TAXI CARS IN LONDON.

Shannon News, 9 October 1925, Page 2

TAXI CARS IN LONDON.

PLAN FOR CHEAPER RIDES JOURNEYS OF HALF-MILE. A conference between British Home Cilice experts and representatives of the various taxicab associations is to be held, a London paper stated recently, at which the need for cheaper taxicab fares will be discussed. Important proposals, of benefit to the travelling public, will be put forward at the conference by the Motor Cab Trade Protection Society, the largest taxicab organisation, in an attempt, to keep the suggested two-seater taxicabs oil the streets. The proposals will include the alteration in the fare standard from a shnling a mile to sixpence ,the halfmile. This would enable travellers to ride in a taxicab for half a mile for sixpence, or for three-quarters of a mile for ninepence instead of having, a.s at present, to pay a shilling for a riue of under a mile. A second suggestion is that taxi meters should be so made that the drivers can stop them in a traffic block and thus prevent the traveller having to pay additional threepences for delays over which he has no control. The conference is the first result qf the findings of the committee which was appointed to investigate a proposal to put two-seater taxicabs on tlit streets. The committee decided that these cabs could operate for ninepence a mile, but suggested that all taxicabs should ask the same fare.

The reduction from a shilling a mile to ninepence a mile will be hotly contested by owner-drivers, but “journeymen,” who drive a taxicab not their own, welcome the suggestion. They maintain that the reduction would mean more fares and, therefore,) more tips. “Wo shall certainly attend the conference with the Home Secretary,” said Mr. William Tucker, secretary of the Motor Cab Trade Protection Society, in an interview. “The introduction of 2-seater taxicabs at 9d a mile would mean me slaughter of the taxicab men who are driving fourseaters at a shilling a mile. They could not exist. Two-seater taxicabs make traffic Congestion 50 per cent, worse than it is now. The public will suffer if they are introduced." The secretary of the Motor Cab Ow mr-Drivers’ Association said that members of the association would resis; the introduction of two-seater taxicabs. “I have two important suggestions to make to the Home Office conference,” he said. “One is that we should be able to take passengers half a mile for sixpence. This would keep the mile fare at a shilling, but people could travel, say, from Savoy Hill to Cliaring Cross Station for a sixpenny fare.

“Again, when a man is in a taxicab and runs into a traffic block, lit is enraging to see the meter ticking up threepences. I suggest that taximeters should be made in such a way that they, can be stopped by the driver at the passenger’s request when they are hei.l up by the traffic. The passenger would not then have to pay for the loss of his time in traffic jams. “The report of the two-seater taxicab inquiry committee is in effecl a p-.stol. at our heads. It practically says ‘Reduce your fare or we shall put these taxicabs on the streets at ninepence a mile.’”