The Edinburgh Taxi
Until recently Edinburgh City Council
had licensed a total fleet of 1030 hansom cabs, also known as black
cabs (blacks) or "London" taxis. These are the only type of taxi
which can be licensed to pick passengers in the streets of Edinburgh.
Incidentally, don't let the term "black cabs" fool you into thinking
that Henry Ford's ideas of vehicle colouring still rules in
Edinburgh- since the City Council found out that there was money to
be made out of it , taxi's have turned into mobile billboards,
advertising everything from banks and building societies to diet coke
and bingo, although the majority are still black.
The City Council have now decided in their infinite wisdom (?), that there are not enough Cabs available to fill the demand and that they will put on another 8 licenses a month until "demand is met". This decision is apparently due to a report from the "Taxi Monitor", an employee of theirs who managed to produce his report on taxi status in Edinburgh without listening to the people who drive the vehicles in question! This person has now resigned his post and no replacement has so far been appointed, which begs the question of how the Council is supposed to know when "demand is met". Of course, only the most nasty and suspicious people would dare to suggest that these new licenses being issued would have anything to do with the fact that the Council charge £1000 each for the privilege.
For those of you who don't know about anything
about these vehicles the pictures above are of the two models of Taxi produced by London Taxi
International. The Cab on the left is a Fairway which has now just ceased production but is still the commonest model of Taxi in Edinburgh. The right hand model is the TX1, which has recently been brought out to supercede the Fairway and is already becoming familiar on our streets. These are purpose built taxicabs and as such have been passed by the Public Carriage Office in London as complying with all the regulations laid out in various acts of Parliament. The other model which is licensed for use is the Metrocab,pictured below, which is squarer in shape and has a fibreglass body as opposed to the pressed steel of the LTI models. But don't worry, you won't mistake any of them for anything but a taxi.
In Edinburgh these Cabs are licensed to carry five passengers, and as any breach of this rule could result in loss of Operators license and prosecution for driving without proper insurance cover, please don't ask a driver to take more than five people, as a flat refusal often offends! If you would like to know some more about driving a taxi in Edinburgh, check out this link.
The photo at the top of this page was "borrowed" from the website of London Taxis International.