Taxi drivers slammed by Bike Worcester and local councillor for 'over-ranking'
Taxi drivers in Worcester have been slammed for over-ranking, impeding cyclists, and causing other road users to navigate awkward, tight manoeuvres, by Bike Worcester and Councillor Louise Griffiths.
The bike group have shared images on social media of a number of hackney carriage taxis parked on double yellow lines along Foregate Street, waiting to join the official rank.
A spokesperson for Bike Worcester tweeted: "@LA_Griffths As Chair of Licensing at @myworcester, you need to take action into over ranking at Foregate Street.
"Can you see the bus sticking out? Drivers go into the bus lane to overtake into the path of people on bikes using the cycle lane."
Cllr Louise Griffiths replied by saying she would forward the picture and have it "actioned by officers".
When one member of the public claimed that Worcester had "too many taxis" compared to similar sized towns and cities, Cllr Griffiths said: "I completely agree, we have a hackney carriage cap (those are the only ones allowed in ranks) but we're currently above it as the idea was there would be "natural wastage".
"I'm currently chairing a taxi strategy group and we are doing an annual survey of taxis soon."
Bike Worcester went on to ask whether "bike taxis" could be encouraged, suggesting that taxi drivers could be incentivised to switch to a cargo bike.
Cllr Griffiths stressed that the idea would be highly unlikely, saying: "I don't think that's ever going to happen. It's not practical for a large number of taxi users and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a taxi driver that's willing to do it."
