Taxi trade cannot carry this burden

9:46am Wednesday 2nd May 2012 in Letters

IN HIS letter of April 27, Coun Dave Merrett tells us that the council is introducing progressive taxi-licensing measures because poor air quality is causing premature deaths.

If this statement is true, why do we have so many bottlenecks, pinch points and other barriers to easier road use that create such long tailbacks with resulting exhaust fumes? As has been stated in these columns many times, stationary traffic creates far more pollution than free-moving traffic.

I am not a taxi driver and rarely use taxis, but these latest proposals seem to impose far too heavy a burden on the taxi trade when other, more reasonable measures could be taken to alleviate air pollution.

Isn’t this ‘privatisation’ of the problem by stealth, shifting the cost of solving part of the problem from the public to the private sector?

Bob Redwood, Main Street, Askham Bryan, York.

Comments(16)

purpletimbo says...
12:05pm Wed 2 May 12

When asked why taxis not buses at the meeting, the response was "because we can"

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ColdAsChristmas says...
1:01pm Wed 2 May 12

Are these single minded people fit to govern our City?

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Mr Crabtree says...
2:39pm Wed 2 May 12

Bob is right, it is 'privatisation' by stealth.

This is exactly what Labour have done with social housing (the council call it affordable housing so the man in the street thinks it is something it's not). They put the responsibility for the problem on the private sector. It's not only punitive it is discriminatory.

Watch out for more of the same from left-winger Merrett. He has used this method/model on housebuilding and now applying it to taxi's. If housing is anything to go by, be prepared to be put out of business !

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Mr Crabtree says...
2:43pm Wed 2 May 12

Still not a murmur from Merrett, Alexander or Simpson-Laing on the CS/LDF fiasco. Cowards, all three of them !

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Jezreel says...
3:56pm Wed 2 May 12

Matthew, you'll have to stop smoking that stuff. One minute you're accusing Merrett of being a left-winger, and the next you accuse him of privatisation. Isn't privatisation what Thatcherites do?
And stop the ad hominem attacks (cowards etc). Not nice

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Mr Crabtree says...
4:14pm Wed 2 May 12

Jezreel wrote:
Matthew, you'll have to stop smoking that stuff. One minute you're accusing Merrett of being a left-winger, and the next you accuse him of privatisation. Isn't privatisation what Thatcherites do? And stop the ad hominem attacks (cowards etc). Not nice
Sorry, meant 'nationalisation'..

'Ad hominen' - I hate that word, as much as I hate cowardly councillors !

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Mr Crabtree says...
4:25pm Wed 2 May 12

Jezreel wrote:
Matthew, you'll have to stop smoking that stuff. One minute you're accusing Merrett of being a left-winger, and the next you accuse him of privatisation. Isn't privatisation what Thatcherites do? And stop the ad hominem attacks (cowards etc). Not nice
Actually, no, I did mean 'privatisation'. It is a public issue being made private, by passing the buck.

I'm not Matthew Laverack either !

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Jezreel says...
4:32pm Wed 2 May 12

What happened between your 4.14 posting and your 4.25 posting?
It's all these multiple identities. It's getting to the point where you cant tell a Thatcherite from a Bennite.
Keep taking the tabloids

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pedalling paul says...
4:44pm Wed 2 May 12

"As has been stated in these columns many times, stationary traffic creates far more pollution than free-moving traffic." Once again this tired old excuse for creating a traffic free for all, which will only serve to encourage more car use and precipitate gridlock sooner than already forecast.
Try looking at the same long term timescale as the Council's professional transport planners have to. Try reading LTP3 and understand its commitment to reduce car dependancy.
The same technology that can give buses artificial priority at traffic lights can be fitted to taxis. If this goes hand in glove with road space reallocation for buses, taxis and cyclists, we'll go a long way towards creating Copenhagen and Amsterdam in York.

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NoNewsIsGoodNews says...
5:33pm Wed 2 May 12

pedalling paul says...
4:44pm Wed 2 May 12.
"we'll go a long way towards creating Copenhagen and Amsterdam in York"
Oh great. Prostitutes and pot smokers, just what York needs.

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YorkToff says...
5:52pm Wed 2 May 12

Taxis should be nationalised, the drivers paid decent wages and given a good pension.

Pensioners should be given free taxi passes to ease road congestion and free taxis should be provided for risk group patients journeying to and from hospital.

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purpletimbo says...
6:31pm Wed 2 May 12

All the taxis in York paid £37 per vehicle for the technology that the buses use, the council decided that only the Stonebow bollard is included, they don't work at Poppleton or Mcarthur Glen or Victoria bar, another case of money for nothing, we have the equipment, but we are not classed as Public Transport, except when they want to set our fares, they don't set bus or train fares but they do set Hackneys.

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ColdAsChristmas says...
1:17am Thu 3 May 12

Paul, why should cyclists get priority with buses and taxis? Cyclists pay nothing towards the upkeep of the roads.

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CynicaloldGit says...
7:58am Thu 3 May 12

ColdAsChristmas wrote:
Paul, why should cyclists get priority with buses and taxis? Cyclists pay nothing towards the upkeep of the roads.
Well, they do actually, just as vehicle excise duty is not used for the upkeep of roads, (it goes into general taxation), cyclists, pay for the upkeep of roads via general taxation, income tax, VAT, and all the other taxes that are taken by governments, national and local.

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ColdAsChristmas says...
12:38pm Thu 3 May 12

Old git, in that case why bother paying VED and tax on insurance since we've paid for the roads through income tax and VAT. Not to mention the Billions paid in tax on petrol & diesel!

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Buzz Light-year says...
1:00pm Thu 3 May 12

Tax isn't a retail model for goods and services. It's tax.

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