Q&A WITH JAMES PARKINSON: Ins and outs to the National Taxi and Private Hire Driver Survey
TaxiPlus, in collaboration with TaxiPoint, has launched a groundbreaking first of its kind National Taxi and Private Hire Survey to help understand the state of the trade.
The initiative seeks to gather valuable insight from drivers across the UK that can be used on an annual basis to better understand and benchmark key industry topics.
We caught up with James Parkinson from TaxiPlus to understand their involvement in the survey.
What prompted TaxiPlus to deliver a driver survey?
“Well, taxi and private hire drivers are a huge reason we’re in business. When our parent company, Personnel Checks, became a DBS Umbrella Body, their first big contract was working with a local licensing authority. When we visited the council we noticed their drivers had to queue up in a room waiting to process their DBS applications in person and on paper.
“We worked with them to create a better process for the drivers and the council. That was just shy of 20 years ago and now we process tens of thousands of DBS applications for drivers each year.
“Engaging with so many drivers made us think that we are placed perfectly to try and run the largest-ever independent industry survey.
“Something that could be both interesting and entertaining but also provide some serious insight into the state of the industry right now.
“Most of the statistics and reports about the industry either come from government or are too small to offer a representative look at what’s going on. We hope that by running a neutral large-scale survey, industry stakeholders can get a clear look at how drivers are feeling about themselves and the industry.
“We’ve seen on a few forums and groups that there’s some suspicion about our motives for running the survey. What can I say, we get it.
“In this day and age, you can never be too careful about who you share your information with.
“But data protection is a big part of what we do. We process the personal information of hundreds of thousands of people annually and we’re ISO27001 accredited.
“Trust is far more valuable to our business than selling your data ever could be.”
What topics are covered?
“The survey is split into 9 sections:
• About You
• Health and Wellbeing
• Safeguarding
• Vehicles
• The Industry Near You
• EVs and Green Initiatives
• On The Road
• Technology
• Hot Topics
“We’ve tried to balance topics so that we can get some real insight into the issues that are bothering drivers but also get some more light-hearted information, like the most popular vehicle models or the strangest things you’ve ever had left behind in your cab.
“In total, it takes around 10-15 minutes to complete.”
How can drivers and organisations get involved?
“All responses are provided anonymously, and the only identifying information we collect is your email address. This is only used so we can send you a copy of the report once it's published and to select a winner for our prize draw, which is a £500 Amazon voucher.
“You can complete the survey without providing an email address but you won’t be eligible for the prize draw.”
How will the results of the survey be published?
“The results of the survey will be published around mid-November. As it stands, we’re planning on producing a single digital report that collates all the data together.
“This will be sent to all survey respondents via email for them to download. For everyone else, there will be dedicated download links on both the TaxiPlus and TaxiPoint websites.
“But, with the number and variety of responses we’ve had, we’re considering expanding some of the research and producing some smaller reports to go alongside the main one. We’ll have to wait until the survey closes and we analyse the data before we make any decisions like that though.
“If things go well, we’re hoping to run the National Taxi and Private Hire Survey annually.”
How much of an impact can this survey have on the taxi and private hire industry?
“We think it could have a huge impact. By gathering data directly from drivers, we’re hoping to paint a detailed picture of the industry. This information can then be used as a resource for policymakers, licensing authorities, unions and other industry stakeholders.
“For example, the feedback on health and wellbeing could highlight areas where drivers need more support. This data could potentially lead to better working conditions and initiatives aimed at improving driver welfare.
“I think it's fair to say, the impact is entirely dependent on the volume of responses. We’re hoping to get at least 3500, which would be about 1% of all the licenced taxi and private hire drivers in the UK.
“We’re just over 2 weeks into the 10-week survey and we’ve got around 1000 responses. Fingers crossed, this means we’ll hit the 3500 mark relatively easily. When it comes to surveys though, more is always better! The more responses we receive the more weight the report will have when it’s published.”
