Share

Council to investigate independent survey’s recommendations for taxi fleet

Aberdeen City Council will carry out a wide-ranging review of the city’s taxi service following the results of an independently-conducted Taxi Demand Survey.

The Licensing Committee backed the review today (Wednesday) after hearing from James Cooper from Napier University, who led a survey ordered by the committee and carried out by the university’s Transport Research Group (TRI).

The TRI Taxi Studies Group, which was ordered to comply with legislation relating to taxi Licence restrictions set out in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (CGSA), was carried out throughout October and focused on demand patterns over time, demand for taxi services and a review of the physical conditions in which services are supplied in the city.

Mr Cooper explained the survey’s findings to the committee and made a number of recommendations, including imposing a limit on the number of taxi licences, introducing a new rank at Union Square, improving traffic flow for taxis at the train station with sensor activated traffic lights and putting in place a formal review of the taxi service every three years or more often.

He also praised the night time “super ranks” on Union Street for their clear signage, street markings and marshals.

Committee convener Councillor Kirsty West said: “The findings of the survey are very interesting and throw up a number of possible ideas and options for managing taxi provision in the future.

“This is a substantial document with a huge amount of information and to do it justice its findings must be digested and explored by officers. A report will be brought back to the committee to explain and consider the cost, possibility and practicality of implementing any of the TRI survey’s recommendations.”

Councillor West asked officers to include the policy and provision for wheelchair accessible taxis in the city and the continued monitoring of the city’s night time ranks in their report.

Mr Cooper told the committee the TRI survey sought the views of 448 people on the city’s streets as well as leading focus groups amongst key stakeholders. These included representatives for disabled, commercial and retail groups. A further review of hoteliers and service industries was competed via an online survey.

Other methods employed as part of the survey was the analysis of 768 hours of video observation at all official ranks and questionnaires completed by Licence holders.

Officers will report back to the Licensing Committee at a later date.

99 views