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Licensed minicab firms by next year by Patrick Hennessy, Political Correspondent All firms operating London minicabs will have to be licensed by next
autumn, ministers announced today. Minister for London Keith Hill said
the licensing process for companies would begin in January and had to
be completed by 22 October. However, there is still no firm timetable
for licensing each of London's 50,000 minicabs individually, which has
led to claims that women will not be safe from rogue drivers for another
three years. |
| Disney agrees to 'cab loyalty' plan with Taxi Media. Issue: August
10, 2000 Walt Disney is targeting taxi drivers by signing up to the Taxi Media Privilege Club, a loyalty scheme which aims to improve the effectiveness of taxi-based ad campaigns. Under the deal, Walt Disney Travel Company's new UK tour operation will offer exclusive holiday deals to Taxi Media's database of drivers. The initiative follows Disney's taxi-based campaign earlier this year, which involved a supersides and tip-up seats campaign on 17 cabs. It is designed to offer an additional incentive to drivers to talk up the attraction, as well as a measurable tool for the travel firm to build awareness. "The launch campaign was extremely successful, and this involvement with the Taxi Media Privilege Club is a natural extension of that tie-up," said Walt Disney Travel Company's marketing manager Alasdair Farrimond. The Privilege Club, which was launched last January, is designed to reward drivers for complying with advertisers' requirements, with a range of entertainment-based products and services. "Taxis are becoming an increasingly valuable marketing tool," said Taxi Media's marketing manager Adelle Springer. |
| NEW CYCLE RICKSHAW.(Brief
Article) Author/s: Mks Issue: Summer, 2000 NEW CYCLE RICKSHAW Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 1205, New York, NY 10001. 212/629-8001, mobility@igc.org, www.ITDP.org. In late 1999, one possible next-generation rickshaw was introduced in India by two non-profits: the New York-based Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, and the Delhi-based Asian Institute for Transport Development. They hope to have 500 on the streets of Agra and 200 in Delhi by fall, 2000. The new cycle rickshaws, made from ligher materials, weigh nearly 40 percent less than the traditional models. They utilize a new gearing system and rear differential axle (substantially reducing pedaling effort); ergonomically improved saddles and handle-bars; and more comfortable passenger seats. They are designed to cost about the same as the old models (US$100-$125), but to last up to five times longer. Because the new rickshaws are so much easier to operate, the developers believe that pullers may be able to work more hours with the same effort, increasing their incomes by up to 60 percent. The new rickshaws will be manufactured in India using local raw materials. The designers also hope that these ultra-modern vehicles will be more appealing to civic officials, who fear that traditional rickshaws present an image of India as backward, and to tourists who perceive rickshaw pulling as demeaning work. The project introduced the rickshaw in Agra, at the Taj Mahal, in part because of the area's acute need for alternative transportation. The Taj has suffered serious damage from air pollution caused by automobiles, buses, trucks, two-cycle-engine scooters, and mini-taxis. In 1994, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a ban on taxis and buses within a four-km radius. |
| This 'pied piper' of Chicago
builds following with cabbies.(Brief Article) Issue: May 29, 2000 CHICAGO
-- Barry Potekin, founder of Gold Coast Dogs, uses some
unconventional methods for building clientele for his chain of eateries,
which specializes in Chicago-style hot dogs. One of those gimmicks landed
Potekin in a new book, called "Off-The-Wall Marketing Ideas." In the book
authors Nancy Michaels and Debbi Karpowicz reported on the entrepreneur's
means of luring taxi drivers to his restaurants. The ploy involved getting in a taxicab and taking a seemingly aimless ride. The destination, however, was always one of the Gold Coast Dogs locations. When they arrived, Potekin would give the driver a $5 tip to be used for lunch in the restaurant. The result? "Taxis are parked three-deep outside the restaurants," the authors note. |
| Taxi Companies Seek Tougher Sanctions on Bandit Operators.(Brief Article) Author/s: Laura Dunphy Issue: Dec 6, 1999 In the wake of an unlicensed taxi crash in Compton that left six people dead, L.A. cab companies are looking to a new city commission for tougher regulations aimed at "bandit" cabs. Taxi companies long have attempted to stop unlicensed operators, but they say more government intervention is needed. "The industry has been complaining for a number of years about not having any real supervision for controlling the bandits," said Iram Rashada, director of operations at L.A. Checker Cab. "I have seen them picking up in front of the Department of Transportation, which licenses us... They're very bold." Tom Drischler, the city's taxicab administrator, estimates there could be more than 2,000 unlicensed cabs operating in L.A. "I see them going past my office," he says. A board of taxicab commissioners was appointed in March when the City Council determined that issues involving taxis were so complicated they required a separate panel within the Department of Transportation. Drischler was named administrator in June. Bandits are now subject to fines of just $250 or less per arrest. Drischler recommends increasing that amount but the commission has yet to consider the measure. Last week's crash occurred when an unlicensed cab driver with drunk driving convictions and a suspended driver's license tried to beat a train across Blue Line tracks and ended up killing all six people in the cab. After the crash, Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said the county should crack down on bandit cabs. "We're hoping to see something positive. We don't want to make any comments before we see what they do," Rashada said. To aid the commission, several taxi companies have offered to help fund additional investigators. Like most firms, Independent Taxi Co. has installed an expensive digital dispatch system in its 416 cabs that scrambles pick-up requests, preventing bandits with scanners from monitoring dispatches and beating the licensed cab to the pick-up site. But installation can cost as much as $1,000 per cab, compared with $100 for a radio. "It's extremely expensive and required new licensing through the Federal Communications Commission," said Fred Schell, business developer for Independent Taxi. "But it's saved us a lot of calls." Meanwhile, bandit operators continue to thrive. "Lots of passengers are not aware of the bandits and they walk out and flag one down," Rashada said. City codes require taxis to sport an official seal from the Department of Transportation on the driver's and front passenger's doors. But those seals are often forged. Legitimate operators often report seeing bandit cabs, but there are few consequences unless the illegal operator is caught transporting a passenger. "Unfortunately it's not illegal for you to dress your car up like a taxicab," Schell said. "It's only illegal when somebody gets into it." |
| No roads lead from docks to the Dome. Issue: Sept 30, 1999 As the ad strapline for the Millennium Dome says, last Wednesday was "one amazing day" for the Diary, which made a brave attempt to arrive at the Dome in time for a press conference announcing New Year ticket sales. According to a London Underground staffer, there were "problems on the Jubilee line" that morning, so to get to the Dome the Diary should take the Docklands Light Railway to East India station. It proved very bad advice.The station is in the middle of nowhere. A six-lane motorway runs past it. The Diary tramped through bogland towards an office development glimpsed on the horizon, to be told: "No, taxis do not pass through here."In desperation, the Diary entered an office block and explained the situation to a receptionist, who nodded knowingly and called a cab - as she probably does for Dome visitors on a regular basis.The journey time from Brixton, also in south London, to the Dome? One and three quarter hours - with muddy shoes. |
| Taxi-driving induces plasticity in adult brain structures.(News)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included) Author/s: Zoe Mullan Issue: March 18, 2000 London taxi drivers retain their vast knowledge of the spatial arrangement of the city via redistribution of hippocampal grey matter, according to Eleanor Maguire (University College London, UK) and co- workers. The researchers used voxel-based morphometry to find differences in the density of grey matter between the brains of 16 male taxi drivers and of 50 men who did not drive taxis. In the taxi drivers, the posterior hippocampi (which have been linked with navigation) were significantly larger than those of the controls; anterior hippocampi were smaller. The increase in posterior hippocampal volume correlated with time spent as a taxi driver (www.pnas.org /cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.070039597). "This finding indicates the possibility of local plasticity in the adult brain as a function of exposure to an environmental stimulus", say the researchers. "This has obvious implications for rehabilitation of those with brain injury or disease." |
| Cabbies offer tips on management. Author/s: Sal Marino Issue: May 3,
1999 Sal F. Marino is chairman emeritus of Penton Media Inc. and an IW contributing editor. His e-mail address is salmarino@industryweek.com. A comedian once joked that the only people who know how to solve management problems are too busy cutting hair or driving taxis to tell us. So I decided to test this theory. During my business trips to New York City, I made it a point to ask cab drivers how they would handle specific business problems. Here is a sampling of the street smarts I collected from a random selection of New York cabbies: * "You want my advice? Why me? You should ask one of those big-shot consultants. They get big bucks to answer stupid questions you already know the answers to but wish you didn't. So I'll make a deal with you. Tell me what to say and I'll say it. Then you can give me a big, fat tip for telling you what you wanted to hear, and we'll both be happy." * "Mister, I'm no genius. But I know this. The greatest quarterbacks complete only six out of every 10 passes. The best basketball players make only half of their shots. And major-league ballplayers get to first base only once in every four at bats. Making mistakes is part of every business. Even driving. this hack. So, you ask me? I got to be straight with you. Expect people to make mistakes. They happen." * "Let me tell you how driving a cab works. Day after day, the cab stays the. same but the people don't. At the end of the day, everything comes out the same, no matter whether I make it hard on myself or not." * "You have to look at it this way. You have this guy on one hand. And that guy on the other hand. You got a choice. You can wring your hands or wring their necks." * "You got to keep your eye on his mouth. The mouth is the most dangerous part of a person. A guy can do more damage with his mouth than Muhammad Ali with his fists. You gotta be a mouth watcher." * "The best bosses have to be smart. Like the center on a football team, they got to know what's going on behind their backs. Especially the hanky panky. Sometimes there's more panky than hanky." * "One thing I've learned from driving this cab in this nutty town: There's a lot of wacky people in New York. But they're the customers. No one but you can make yourself angry or upset." * "Try to see the funny side of things. Read cartoons. Go to funny movies. Read funny books. Surround yourself with funny guys and gals. And laugh at funny things, especially yourself." * "You know something, my fare's voice is what's important. The way they say things, that's more important than what they're saying. That's how I learn about people, when they're saying things and how they're saying them. I can guess how big my tip is going to be from how they say things." * "I'm a cabby who don't talk much. I listen. I learn a lot more when I listen. When I talk, I don't learn nothing--unless I ask a question." * "Millions of Americans aren't working ... but thank God, they've got jobs." * "Driving this hack has taught me that there ain't no proof a guy's tongue is attached to his brain." * "My dad told me this old proverb: Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or your boss from any side." * "Why am I driving a cab instead of holding down a decent job? Because I couldn't find a decent job that was decent. I never felt needed, appreciated, or respected. I wanted to feel like I was an important part of something. Instead I was a small part of a nothing." Since 1937 there have been only 11,700 taxi medallions allowed in New York City. Many are owned by taxi firms. The others are owned by individuals. The going price for a medallion is $180,000. So some New York cab drivers are entrepreneurs with the business savvy to give management advice. My biggest problem? I had to flag a lot of cabs to find drivers who were willing to answer my questions. As the old saw says: They're too busy! |
| Gov't bureaucrats in Tokyo to get bicycles. Issue: Feb 1, 1999 TOKYO,
Jan. 29 Kyodo Government bureaucrats working in central Tokyo will be encouraged to begin using bicycles for trips between offices as part of a plan to help stop global warming, the government announced Friday. A total of 120 bicycles will be made available for use by 12 ministries and agencies in the program, which begins Monday. The bicycles will be used for short trips such as going to other government offices and the Diet, officials said. Such trips are typically only about 1 kilometer one-way, but bureaucrats have nevertheless used automobiles or taxis until now to make them. With the switch to bicycles, government ministries and agencies are hoping to reduce carbon dioxide exhaust gas emissions, widely thought to contribute to global warming. Employees wishing to use the bicycles and electric motor-powered bicycles will be able to sign them in and out relatively easily. The latest bicycle plan follows the government's 1995 action plan approved by the cabinet to take the lead in formulating a global warming policy. From that decision, the government made 80 bicycles available to bureaucrats on an experimental basis for a six-month period from November 1997. The bicycles were used an average of 58 times per day, and positive reaction of the government employees led to the plan's scaled-up implementation, the officials said. |
| Cabs ban Atlantic 252 ad.(Radio Station ad campaign on taxis)(Brief
Article) Author/s: Tania Mason Issue: Oct 5, 2000 National dance radio station Atlantic 252's new £1m ad campaign has been banned from cabs in Glasgow because its tagline includes the word 'tits'. The campaign, created by Spirit Advertising, features naked male model torsos with plasters over their nipples and carries the strapline 'Dance your tits off'. The ads were to appear all over Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle and Birmingham on taxis, 535 buses, and 325 48-sheet posters. But Glasgow City Council put a spanner in the works even before the October 1 launch, by refusing to allow the image to be displayed on its city's cabs. This was followed by three complaints to the local newspaper within hours of the first outdoor posters going up. |
| BT.(Brief Article) Issue: March 9, 2000 BT has signed a sponsorship deal with Cabvision, the televisual entertainment and information service for taxi passengers, to promote its `You Can' campaign, which is aimed at a senior business audience. BT will sponsor Cabvision's Business Channel, which will run in 100 taxis equipped with screens broadcasting the service. Passengers will also get up-to-the-minute news via BT pager technology |
| Alternative Fuel Systems Inc.(Brief Article)
Issue: March 1, 1999 Alternative Fuel Systems Inc., Calgary, signed an agreement with Beijing to study the feasibility of using natural gas vehicles in the city, where smog is a serious environmental problem. Beijing plans to convert its large public transit fleet and 60,000 taxis to alternate fuels over several years. The project would include establishing natural gas service stations in Beijing. Hydro Quebec, Montreal, and Kraus Group Inc., Calgary, would also be involved in the project. |
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Autorickshaws head for shredder. Issue: Nov 6, 1998 PITTSBURGH -
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| 1995 -- In February, a spokesman for the taxi drivers in Prague, Czech Republic, admitted that some of the drivers had installed electrical wires in the back seat, activated by a button in the dashboard, to permit drivers to administer shocks to passengers who refused to pay the cab drivers' notoriously high fares. |
| 1992 -- THE DIMINISHING VALUE OF LIFE As a result of a year-long dispute among taxi companies trying to increase their market shares, more than 300 people have been killed in Lebowa, a group of rural areas in northeast South Africa. |