So many taxi cabs for too few fares

Oct 15 2009 By Maureen Messent

I TOOK the ride through our city centre yesterday and, upon my soul, is there a European thoroughfare boasting more charm than Corporation Street, full of trees, bustling shops and an obviously contented populous?

One point struck me, though.

Everywhere I went, I saw long ranks of black cabs waiting for hire.

They hovered at Five Ways, sat in Broad Street, a massive stream of them collected near Suffolk Street, perhaps hoping to reach the station. Two small ranks in Corporation Street were full.

Something’s clearly gone wrong here.

My old mate from TOA – I admit a weakness for hired vehicles – are surely not earning decent livings.

How can they when there are too many in a limited space?

How these cab drivers’ hearts must sink as they contemplate another day hoping to reach the head of the queue to procure a fare, who might then want just a tiny journey.

Go to London and you’ll see cabs buzzing round like hornets, busy and profitable.

Here in Birmingham there are too many for too little work.

That climate prevails because, I suspect, the London cab licensing body hasn’t handed out plates willy-nilly to all-comers as has happened here.

I’d be hopping mad were my livelihood to depend on driving a black cab.