09 August 2006
Deputy Guy de Faye, Minister for Transport and Technical Services, has announced a comprehensive review of the Jersey taxi-cab industry.
The initial announcement was made, yesterday, to a meeting of industry representatives that included the three driver groups, the Jersey Taxi Drivers Association, the Jersey Cab Drivers Association and the Federation of Controlled Taxi Drivers, as well as representatives of major cab operators; Citicabs, Clarendon Dragons, Luxicabs and Yellow Cabs.
Deputy de Faye told the industry representatives that the ongoing consultations, taking place as part of the formulation of the Transport and Technical Services Department’s Travel and Transport Strategy, had revealed serious concerns over the structure and function of the local taxi-cab business. The main concerns were:
- There was abuse of the use of public service vehicle licences, known in the trade as "plates". In extreme cases this involved "plate holders" who no longer lived in Jersey, hiring their plates out to local drivers for fees estimated at around £100 to £150 per week;
- some driver groups objected to the total number of licence plates in circulation, a situation made worse by a practice known as "double shifting", where more than one driver operates a single licensed vehicle;
- the industry as a whole suffered from being split into a number of different groups, even though the main elements of the basic job of transporting clients were essentially common to all parties; and
- There was a widespread concern amongst the driver groups that the local industry was not receiving enough support from the States and that the laws regulating then taxi-cab industry were not being sufficiently enforced.
To address these and other concerns, the meeting agreed to set up a working panel comprising of a cross-section of industry representatives that would try to resolve the perceived problems. This panel would be assisted by officers of the Transport and Technical Services Department and industry experts in order to accomplish a comprehensive review of the local taxi-cab business.
Whilst highlighting the importance of the public service element of taxi-cab operations, Deputy de Faye outlined some of the key areas to be considered within the review, which included:
- a single charging structure that could incorporate a booking fee;
- the rationalisation of the operation of the rank system;
- the introduction of an Island-wide computerised booking and control system;
- an analysis of periods of customer demand, to ensure that sufficient taxi-cabs were available at peak periods; and
- The raising of the image of taxi-cabs by introducing industry-wide customer care standards and quality controls for both service and vehicles.
The Deputy further emphasised the important role that taxi-cabs played within the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in respect of the driver’s role as an ambassador for the Island.
"On numerous occasions, at the Airport and the Harbour, you are the first point of contact for visitors to our Island. I would like you to be able to present a positive and welcoming image of Jersey. Regrettably, complaints we receive from leading companies in some of our core financial services businesses indicate that a minority of drivers are doing the reverse," said Deputy de Faye.
"In the future, I want to see all taxi-cab drivers and operators have a pride in their work and a pride in our Island. The key words in the operation of a public service vehicle licence are public service. That means customer focused, not self-service".
Deputy de Faye concluded by informing the industry representatives that moves to tackle one of the main concerns, the abuse of licence plates, would be instigated immediately. All plate holders would be individually consulted by letter to determine their view on whether a "one driver, one plate" policy should be pursued, a measure that would eradicate some of the worst of the current abuses of the system.
The latest initiative for a comprehensive review of the local taxi-cab business follows a recent States decision to transfer control of Driver Vehicle Standards (DVS) from the Home Affairs Department to Transport and Technical Services. As a result, Deputy de Faye, the Minister for Transport and Technical Services assumed full legal authority for DVS on 1st May 2006. DVS has regulatory control of local taxis and cabs.
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