8d. or 10d. ?—The Initial
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Charge for London Taxicabs.
We have been asked to support the proposed change, from Fsl. to 10(1., in the initial minimum fare payable by the hirer of a London-owned motorcab. Some eight months ago (issue of the 19th May), at a time when both proprietors and drivers appeared to favour an increase to 1s.„ we examined that proposition at some length. with the remilt. that we felt obliged to pronounce against it. The weaknesses and likely difficulties were numerous. The • ` round shilling " would for no longer have covered both the short-distance trip and the driver's customary gratuity in excess of the amount registered; the drivers would have got one-fourth of Is. (3d.), in place of one-fourth of 8d. or of 10(1, plus the whole of the extra coppers—say, after the deduction of id. for the petrol consumed, only 2(1. instead of (2d share of fare and 4d. gratuity, leas ,(1.1 or 4d. (2.(1. share of fare and 2d. gratuity, less !,d.); the owners would have experienced a serious falling-off in the frequency and incidence of short journeys. This ls, scheme, after fair consideration had been given to it, was, as it deserved to be, promptly dropped. Is the 10d. scheme a better one, and that, too, in conjunction with the abandonment of all " extras "-2d. each for all packages not carried inside the cab. and 6d. each for passengers above two, or for a bicycle, for any distance?
The contemplated alteration, applications in regard to which are at the moment occupying the attention of the Home Secretary and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, must, be considered from the standpoint of pnblic convenience first of ail, of general expediency in the second place, and then, with due regard to joint effects. from the points of view of both the cab companies and their drivers. We hold that the public is likely to be gravely incommoded in the near future, if to-day's unsatisfactory position cannot be remedied. The Public Carriage Department of Scotland Yard will adopt one of three courses, and will need to make its choice without delay : (I) it will aid owners to secure the enforcement of existing regulations as to " extras " ; (2) it will continue the farce of police indifference to the circumstances under which nearly all drivers appropriate the " extras," and thus will hasten, as an inevitable consequence, the early withdrawal of cabs from service on a scale which will annoy and inconvenience the cab-using public beyond means of ready adjustment ; (3) it will sanction an increase of the initial charge by 2(1. We consider that the first course demands trial, for we are not yet by any means convinced that a basic alteration is necessary in fact, we sincerely hope that Scotland Yard will, before it concludes that the ease for a fundamental change is substantiated. follow the wellestablished precedent of taking all possible care to apply the current schedule. That has most certainly not been done to date. Simple and inexpensive steps remain tinexhausted—even untried. We have two in mind, more particularly : one is the fixing of a small plate inside each cab so worded as to impress upon the hirer the fact that no payment for " extras " is to be made unless the amount. demanded be recorded on the dial of the taximeter in the space provided; the other is the issuing and like display of a concisely-worded regulation to snake it clear that any driver who receives payment for " extras " without registering all or any part of them on the taximeter has committed an offence for which he may there and then be given into custody. We are aware that one of the older companies, in its earlier and palmier days, when the revenue per cab per day allowed a latitude of control which almost spells insolvency to-day, did essay the noticeto-the-hirer plan, and that, when the men threateningly objected, this most-reasonable action was cancelled. Why not try it again? it makes for honest dealing, and it should he positively encouraged by the police. Further, might not a model notice be drawn up by Scotland Yard, or approved by that branch of the public service, in eonjunction with an extract from the above-suggested, new, specific penalty for non-registration by the driver? It is only because so many hirers are ignorant of the law, that thieving methods of conduct are practised with impunity, and indirectly encouraged, every minute of the day in the Metropolis. We decline to accept the statements which have been made to us by some London proprietors, to the effect that the police do not care, and are "too jolly lazy " to put things right.
There is more than enough public dissatisfaction with regard to the plying for hire of London motorcabs already. So far, probably, no blame attaches to the police. Rather, we maintain, have the police tackled successive difficulties and problems with really-amazing degrees of adaptiveness. Can they not help to settle this " extras " question, and thereby merit still-more credit and public• thanks all round? The elimination of uncertainty, equally with respect to the cabby's rights and the hirer's remedies, is a just and fair expectation for the public to have as to the duty of the police, and we make that assertion on behalf of thousands who suffer without knowing how to put a finger on the real cause. An infinity of new work and disturbing changes, in taximeter " anatomy " and in the partially-established acceptance of a scale to which we hope the police will hold, can well be avoided, if " extras " are enforced,
We prefer to adhere to the view that virtual perfection of working with the existing scale can be attained, until we are satisfied that Scotland Yard does not intend to assist hirers to avoid the few remaining opportunities for argument and unpleasantness which the misunderstood question of " extras " alone renders chronic. Incidentally, we do not yet see that any ease has been made out, either for the abandonment of " extras " or for the reduction of the time charge to 4d. a minute. The former suggestion has been tentatively advanced by the owners, the latter by a section of the drivers. Our view is that there must be no light-hearted disturbance of the scale now in force.