P-05-835 Allow Free Movement of Taxi Drivers to Carry Out Private Hire Work Anywhere in Wales

This petition was submitted by Taxis Without Borders, having collected 136 signatures.

Text of Petition

We call on the National Assembly for Wales to allow Taxi Drivers carry out private hire work freely anywhere in Wales, regardless of which council the driver is licensed by.

We bring this petition in response to the actions of a group of taxi drivers based in one City. We call on the National Assembly to take into account the wishes and desires of taxi drivers and operators across Wales, as opposed to a small group of drivers from one city.

If you book a taxi either by phoning someone, or using an app that company is legally allowed to send a car to you, regardless of where you are, or where the company is based. If you were in Barry and phoned a Cardiff company for a taxi to go to Caerphilly, they could, and would send a car to come and pick you up in Barry, and take you to Caerphilly.

If you were in Swansea, and wanted to go to Llanelli and were unable to get a taxi, you could phone a company in Bridgend, and they could send a car to pick you up, if they had one available.

This gives taxi users a greater choice of which companies that can and can't use. More choice, and more options meaning more competition drives companies to offer a better service to retain each person's custom.

From a drivers point of view, if they are licenced in Cardiff, and they were taking someone to Cardiff Airport, and a Cardiff based operator has a booking from someone to be picked up at Cardiff Airport going to Merthyr, the Cardiff driver is allowed to do that job.

Additional Information

If a Vale of Glamorgan driver is taking someone from Cardiff Airport to Pontypridd, and there is someone who has pre-booked their company to take them from Pontypridd to Cardiff Airport, but there is a few hours wait, that driver can ask a Vale of Glamorgan operator to find them work.  This could be by the operator phoning Pontypridd based firms to see if there is any work the driver can do around the area whilst waiting for the return booking. This gives drivers a greater earning potential, as it increases the size of are they can work in, and opens up possible income streams. It is also more environmentally friendly and reduces congestion as the driver that went to Pontypridd, isn't forced to go back to The Vale of Glamorgan empty, and the operator is not forced to send a second car to Pontypridd empty.

If a Newport based operator looked to expand their company, they could speak to Hotels in Caerphilly, and become that hotels preferred supplier to pick up guests from Airports. The operator can expand their company, and the hotel can provide a better service to potential customers, increasing their bookings, whilst still having a greater choice of companies to use to provide this service.

If a publican ran a pub in Merthyr Tydfil, and wanted to provide a pick up and drop off service to its customers, it would need an operators licence and would need to use licenced private hire drivers and vehicle, all from Merthyr. If then the same publican wanted to open a second pub in Llanbradach, and wanted to offer the same service, they could provide a pick up and drop off service from the same operators licence. This enables them to expand their business.

All this and more is possible thanks to Cross Bordering.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 04/02/2020.

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-775 Put an end to the Cross Border and Sub-contracting Taxi Licensing loophole and agreed to close the petitions given that the Minister for Economy and Transport has now ruled out pursuing legislative change in this area during the remainder of this Assembly, and the Welsh Government is pursuing several measures and policy changes with the WLGA in the meantime.

Full details of the consideration of this petitions by the committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 09/10/2018.

Assembly Constituency and Region

·         Cardiff North

·         South Wales Central

Further information

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