I am not going to say what profit the poor driver makes, but I do not think I will be far wrong if I said average over the week the hours you work and divide it by your total turnover and you will probably find the turnover for a poor private hire driver to be around £13 an hour less operating expenses, remember £100 divided by 50 hours is £2 an hour office rent then there is vehicle, repairs, fuel, insurance, etc etc.
These figures are only a guess as you the poor driver know the true figures in these CREDIT CRUNCH TIMES.
This article is only written to create debate and the figures are approximate figures only and not to be taken as factual, as I say you the driver know the true figures.
The other day on the local radio station there was a debate about new government statistics that had been released showing in Britian there are now more PENSIONERS than Young People under 18 as the figures given were if I remember correctly;
13.4 Million Pensioners compared to 13.3 Million Young People meaning Britian is becoming a country of FREE PENSIONER BUS PASS HOLDERS and that figure can only get higher as we are all getting older, but chosing to have less children.
Another factor to add to this is the Alchol pub trade as we all know is on its knees with many public houses closing, as they are no longer viable partly because of the smoking ban that has now really started to take a hold and affect our clientel base for the night time trade passengers we TRANSPORT home each night of the week.
Both the Taxi and Private Hire Industries must accept a declining customer PASSENGER BASE and this is a factor we cannot dispute.
PRIVATE HIRE OPERATOR LICENCE HOLDERS should being willing to accepting 10% of a drivers turnover to be an acceptable return as office rent and not £100 a week as a standard figure to charge, as £20 a day if working 5 x 10 hour shifts could reflect the figures below, if the shift turnover was as follows;
£13 per hour.£130 turnover a shift reflecting 15.4% office rent charged.
£12 per hour.£120 turnover a shift reflecting 16.6% office rent charged.
£11 per hour.£110 turnover a shift reflecting 18.2% office rent charged.
£10 per hour.£100 turnover a shift reflecting 20% office rent charged.
£9 per hour. £90 turnover a shift reflecting 22.2% office rent charged.
£8 per hour. £80 turnover a day reflecting 25% office rent charged.
10% office rent therefore could reflect if OFFICE OWNER accepted;
£13 per hour £65 per week rent.
£12 per hour £60 per week rent.
£11 per hour £55 per week rent.
£10 per hour £50 per week rent.
£9 per hour £45 per week rent.
£8 per hour £40 per week rent.
These figures are only to cause a discussion about what the Private Hire Drivers thinks is an acceptable return figure based on your daily turnover figure per 10 hour shift worked at your office where ever that maybe.
The working of a 10 hour shift must be completed properly meaning no skiving or flimping or disappearing on long breaks to reduce your turnover in the 10 shift period.
DEBATE AWAY YOUR VIEWS LADS AND LASSES, BUT LETS KEEP IT SENSIBLE PLEASE, AS YOU NEVER KNOW MR SHANKS MAYBE WILLING TO LISTEN IF COMMENTS ARE SENSIBLE?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good point about the Pensioners and Bus Pass!
But I still blame the decline/destruction of Whitley Bay!
Whitley Bay as you well know is the only good hunting ground for a Hackney, however Whitley Bay’s night spots are shrinking fast, Friday night down there is non existent, Thursday night is the weekly school Disco, if you are lucky you might get a job to North Shields, but in most cases it’s Monkseaton or the other end of Whitley…..That’s if Mummy & Daddy don’t come down in their little Corsa to pick them up!
The bottom of South Parade is the only night spot, and that’s a Saturday night with the high percentage of revellers being Stag & Hen parties, no good to us them, they drink up, stagger for a Donner and up to their Hotel room!!!!
The Sands, Sly’s, Idols (Heat), Avenue, Rogues & Vagabonds are no more, the Esplanade Hotel is to be demolished for Flats, how long is it until someone pulls the plug on Eden???, you are seeing more young people out in South Parade trying to market it wearing Hi-Vis jackets just like those annoying folk at the Boat, one say’s Eden the other say’s Taxi??? on the back of the jackets!.
I reckon most of what’s left in Whitley will be converted into Residential within the next 5-10 years!, Tynemouth are also changing their nightspots into more Bistro/Restaurant type places, so where their is food, there is families….Who have cars and tend to go out early evening!!!
So their is NOWT in North Tyneside!!!!!!!!!!
Another fact to add to this above article.
The other day on the local radio station there was a debate about new government statistics that had been released showing in Britian there are now more PENSIONERS than Young People under 18 as the figures given were if I remember correctly;
13.4 Million Pensioners compared to 13.3 Million Young People meaning Britian is becoming a country of FREE PENSIONER BUS PASS HOLDERS and that figure can only get higher as we are all getting older, but chosing to have less children.
Another factor to add to this is the Alchol pub trade as we all know is on its knees with many public houses closing, as they are no longer viable partly because of the smoking ban that has now really started to take a hold and affect our clientel base for the night time trade passengers we TRANSPORT home each night of the week.
Both the Taxi and Private Hire Industries must accept a declining customer PASSENGER BASE and this is a factor we cannot dispute.
PRIVATE HIRE OPERATOR LICENCE HOLDERS should being willing to accepting 10% of a drivers turnover to be an acceptable return as office rent and not £100 a week as a standard figure to charge, as £20 a day if working 5 x 10 hour shifts could reflect the figures below, if the shift turnover was as follows;
£13 per hour.£130 turnover a shift reflecting 15.4% office rent charged.
£12 per hour.£120 turnover a shift reflecting 16.6% office rent charged.
£11 per hour.£110 turnover a shift reflecting 18.2% office rent charged.
£10 per hour.£100 turnover a shift reflecting 20% office rent charged.
£9 per hour. £90 turnover a shift reflecting 22.2% office rent charged.
£8 per hour. £80 turnover a day reflecting 25% office rent charged.
10% office rent therefore could reflect if OFFICE OWNER accepted;
£13 per hour £65 per week rent.
£12 per hour £60 per week rent.
£11 per hour £55 per week rent.
£10 per hour £50 per week rent.
£9 per hour £45 per week rent.
£8 per hour £40 per week rent.
These figures are only to cause a discussion about what the Private Hire Drivers thinks is an acceptable return figure based on your daily turnover figure per 10 hour shift worked at your office where ever that maybe.
The working of a 10 hour shift must be completed properly meaning no skiving or flimping or disappearing on long breaks to reduce your turnover in the 10 shift period.
DEBATE AWAY YOUR VIEWS LADS AND LASSES, BUT LETS KEEP IT SENSIBLE PLEASE, AS YOU NEVER KNOW MR SHANKS MAYBE WILLING TO LISTEN IF COMMENTS ARE SENSIBLE?