Many people told us that the lack of taxis in Aberdeen was a problem - you may have your own experience.
Many felt that Uber was the answer - it certainly helps but they can only use licensed drivers.
Many times, we were told not to waste our time as nothing would ever change - perhaps we should have listened! But we didn’t.
We started by talking and listening and researching.
We met with several taxi drivers and with the three main Aberdeen taxi companies.
We read every document we could find.
We began to understand the underlying causes
The stark reality is that we have around 700 licensed taxi drivers in Aberdeen - about half the number we had 10 years ago. We had lots of evidence that this was creating safety concerns, was damaging our economy and the city’s eputation.
The key problem is the scale and complexity of the Street Knowledge Testing being used in Aberdeen. The other part of the problem is that all drivers have to pass the test - in Edinburgh and Glasgow for instance, Private Hire drivers (including Uber drivers) don’t need to sit a street knowledge test.
Having looked at all the issues, we submitted a 28-point improvement plan to work with the local taxi companies to improve the overall provision of taxis.
We approached the elected council leaders who, in turn, spoke with the council’s licensing committee - we were told that there were no plans to review taxi arrangements. We spoke to other councillors and the breakthrough came when Councillor McLennan was giving a budget update to the Chamber of Commerce - he agreed with the concerns and committed to try and get a Working Group in place to examine the Street Knowledge Testing.
We also chatted to Uber to help convince them to come to Aberdeen - not enough taxis, lots of unhappy customers. They already had Aberdeen and Dundee in their plans but were really concerned that Aberdeen City Council were not responding to any messages! They were sure that there was a problem! So, they asked us to check, and what we found was a simple IT glitch - Uber emails were being trapped by the council’s email firewall - the council had not received them.
We submitted a paper to the council Working Group (very ably chaired by Councillor Delaney) setting out a range of improvements to make the test simpler. Many of our suggestions were adopted as well as great input from others in the working group.
- The revised test is based on around 1,300 streets - not the 3,500 previously tested.
- The revised test has 140 Places of Interest - previously there were over 240.
- The revised test has 40 Key Routes - previously this a random selection between any two of the Points of Interest and had a staggering 64,000 potential options!
- Unlike the previous test, the revised test has no “road signs” test.
The number of elements that need to be learned is still large - but much more manageable than before.
Taxi driver training schools in Aberdeen are based on weekly night-classes over a six-month period. We recognised that people could learn the test material quicker if they had an app or program that could randomise mock tests, capture answers and provide feedback on where a candidate was making mistakes. We were told that there was no money for this, that the software would be expensive and costs would have to be passed onto prospective drivers.
In parallel we continued to lobby for the removal of Street Knowledge Testing for Private Hire drivers. We have asked multiple councillors for their support and the elected council leaders on three separate occasions. On the final occasion we were told that the reason for refusing change was to “keep the trade onside”. Clearly this is more important than the reasons we had given for making the change - safety, economy and reputation.
On 31st October we wrote to the Chair of the council’s Licensing Committee to ask for the matter to be raised at their next meeting on 11th November. We got no response, and it wasn’t discussed. So, we wrote again on the 13th of November and our suggestion was rejected - the Chair sees “great value in drivers completing the street knowledge test”. So, if you find yourself standing waiting for a taxi on a freezing winter’s night and no pre-booked drivers are available, at least you can be comforted that your discomfort is surely better than having a driver with imperfect street knowledge that might have to use satnav or a map!
This is an extract from the note I sent to the Chair:
“If someone comes to harm because they could not get a tax this winter, I will regard it as a personal failure - down to my inability to persuade decision makers to take the right actions quickly enough. I am not sure what else I can do other than to ask you to at least reconsider and debate the matter with colleagues. As a local citizen I am waving a big red danger flag to ask you to think of the consequences of this decision.”
We also wrote to all other councillors on the Licensing Committee to have the matter considered at their December meeting and offered to come to the council to talk to the matter in person. That meeting is on 5th December - we will see.
We thought again about the testing tool - a vital part of speeding up the learning time for new drivers. If the council couldn’t fund it - why couldn’t we build it - so we did. it took us seven revisions, many weeks and over 1,300 lines of computer coding and make it work simply and clearly – all done by unpaid volunteers and worth many thousands of pounds.
At the final Working Group meeting we made it clear that we will give the tool to the council, the taxi companies and anyone else who needs it free of charge. We need to do whatever we can to get more taxis on Aberdeen roads.
The local taxi companies estimate that with the modified test and the help of the new testing tool, driver training could fall from 26 weeks to around 8!
We are waiting for the council to share the detailed lists of streets, places of interest and routes that they want to see tested so we can build these into the training tool.
When we have that in place we will set up a challenge - how quickly can someone pass the test? (It doesn’t matter if you are not looking to become a taxi driver, think of it more of an intellectual speed challenge.) This will also help us to uncover any bugs, identify potential improvements and find out how quickly people can learn it!
For the record (again) we think local takes and taxi companies do a fine job - but we need more drivers and taxis.
We have been working hard behind the scenes to try and solve a major problem for the city. We have made some progress and faced a few frustrations. We will keep going.
You might want to share any concerns you have or experiences you have had waiting for taxis with your own elected councillors.
Bob
