Disabled people in taxis

[BrilloPad]

BBC News - Boro Taxis 'will not take disabled people' in fares row

Mr Bashir[of Boro Taxis] told BBC Tees the decision was "morally totally wrong" but added it was "uneconomic" to continue carrying disabled passengers in minibuses.

That guy should be a politician.

But I reckon he has a point. Disabled people do get money for extra travelling expenses. Why can't they use that?

[vetran]

unfortunate but he has a point, he is charging for a minibus. If they could fit in a taxi he would charge a taxi.

The council are trying to stretch the discrimination laws instead of negotiating.

[BrilloPad]

unfortunate but he has a point, he is charging for a minibus. If they could fit in a taxi he would charge a taxi.

The council are trying to stretch the discrimination laws instead of negotiating.

Yep. The council should be more like cuk. Its all negotiation, understanding and love round here.

[xoggoth]

Agree with V. Most would agree it's correct to cater for disabilities within reason but costs should be born by all on an equitable basis via the tax system, not fall on individuals or companies.

[Bellona]

BBC News - Boro Taxis 'will not take disabled people' in fares row

But I reckon he has a point. Disabled people do get money for extra travelling expenses. Why can't they use that?

Please tell me where to get this money for travelling expenses ? My mum is in a wheelchair and every weekend I take her out and about in a taxi ( luckily my mate in London drives a hackney so we get mates rates). I pay for this. Her "mobility allowance" is for assistance and supervision for travel, not "expenses".

You can apply for " dial-a-ride" services, which are the authority funded mini buses. We have attempted to use this service 12 times in the last year and they either haven't been able to fit us in to go where we wanted, or could not guarantee the pick up / drop off times: as we have carers at certain times of the day this is a must for us.

These types of services, like much in life these days, is dependant on postcode and the performance of the local authority - a lottery.

getting about in a wheelchair on public transport is almost impossible in there few stations with step free access, and though buses can now lower and ramp you on, they are mostly too packed to get on and off, especially with shopping etc without everyone kicking off.

Sorry, i'm ranting, but it just isn't as easy as you might think for people that are truly "disabled" as opposed to "mobility impaired" - a distinction I only truly appreciated once Mum had the stroke which left her disabled.

The guy that runs the firm can say he doesn't have the facility for wheelchairs if he doesn't want to send a minibus - or put a hackney / disabled access car on his fleet, or say he is not geared up to take "taxi cards". He is choosing to use the minibus for wheelchairs and should not be able to charge a disabled person double for the priviledge!

Rant over

[eek]

Please tell me where to get this money for travelling expenses ? My mum is in a wheelchair and every weekend I take her out and about in a taxi ( luckily my mate in London drives a hackney so we get mates rates). I pay for this. Her "mobility allowance" is for assistance and supervision for travel, not "expenses".

You can apply for " dial-a-ride" services, which are the authority funded mini buses. We have attempted to use this service 12 times in the last year and they either haven't been able to fit us in to go where we wanted, or could not guarantee the pick up / drop off times: as we have carers at certain times of the day this is a must for us.

These types of services, like much in life these days, is dependant on postcode and the performance of the local authority - a lottery.

getting about in a wheelchair on public transport is almost impossible in there few stations with step free access, and though buses can now lower and ramp you on, they are mostly too packed to get on and off, especially with shopping etc without everyone kicking off.

Sorry, i'm ranting, but it just isn't as easy as you might think for people that are truly "disabled" as opposed to "mobility impaired" - a distinction I only truly appreciated once Mum had the stroke which left her disabled.

The guy that runs the firm can say he doesn't have the facility for wheelchairs if he doesn't want to send a minibus - or put a hackney / disabled access car on his fleet, or say he is not geared up to take "taxi cards". He is choosing to use the minibus for wheelchairs and should not be able to charge a disabled person double for the priviledge!

Rant over

Actually I can see his point of view. If I can send a car which does 40mpg I can charge less than for a van that does 20mpg.

So the council tells him to charge the same for everyone to meet the equal opportunities act. But if he raises his prices the companies not providing suitable cars for disabled passengers can undercut him and he doesn't get the sales. If he keeps his prices the same, he loses money.

Its a no win situation for the owner so I can see why he just decides not to cater for disabled passengers.

[vetran]

The council was subsidising it, they are removing the subsidy and make the Taxi firms subsidise it by strong arming them. Now if they had negotiated with them to take on some disabled taxis etc by say offering them some regular council funded runs then I'm sure the taxi firms would be interested.

Fully appreciate that its very hard from the users point of view but if you take the emotion out its a business thing.

Aren't the dial a ride services run by volunteers maybe that is something people could do to help?

[SueEllen]

The council was subsidising it, they are removing the subsidy and make the Taxi firms subsidise it by strong arming them. Now if they had negotiated with them to take on some disabled taxis etc by say offering them some regular council funded runs then I'm sure the taxi firms would be interested.

Fully appreciate that its very hard from the users point of view but if you take the emotion out its a business thing.

Aren't the dial a ride services run by volunteers maybe that is something people could do to help?

It's not that black and white - while the buses may be driven by volunteers the up keep of the buses and training of the volunteers is paid by the local council .

The government has cut councils funding so they have to cut services like these as they aren't considered essential.

The disabled people I know use the same taxi firms. However being in London makes it easier as there are more firms around. So if the firm wants to keep their regular disabled customers they make sure they have appropriate vehicles for them. These are the same vehicles which are also used for airport runs.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Actually I can see his point of view. If I can send a car which does 40mpg I can charge less than for a van that does 20mpg.

So the council tells him to charge the same for everyone to meet the equal opportunities act. But if he raises his prices the companies not providing suitable cars for disabled passengers can undercut him and he doesn't get the sales. If he keeps his prices the same, he loses money.

Its a no win situation for the owner so I can see why he just decides not to cater for disabled passengers.

Taxi fares are set (round here at least) by the local councils (hence a taxi in one place being a very different price than others). So its possible that the council in this case is setting the fare, AND attempting to force the operator to charge a car fare for a minibus fare for disabled people.

As someone above mentioned - they're the same vehicles they use for airport runs. So with that being the case the taxi operator would clearly prefer to keep the minibuses available for the lucrative airport runs.

If the state wants to interfere with disabled taxi fares then taxis for disable people should be a public transport issue. They have no place sticking their nose into voluntary exchanges between private businesses and private individuals.

[eek]

Taxi fares are set (round here at least) by the local councils (hence a taxi in one place being a very different price than others). So its possible that the council in this case is setting the fare, AND attempting to force the operator to charge a car fare for a minibus fare for disabled people.

.

Round here you don't pay the meter price for a journey. 1 company takes phone bookings and switches the meter on the rest for phone bookings charge a flat fare for journeys around town of 1/2 to 1/3 of the meter fare.

The north is a different world to London. It's a shame those in London especially politicians don't understand that

Finally very few companies offer airport runs round this neck of the woods. The fare is between £60-150 each way depending on the airport you need so most people drive and park nearby.