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Call for congestion/pollution charges to be applied to black cabs

“Even ambulances have to pay the pollution charge”

Stop Killing Cyclists (SKC) has launched a petition calling on the Mayor of London to (a) apply pollution and congestion charges to the users of black cabs and (b) end free access to bus lanes for black cabs when not carrying passengers.

The campaign group says that black cab exemptions from pollution and congestion charges are unfair.

Donnachadh McCarthy, co-founder of SKC said: “As even ambulances have to pay the pollution charge, the Mayor must end the unfair exemptions for black cabs, which emit up to 30 times the pollution of an equivalent private car.”

He added: “As Sadiq Khan is serious about tackling the pollution, climate and congestion crises, then he must face down the black cab bullies. If New York can impose congestion charges on cab-users, then London must do also.”

Black cabs account for 40 per cent of cars in the congestion zone, but SKC says they are “an inefficient use of road space.”

The petition states: “Empty London black cabs drive 230 million miles every year, looking for paying customers.

“Emergency vehicles and people trying to get to work, school and shops are blocked daily by black cab jams, yet the mayor allows cabbies to drive empty in bus lanes for free.

“The Mayor must impose congestion and pollution charges on London’s largest source of vehicular pollution and congestion.”

You can sign the petition here.

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18 comments

Avatar
MrGear | 5 years ago
2 likes

I can't see any drawbacks whatsoever to simply banning black cabs. The only people who use them are those too stupid to realise there is a tube and bus network.

Avatar
Spangly Shiny | 5 years ago
2 likes

Cabbies in London are increasingly going electric, check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LSYG9rJdVM

Listening to the radio recently one cabbie commented that he was seeing more business since going electric because the punters prefer EVs. So over time the diesel pollution problem will just go away. Patience people!

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Spangly Shiny | 5 years ago
2 likes

Spangly Shiny wrote:

Cabbies in London are increasingly going electric, check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LSYG9rJdVM

Listening to the radio recently one cabbie commented that he was seeing more business since going electric because the punters prefer EVs. So over time the diesel pollution problem will just go away. Patience people!

 

Well, good news in a way, but, God, it's taken them long enough!  Should have been mandated by law years ago.

 

I can see one, and only one, argument for black cabs.  Which is they probably feel safer to a  woman travelling on her own late at night.

 

Against that, the obnoxious selfishness of the LTDA has made me hostile to the whole lot of them.  They don't seem interested in the wellbeing of anyone but themselves and maybe a few high-earning media/political types they see as useful allies.  And they have a kind of class-privilege-by-proxy because their customers are disproportionately wealthy and influential.

 

Avatar
Awavey | 5 years ago
0 likes

look whilst criticism of black cab drivers attitudes towards lots of things and not just other road users, are totally valid and reasonable criticisms to lay on them, surely in the bigger picture of public transport provision for a city like London, black cabs are a vital part and some might even say necessary evil.

Because if you start to treat black cabs as no different to private vehicle in terms of cost encouragement terms, then chances are youll just increase the number of private vehicles on the road as you price the cabs off it, which will do nothing to aid pollution, or congestion or anything in London. There is a limit on the number of black cabs in London, theres no such limit for private cars.

So it would be far better IMO as means to cut pollution from cabs, I think the current rules say a cab can be upto 10 years old, to work towards maybe halving that age and say only 5 years maximum by 2025, maybe 7 years by 2022 etc, on the basis newer cars are more fuel efficient/less polluting etc and maybe incentivise encourage more hybrids or alternate fuel cabs, as I think in New York their limit is either 3 or 4 years, which is why you never see the classic old style cabs anymore.

Avatar
Jetmans Dad replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
4 likes

Awavey wrote:

look whilst criticism of black cab drivers attitudes towards lots of things and not just other road users, are totally valid and reasonable criticisms to lay on them, surely in the bigger picture of public transport provision for a city like London, black cabs are a vital part and some might even say necessary evil.

I can see the logic of that argument but, as raised by SKC, surely the major issue is how much of the time they are empty and driving around the city looking for their next passenger. That makes them no different to a passenger car really. 

To account for that why not charge half the congestion charge?

I would argue emergency vehicles are much more vital, but they still have to pay it. And if NY has already done this, maybe look at the evidence of the difference it made there. 

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
4 likes

Awavey wrote:

look whilst criticism of black cab drivers attitudes towards lots of things and not just other road users, are totally valid and reasonable criticisms to lay on them, surely in the bigger picture of public transport provision for a city like London, black cabs are a vital part and some might even say necessary evil.

Because if you start to treat black cabs as no different to private vehicle in terms of cost encouragement terms, then chances are youll just increase the number of private vehicles on the road as you price the cabs off it, which will do nothing to aid pollution, or congestion or anything in London. There is a limit on the number of black cabs in London, theres no such limit for private cars.

So it would be far better IMO as means to cut pollution from cabs, I think the current rules say a cab can be upto 10 years old, to work towards maybe halving that age and say only 5 years maximum by 2025, maybe 7 years by 2022 etc, on the basis newer cars are more fuel efficient/less polluting etc and maybe incentivise encourage more hybrids or alternate fuel cabs, as I think in New York their limit is either 3 or 4 years, which is why you never see the classic old style cabs anymore.

 

I'd question whether cabs are really 'public' transport as most of the public can't afford to use them.  And if pricing cabs off increases the number of private vehicles, perhaps the solution is to increase the charges on those private vehicles, and restrict where they can go, to deter them in turn?

 Cabs use a greatly disproportionate share of throughfare-space for the passenger trips they make.   I don't see how that is justifiable.

  Plus I don't see how black cabs are any great improvement on private vehicles.  They seem worse, in that they spend a lot of time cruising round with no passengers, and tend to be _more_ polluting on average, as they are all diesel.  They also seem to create one of the more obnoxiously anti-social special-interest lobby groups in the city.

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
5 likes

Bring on driverless cabs. The drivers are more problematic than the pollution.

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TedBarnes replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
3 likes

Rick_Rude wrote:

Bring on driverless cabs. The drivers are more problematic than the pollution.

Bring on driverless electric cabs, and you nail the pollution* too.

 

(*well, at least locally. Hopefully the power generation isn't belching black smoke somewhere...)

Avatar
Butty replied to TedBarnes | 5 years ago
6 likes

TedBarnes wrote:

Rick_Rude wrote:

Bring on driverless cabs. The drivers are more problematic than the pollution.

Bring on driverless electric cabs, and you nail the pollution* too.

 

(*well, at least locally. Hopefully the power generation isn't belching black smoke somewhere...)

//talkingpointz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/JohnnyCab.jpg)

With more sparkling wit and IQ than a London cabbie

Avatar
CarlosFerreiro | 5 years ago
12 likes

"you don't even pay any congestion charge"  3

Avatar
brooksby replied to CarlosFerreiro | 5 years ago
8 likes

CarlosFerreiro wrote:

"you don't even pay any congestion charge"  3

Allowing black cabs to get away with not paying congestion charge, seems like quite an impressive amount of government subsidy...

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Housecathst | 5 years ago
7 likes

At least it’ll give the cabbie something else to moan about on Twitter, and take a little brake from issue death threats to cyclists and casual racism.

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EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
2 likes

.

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EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
14 likes

Top trolling!!

They know it’ll never happen of course...but as black cabs protest about EVERYTHING that might affect them and block roads at the drop of a hat (while moaning about other protests) fuck ‘em.

It’s worth it just to wind them up. The hate they spiel on social media against cyclists is beyond belief.

Avatar
ooldbaker replied to EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
9 likes

StoopidUserName wrote:

Top trolling!! They know it’ll never happen of course...but as black cabs protest about EVERYTHING that might affect them and block roads at the drop of a hat (while moaning about other protests) fuck ‘em. It’s worth it just to wind them up. The hate they spiel on social media against cyclists is beyond belief.

Not just social media.

Any item on the radio concerning cycling on the radio gets them calling.

I listen to LBC and frequently think "that must be another one" the presenters have spotted this as well and they often ask if the caller is a black cab driver and it is amazing how often the answer is yes.

Avatar
jaspersdog | 5 years ago
6 likes

The arse holes will threaten to bring London to a standstill if this is mooted.

 

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nniff | 5 years ago
7 likes

The Licenced cab wotsits will do their nut - they'll see it as a free gift to the Toyota Pious-driving mini-cabs.  I'm not sure that 'driving' is the right word though.  More hand-wringing for TFL as they try and deal with the super-entitled cabbies.

Avatar
StraelGuy | 5 years ago
17 likes

More of this sort of thing!

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