Hull City Council Hackney carriage unmet demand survey August 2018
Hackney carriage unmet demand survey i
Executive Summary This Hackney carriage unmet demand survey has been undertaken on behalf of Hull City Council following the guidance of the April 2010 DfT Best Practice Guidance document, and all relevant case history in regard to unmet demand. This Executive Summary draws together key points from the main report that are needed to allow a committee to determine from the facts presented their current position in regard to the policy of limiting hackney carriage vehicle licences according to Section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act. It is a summary of the main report which follows and should not be relied upon solely to justify any decisions of a committee, but must be read in conjunction with the full report below.
A wide range of information was gathered during the period between March and August 2018 and drawn together to identify any latent or patent unmet demand across the City, and to conclude if this observed unmet demand was significant or not.
There has been significant change in the licensed vehicle situation in Hull since 2015. Ranks have been altered, removed and added, with changes in club provision having associated rank changes. Highway revisions have affected the key central ranks, with one removed, another moved, and the third having its access amended significantly. Since the last survey, the City of Culture celebrations have concluded, a time when the licensed vehicle service provided excellent service to locals and visitors alike. Refreshed representation of the hackney carriage trade has led to a review of operating practices with a refocus on serving ranks, and particularly on servicing them late at night.
Despite the area having a peaky demand profile focussed on the early hours of Sunday morning, generally performance indicators of the operation suggest people get a good service overall which is improved from that observed in 2015, although this is partly helped by slightly reduced demand since that time.
The overall conclusion is that there is unmet demand, but that it is far from being significant, either from use of the industry standard ISUD index or from first principles. Therefore the limit on vehicle numbers can be kept, and retained at the level of active plates at the time of the survey observations.
The only issues needing attention are better advertising and explanation of where ranks are to the public, and some consideration of how private hire companies can link those phoning for WAV style vehicles with the provision of these which is entirely within the hackney carriage element of the trade.
Hackney carriage unmet demand survey ii
Hackney carriage unmet demand survey iii
Contents Executive Summary ...... i
Contents ...... iii
1 General introduction and background ...... 1
2 Local background and context ...... 7
3 Patent demand measurement (rank surveys) 13
4 General public views ...... 23
5 Key stakeholder consultation ...... 29
6 Trade stakeholder views ...... 33
7 Evaluation of unmet demand and its significance 37
8 Summary, synthesis and study conclusions 43
9 Recommendations ...... 49
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Hackney carriage unmet demand survey 1
1 General introduction and background Hull City Council is responsible for the licensing of hackney carriage and private hire vehicles operating within the Council area and is the licensing authority for this complete area. Further details of the local application of Section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act with regard to limiting hackney carriage vehicle numbers is provided in further Chapters of this report. Hackney carriage vehicle licences are the only part of licensing where such a stipulation occurs and there is no legal means by which either private hire vehicle numbers, private hire or hackney carriage driver numbers, or the number of private hire operators can be limited.
This review of current policy is based on the Best Practice Guidance produced by the Department for Transport in April 2010 (BPG). It seeks to provide information to the licensing authority to meet section 16 of the Transport Act 1985 “that the grant of a hackney carriage vehicle licence may be refused if, but only if, the licensing authority is satisfied that there is no significant demand for the services of hackney carriages within its local area, which is unmet.” This terminology is typically shortened to “no SUD”.
Current hackney carriage, private hire and operator licensing is undertaken within the legal frameworks first set by the Town Polices Clause Act 1847 (TPCA), amended and supplemented by various following legislation including the Transport Act 1985, Section 16 in regard to hackney carriage vehicle limits, and by the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 with reference to private hire vehicles and operations. This latter Act saw application of regulation to the then growing private hire sector which had not been previously part of the TPCA. Many of the aspects of these laws have been tested and refined by other more recent legislation and more importantly through case law.
Beyond legislation, the experience of the person in the street tends to see both hackney carriage and private hire vehicles both as ‘taxis’ – a term we will try for the sake of clarity to use only in its generic sense within the report. We will use the term ‘licensed vehicle’ to refer to both hackney carriage and private hire.
The legislation around licensed vehicles and their drivers has been the subject of many attempts at review. The limiting of hackney carriage vehicle numbers has been a particular concern as it is often considered to be a restrictive practice and against natural economic trends. The current BPG in fact says “most local licensing authorities do not impose quantity restrictions, the Department regards that as best practice”. The three most recent reviews were by the Office of Fair Trading in 2003, through the production of the BPG in 2010, and the Law Commission review which published its results in 2014.
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None of these resulted in any material change to the legislation involved in licensing.
At the time of writing this report an All Party Parliamentary Group is considering taxi policy matters and has produced interim results (July 2017), but the main results are still some way in the future. Other groups have provided comment but the upshot remains no change in legislation from that already stated above.
With respect to the principal subject of this survey, local authorities retain the right to restrict the number of hackney carriage vehicle licenses. The Law Commission conclusion included retention of the power to limit hackney carriage vehicle numbers but utilizing a public interest test determined by the Secretary of State. It also suggested the three- year horizon also be used for rank reviews and accessibility reviews. However, there is currently no expected date either for publication of the Government response to the Law Commission, nor indeed any plans for revisions to legislation.
A more recent restriction, often applied to areas where there is no ‘quantity’ control felt to exist per-se, is that of ‘quality control’. This is often a pseudonym for a restriction that any new hackney carriage vehicle licence must be for a wheel chair accessible vehicle, of various kinds as determined locally. In many places this implies a restricted number of saloon style hackney carriage licences are available, which often are given ‘grandfather’ rights to remain as saloon style.
Within this quality restriction, there are various levels of strength of the types of vehicles allowed. The tightest restriction, now only retained by a few authorities only allows ‘London’ style wheel chair accessible vehicles, restricted to those with a 25-foot turning circle, and at the present time principally the LTI Tx, the Mercedes Vito special edition with steerable rear axle, and the Metrocab (no longer produced). Others allow a wider range of van style conversions in their wheel chair accessible fleet, whilst some go as far as also allowing rear-loading conversions. Given the additional price of these vehicles, this often implies a restriction on entry to the hackney carriage trade.
Some authorities do not allow vehicles which appear to be hackney carriage, i.e. mainly the London style vehicles, to be within the private hire fleet, whilst others do allow wheel chair vehicles. The most usual method of distinguishing between hackney carriages and private hire is a ‘Taxi’ roof sign on the vehicle, although again some areas do allow roof signs on private hire as long as they do not say ‘Taxi’, some turn those signs at right angles, whilst others apply liveries, mainly to hackney carriage fleets, but sometimes also to private hire fleets.
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After introduction of the 1985 Transport Act, Leeds University Institute for Transport Studies developed a tool by which unmet demand could be evaluated and a determination made if this was significant or not. The tool was taken forward and developed as more studies were undertaken. Over time this ‘index of significance of unmet demand’ (ISUD) became accepted as an industry standard tool to be used for this purpose. Some revisions have been made following the few but specific court cases where various parties have challenged the policy of retaining a limit.
Some of the application has differed between Scottish and English authority’s. This is mainly due to some court cases in Scotland taking interpretation of the duty of the licensing authority further than is usual in England and Wales, requiring current knowledge of the status of unmet demand at all times, rather than just at the snap-shot taken every three years. However, the three year survey horizon has become generally accepted given the advice of the BPG and most locations that review regularly do within that timescale.
The DfT asked in writing in 2004 for all licensing authorities with quantity restrictions to review them, publish their justification by March 2005, and then review at least every three years since then. In due course, this led to a summary of the government guidance which was last updated in England and Wales in 2010 (but more recently in Scotland).
The BPG in 2010 also provided additional suggestions of how these surveys should be undertaken, albeit in general but fairly extensive terms. A key encouragement within the BPG is that “an interval of three years is commonly regarded as the maximum reasonable period between surveys”. BPG suggests key points in consideration are passenger waiting times at ranks, for street hailings and telephone bookings, latent and peaked demand, wide consultation and publication of “all the evidence gathered”.
The most recent changes in legislation regarding licensed vehicles have been enactment of the parts of the Equality Act related to guidance dogs (sections 168 to 171, enacted in October 2010), the two clauses of the Deregulation Act which were successful in proceeding, relating to length of period each license covers and to allowing operators to transfer work across borders (enacted in October 2015), and most recently enactment of Sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act, albeit on a permissive basis (see below).
In November 2016, the DfT undertook a consultation regarding enacting Sections 167 and 165 of the Equality Act. These allow for all vehicles capable of carrying a wheel chair to be placed on a list by the local council (section 167). Any driver using a vehicle on this list then has a duty under section 165 to:
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- Carry the passenger while in the wheel chair - Not make any additional charge for doing so - If the passenger chooses to sit in a passenger seat to carry the wheel chair - To take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the passenger is carried in safety and reasonable comfort - To give the passenger such mobility assistance as is reasonably required
This was enacted from April 2017. There remains no confirmation of any timetable for instigating either the remainder of the Equality Act or the Law Commission recommendations, or for the update of the BPG.
In respect to case law impinging on unmet demand, the two most recent cases were in 1987 and 2002. The first case (R v Great Yarmouth) concluded authorities must consider the view of significant unmet demand as a whole, not condescending to detailed consideration of the position in every limited area, i.e. to consider significance of unmet demand over the area as a whole.
R v Castle Point considered the issue of latent, or preferably termed, suppressed demand consideration. This clarified that this element relates only to the element which is measurable. Measurable suppressed demand includes inappropriately met demand (taken by private hire vehicles in situations legally hackney carriage opportunities) or those forced to use less satisfactory methods to get home (principally walking, i.e. those observed to walk away from rank locations).
In general, industry standards suggest (but specifically do not mandate in any way) that the determination of conclusions about significance of unmet demand should take into account the practicability of improving the standard of service through the increase of supply of vehicles. It is also felt important to have consistent treatment of authorities as well as for the same authority over time, although apart from the general guidance of the BPG there is no clear stipulations as to what this means in reality, and certainly no mandatory nor significant court guidance in this regard.
At the present time, there is an active All Party Parliamentary Group considering issues regarding hackney carriage and private hire licensing that are considered to be current and critical. Their discussions are ongoing. As is usual in a diverse industry, other formal and informal groups continue to suggest potential changes to licensing that might be applied – but none of these, however strongly presented, have any legal weight and must be taken fully in context. This includes various changes arising from need to consider pollution and air quality issues although some elements of this will legally apply, but at a much higher level than specific licensing legislation, which may imply clashes with established legislation and more so present practice.
Hackney carriage unmet demand survey 5
In conclusion, the present legislation in England and Wales sees public fare- paying passenger carrying vehicles firstly split by passenger capacity. All vehicles able to carry nine or more passengers are dealt with under national public service vehicle licensing. Local licensing authorities only have jurisdiction over vehicles carrying eight or less passengers. Further, the jurisdiction focusses on the vehicles, drivers and operators but rarely extends to the physical infrastructure these use (principally ranks).
The vehicles are split between hackney carriages which are alone able to wait at ranks or pick up people in the streets without a booking, and private hire who can only be used with a booking made through an operator. If any passenger uses a private hire vehicle without such a properly made booking, they are not generally considered to be insured for their journey.
Drivers can either be split between ability to drive either hackney carriage or private hire, or be ‘dual’, allowed to drive either kind of vehicle. Whilst a private hire driver can only take bookings via an operator, with the ‘triple-lock’ applying that the vehicle, driver and operator must all be with the same authority, a hackney carriage driver can accept bookings on-street or by phone without the same stipulation required for private hire.
Recent legislation needing clarification has some operators believing they can use vehicles from any authority as long as they are legally licensed as private hire. At first, under the ‘Stockton’ case, this was hackney carriages operating as private hire in other areas (cross-border hiring). More recently, under the Deregulation Act, private hire companies are able to subcontract bookings to other companies in other areas if they are unable to fulfil their booking, but the interpretation of this has become quite wide.
The ‘triple lock’ licensing rule has also become accepted. A vehicle, driver and operator must all be under the same licensing authority to provide full protection to the passenger. However, it is also accepted that a customer can call any private hire company anywhere to provide their transport although many would not realise that if there was an issue it would be hard for a local authority to follow this up unless the triple lock was in place by the vehicle used and was for the area the customer contacted licensing.
Further, introduction of recent methods of obtaining vehicles, principally using ‘apps’ on mobile phones have also led to confusion as to how ‘apps’ usage sits with present legislation.
There is also strong current pressure on licensing authorities to work with the environmental sections of their authorities in order to assist in the reduction of vehicle emission issues within Government guidelines.
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Whilst there are a number of authorities now mandated to introduce Clean Air Zones, other authorities presently do not have such stipulation although there remains strong pressure on health grounds to take action. Given that many hackney carriages, and particularly the larger ones including those that are wheel chair accessible, were encouraged to use diesel vehicles, which are now seen as the more critical contributors to the worst elements of air pollution, often there is strong pressure to see reduced emissions from the overall licensed vehicle fleet.
All these matters can impact on hackney carriage services, their usage, and therefore on unmet demand and its significance.
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2 Local background and context Key dates for this Hackney carriage unmet demand survey for Hull City Council are:
- appointed Licensed Vehicle Surveys and Assessment (LVSA) on 26 February 2018 - in accordance with our proposal of November 2017 - as confirmed during the inception meeting for the survey held on 12th March 2018 - this survey was carried out between 12th March 2018 and August 2018 - On street pedestrian survey work occurred in late May and early June 2018 - the video rank observations occurred in mid-May 2018 - Licensed vehicle driver opinions and operating practices were obtained using an all-driver survey available during May and June 2018 supplemented by an escorted tour of current rank operations by a representative of the hackney carriage trade on the inception day - Key stakeholders were consulted throughout the period of the survey - A draft of this Final Report was reviewed by the client during August 2018 - and reported to the appropriate Council committee following acceptance by the Council of the Report.
Hull City Council is a unitary authority with full control over all elements of council operation including highways, planning and licensing. The authority has a current population of 260,000 using the 2018 estimates currently available from the 2011 census. The unitary nature of the authority means that rank provision is fully within the gift of the authority, albeit in a different section to licensing. Overall transport policy is also under the full control of the authority.
The Local Transport Plan background has not changed since the last survey in 2015. Overarching transport policy is set in the latest Hull Local Transport Plan, the latest of which runs from 2011 to 2026 with an implementation plan in place. This is also aligned with the emerging Local Development Framework. There are four key objectives, three of which impact on hackney carriage and private hire services:
- Ensuring transport networks provide good quality affordable and reliable access to a range of destinations - Reducing congestion - Improving air quality and promoting low carbon
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A road user hierarchy is defined to help determine priorities. City-wide taxis are fifth out of nine categories, with four (mainly car-based) modes seen as of lower important. On main arteries, taxis are third in priority behind commercial vehicles and public transport, whilst for both corridor routes and residential streets, taxis are fourth behind pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Overall they are considered to play an important role in supporting other sustainable means of travel.
All licensing authorities have full powers over licensing the vehicles, drivers and operators serving people within their area. Hull City Council has chosen to utilize its power to limit hackney carriage vehicle numbers, and as far as we are aware has done so since at least 1994, and probably much earlier than that.
By drawing together published statistics from both the Department for Transport (D) and the National Private Hire Association (N), supplemented by private information from the licensing authority records (C), recent trends in vehicle, driver and operator numbers can be observed. The detailed numbers supporting the picture below are provided in Appendix 1. Due to the comparative size, the operator figures are shown in the second picture.
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Hull licensed vehicles and drivers 1800
1600
1360 1369 1364 1400 1325 1294 1288 1295 1241 1213 1190 1199 1194 1155 1200 1130 1145 1140 1125 1103 1124 1118 1080 1087 1071 1043 995 980 970 1000 934 910 917
800
600
400
169 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 200 150 150 150
0 1994D1997D1999D2001D2004D2005D2007D2009D2010N2011D2012N2013D2014N2015D2017D 2018C hcv phv lv total hcd phd total d
Licensing Statistics from 1994 to date
The graph shows that whilst hackney carriage numbers remained limited, private hire vehicle numbers grew until a few years ago. 2017 then saw a drop in vehicle and driver numbers, with a small recovery and growth in the most recent year.
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Information is also available from these sources to show how the level of wheel chair accessible vehicles (WAV) has varied. It must be noted that in most cases the values for the private hire side tend to be much more approximate than those on the hackney carriage side, as there is no option to mandate for private hire being wheel chair accessible. In some areas, to strengthen the ability of the public to differentiate between the two parts of the licensed vehicle trade, licensing authorities might not allow any WAV in the private hire fleet at all. Hull moved to a fully wheel chair accessible hackney carriage fleet
Hull - operators and % WAV in fleets
120
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
80 85 85
71 60
40
20
0 1994D1997D1999D2001D2004D2005D2007D2009D2010N2011D2012C2013D2014N2015D2017D
Operators % hcv WAV % phv WAV
Operator numbers and levels of WAV provision in the fleet
For Hull, this confirms the fully wheel chair accessible fleet of hackney carriages, but also shows little successful attempt to add wheel chair vehicles to the private hire fleet. This does, however, mean that any person attempting to book a wheel chair accessible vehicle will need to contact a private hire operator that has a relationship with hackney carriages, or contact a hackney carriage phone number.
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It also shows that operator numbers in the area are increasing, although with some periods when their numbers have dropped in between the overall growth.
Hull City Council undertakes regular review of its policy to limit hackney carriage vehicle numbers in line with the BPG. The previous surveys were in 2012 and 2015. This follows the Best Practice Guidance recommendation of three-yearly maximum gaps between reviews.
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Hackney carriage unmet demand survey 13
3 Patent demand measurement (rank surveys) As already recorded in Chapter 2, control of provision of on-street ranks in Hull City Council is under the control of the local, unitary council itself. Appendix 2 provides a list of ranks in Hull City Council at the time of this current survey. It also draws from previous notes, a current review of street view evidence and that obtained on the site visit undertaken with trade guidance during the inception day.
Our methodology for rank coverage involves a current review both in advance of submitting our proposal to undertake this Hackney carriage unmet demand survey and at the study inception meeting, together with site visits where considered necessary. This provides a valid and appropriate sample of rank coverage which is important to feed the numeric evaluation of the level of unmet demand, and its significance (see discussion in Chapter 7). The detailed specification of the hours included in the sample is provided in Appendix 3.
The expected major revision of the City Centre rank provision occurred in the run up to the 2017 City of Culture. The principal impacts of this on ranks saw the removal of the House of Fraser rank as well as the opportunity for this to feed the station with the closure of the central reserve gap between that location and the station. There was a further impact that vehicles remain unable to leave the station and turn right (southbound), meaning southbound journeys from the station rank require a moderate extra distance before starting their journey. Further, the previous entrance and exit from the station rank was reduced to a single entry/exit.
The removal of the House of Fraser rank had a knock-on effect in terms of reducing need for the trio of ranks which fed this location, near to the Prospect Centre, with further reduction of opportunities for feeder vehicles to be taken by those coming out of the centre. These ranks remain marked and available, but light expected demand means they are relatively little used. They have also been affected by other road and building works in more recent times.
A new rank has recently been introduced in the stub end of Paragon Street, operating 24-hours, although it has to be accessed from Anlaby Road and is essentially still a developing location.
The final city centre change was the movement of the Alfred Gelder Street rank across the road to a purpose built location known as Queen’s Gardens, which has slightly more difficult egress than the former rank, but is otherwise a much better facility.
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Other changes have seen re-marking of a number of ranks, some unused, whilst an old rank has been re-introduced to service the new Fuel club. On the contrary side, the night club at the northern end of George Street has closed and the building converted to living accommodation meaning this rank no longer sees any demand.
It is understood that many remaining clubs tend to operate only on specific nights, impacting on the Wellington rank (mainly Thursday nights) and Spiders (always only a Saturday night club for many years, although recent developments of public transport and private hire are understood to have further reduced usage there). No solution was found to the rank location issues in Newland Avenue and just one rank operates there alongside some more informal provision.
The resulting rank programme, amended for the known changes in demand, saw a marginally increased level (from 268 hours in 2015) of 289 hours observed, with a major change being longer cover of the station rank given it is now accepted as a mainstream rank despite its requirement for an additional permit at a cost. Ranks known to have ceased use due to demand changes were replaced by observation of new locations, some of which were expected to see usage whilst others were not necessarily seeing usage. Observations were undertaken at the same time as those in 2015 to minimise impact of changes to the results.
Overall estimated rank usage The observed rank usage from the actual hours covered was used to estimate typical weekly demand levels at each rank, using general factors partly derived from those used in the 2015 survey to ensure compatibility as far as possible. The estimates have also been compared to those from previous surveys to identify changes in usage by rank. The results are shown in the Table below.
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Rank usage estimates
Rank per week per week per week, per week, per week, Passengers Passengers Passengers Passengers 2018 survey 2018 survey 2015 survey 2012 Station (private) 5,808 (60%) 4,540 (45%) 2,644 (43%) Lowgate 1,523 (16%) 1,322 (13%) 1,382 (23%) Queen’s Gardens (formerly Alfred 1,372 (14%) 1,082 (18%) 1,951 (19%) Gelder Street) Beverley Rd, The Welly 405 (4%) 47 (1%) Not covered Newland Ave, Piper Club 146 (2%) Not covered Not covered Paragon St, new rank for this survey 139 (1%) Not there Not there Princes Avenue 104 (1%) 1,185 (12%) 367 (6%) Fuel, new rank for this survey 93 (1%) Club not there Club not there St Stephen’s Shopping Centre 92 (1%) Not covered Not covered Cleveland St, Spider’s 13 (0.0%) 47 (1%) Not covered Ferensway (incl feeders) Main rank gone 944 (9%) 151 (2%) George St, Pozition Gone 52 (1%) 5 (0%) University Not covered 2 (0.0%) 0 (0%) Princes Dock St Gone Gone 299 (5%) Paragon St Not covered Gone 54 (1%) Kingston Square Not covered Not covered 46 (1%) Holderness Rd Gone Gone 34 (1%) TOTAL 9,694 (-4%) 10,090 (+67%) 6,064 Summary of totals over time Year Pass dep Change from 2000 Av Pass Delay (mins) 2018 9,694 (-4%) -31% 0.65 2015 10,090 (+67%) -28% 2.2 2012 6,064 (-68%) -57% 0.54 2009 18,697 (+31%) +34% 1.72 2006 14,270 (+2%) +2% 0.68 2000 13,975 1.53
Comparison to previous years The earliest information available is for the 2000 survey. Compared to observed demand then, hackney carriage rank demand is currently nearly a third lower. The peak level of rank patronage over the available surveys was 2009, just before the recession, a level nearly twice as high as that observed in our 2018 surveys.
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The increased level observed in 2015 compared to 2012 has not continued, and the result has been a significant reduction in the average passenger delay levels, which in 2015 were the highest observed amongst the available survey information. This improved service level fits in with reduced demand given a fixed fleet of vehicles.
Rank usage development since last survey Despite the overall 4% reduction in estimated weekly rank usage since the last survey, there have been a lot of positive changes observed in usage. Two ranks not previously observed demonstrated some usage (St Stephen’s Shopping Centre and the Piper Club). The new Fuel rank and the new rank in Paragon Street both demonstrated fair levels of usage given their new status. The station rank, Lowgate and The Welly ranks all saw growth (although the latter may be due to the focus on one day at that club). Princes Avenue saw decline, as did Queen’s Gardens. As expected with bus and private hire developments, the Spider’s rank also saw decline, although its usage had never been particularly large.
The Queen’s Gardens reduction in usage means that it has now dropped from being the second busiest rank to being third, supplanted by the growth in use of Lowgate. The key difference in 2018 is the very high domination by the Station rank of overall usage in the City, with that location taking some 60% of estimated passengers. The next largest rank, Lowgate, sees about a quarter of this level, closely followed by the Queen’s Gardens rank. Between them, these top three ranks see about 90% of all passengers using hackney carriages at ranks.
2018 Rank usage The graph below shows the actual levels of passengers observed in the survey sample. Whilst affected by which ranks were and were not covered, it does give an overall view of demand over the three days surveyed. Further analysis was undertaken of the profile of demand from the start to end of the survey period.
Interestingly, the peak on each day surveyed was always the 23:00 hour on all three days. The highest hourly flow observed across all ranks was 319 in the 23:00 hour on the Saturday. The Friday peak, at the same hour, was two thirds of this level, and the Thursday 43% of the Friday level. During the course of the survey there was just a single hour when no hackney carriage passengers were observed – the 07:00 hour on Saturday morning.
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Comparing total flows for the 24 hours ending with the 06:00 hour on both Saturday and Sunday mornings demonstrates that total flows observed on the Saturday were about 40% higher than those observed on the Friday. This is fairly close to the trade suggestion that Saturdays are busiest, though this calculation suggests Friday overall is about 29% quieter than Saturday.
Hull Passenger Demand
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1316 20 0 4 8 Thursday 12 16 20 0 4 Friday 8 12 16 20 Saturday 0 6 Fuel Lowgate Sunday Paragon St 2 Paragon St
Paragon St 2 Spiders Spiders 2 Princes Ave St Stephens SC Fuel Paragon St Piper Club Beverley Rd Queen's Gdns Lowgate Station Total flows
This pattern is further confirmed by the graph. Friday is clearly busier than Thursday, and Saturday much busier than Friday. The peak on Saturday is also much greater than that on Friday, with the peak some 3.8 times that of the average hourly flow. The graph also clearly shows the dominance of passenger flows at the station, with only the peak at Lowgate being higher on the Saturday night – Sunday morning than any other station flow level. On the Friday the busiest hour at the station rank – and in fact the busiest hour at any location overall – was the 03:00 hour in the early hours of Saturday morning, clearly not from rail arrivals which cease just before midnight. The hour before and after this are also very busy. This confirms the status of the station rank as a key element of City rank provision.
The graph also shows that Queen’s Gardens has steady demand but at a much lower level than the other two ranks, with very little demand there overnight.
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The key Saturday – Sunday peak is also demonstrated as arising from almost equal peaks occurring at nearly the same time at both the station and Lowgate ranks, with a smaller peak for Queen’s Gardens also contributing to this overall peak flow.
On the Thursday, the peak is twofold, with the later peak related to demand from the Welly rank.
On Fridays, the Lowgate peak is earlier than that at the station, with a peak flow in between arising from the Piper Club rank.
The graph also demonstrates clearly that, though all ranks see some usage, overall flows are dominated by the main three ranks, although some of the other ranks do see relatively high peaks compared to their typical levels of usage.
Disabled usage of ranks During the observations, record was kept of any passenger using the ranks accessing them with wheel chairs, or those appearing to have some form of disability which was visually determinable (usually in the form of having a stick or other walking aid).
During the course of the survey observations, there were 15 people seen accessing hackney carriages at ranks in wheel chairs, and a further 48 had some form of disability that was observed by those watching the footage. For both sets of observations, the largest proportion of users were those at the station, with just two wheel chair journeys made from other than the station rank (at Queen’s Gardens). For those with other visible disabilities, the second highest level was again at Queen’s Gardens, but there was also one person observed using the new Paragon St rank, and two others accessing hackney carriages at the lesser used St Stephen’s shopping centre rank.
This level of usage for both categories of disability observation were much higher than the high levels observed in 2015, when seven wheel chair users were observed – although most of these were at the original Alfred Gelder Street rank. Part of this increase at the station would be due to our increased observations there and partly due to the closure of the Ferensway location which had also seen disabled observations. This suggests even greater confidence by people in usage of hackney carriages despite having disabilities.
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Other vehicle usage of ranks Record was made of all vehicles at or near each of the ranks during the survey, with a focus on recording any vehicle that either used the rank space itself or impeded potential hackney carriage usage of the rank. During the observations made, a total of 9,053 vehicles were observed at or near the ranks.
Of these, the bulk, as should be expected, were hackney carriages, all of which were wheel chair accessible (Hull has a fully WAV style fleet). However, this amounted to 77% of observations. There were a further 12% of vehicles at ranks which were private cars. 8% were clearly Hull registered private hire vehicles and a further 2% out of town hackney carriage vehicles. The final 1% were goods vehicles, with no emergency vehicles using rank space.
As might be expected from the design, the Queen’s Gardens rank saw only very minor abuse by two private cars. The station was similar, although there were some goods vehicles requiring access.
The highest levels of potential abuse by private hire vehicles was at the three night clubs, with, as expected, the worst case being at Spider’s where 61% of the observed vehicles were private hire, although this number had not been investigated further to see how many passengers were actually picked up from the rank itself. This exceeded the number of hackney carriages. The next highest percentage was at the Piper Club, 33% phv, followed by Fuel, 30%.
The St Stephen’s Shopping centre rank saw 18% of vehicles observed being private hire, nearly four times the level of the usage by hackney carriages, although this may relate partly to the lesser usage by hackney carriages and the fact this location is a very good and accessible pick up point for those wishing to leave the shops in a licensed vehicle. The highest number of potentially out of town vehicles were also observed here, at a level almost equal to the number of private hire.
The overall number of hackney carriage movements was highest at the station, with some 3,589 different hackney carriage movements observed, followed by Lowgate at 1,121 and then Queen’s Gardens at 973. Notably, all ten observed ranks saw hackney carriages, not always the case in every survey, although we had taken time to ensure we covered all active ranks.
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Passenger delay at ranks An overall review of hours in which passengers had average delay found that there were 9% of hours when the average passenger delay at a rank in an hour was one minute or more. A further 10% of passengers travelled in hours where the average passenger delay was less than a minute, but not zero. This means that passenger delay was identified in 19% of the observed survey hours.
Considering passenger numbers, 14% of all passengers actually experienced some delay of a minute or more. However, this is split such that just 1% had waits of 11 minutes or more, 2% between six and ten minutes, and 11% with waits between one and five minutes. The harsher measure of people travelling in hours with average delay found 23% of all passengers travelled in hours when the average passenger delay was a minute or more, with a further 27% travelling in hours with average passenger delay less than a minute.
The average passenger delay over all passengers for all ranks was 39 seconds, or 0.65 minutes, in fact the second lowest level identified in any of the recorded surveys, and much less than the 2.2 minutes of the previous survey, again consistent with reduced demand levels.
Hackney carriage activity levels As in the previous survey, a review was undertaken of the level of hackney carriage vehicle activity during sample hours of the rank survey period. This survey was undertaken on the busiest expected day, from mid-day Saturday through to the early hours of Sunday morning, at three locations near the three main ranks.
In total, some 308 vehicle plates were recorded, of which 292 were legitimate Hull City hackney carriage vehicles. From these observations, a total of 113 different plates were observed, two thirds of the total, and much higher than the very low 19% observed in the last survey (albeit on a Friday).
The highest number of different plates, some 34% of the total fleet, were seen in the two hours from 21:30 near the station. 29% of plates were observed near the Lowgate rank in the two hours from 00:30. The station afternoon observations showed 21% of plates, whilst the observations near the Queen’s Gardens rank found 14% in the early evening and 6% in the post lunch period.
All these figures suggest there remains a good level of vehicle available for service were demand to be higher than that observed.
There were four vehicles only seen in the early afternoon observations near Queen’s Gardens, seven only in the early evening observations there and two
Hackney carriage unmet demand survey 21 only seen in both of these observations, providing an estimate of 13 vehicles principally servicing that location only. There were several other vehicles observed there and at the other locations. This number is similar to trade comment about those focussing on this rank.
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4 General public views It is very important that the views of people within the area are obtained about the service provided by hackney carriage and private hire. A key element which these surveys seek to discover is specifically if people have given up waiting for hackney carriages at ranks (the most readily available measure of latent demand). However, the opportunity is also taken with these surveys to identify the overall usage and views of hackney carriage and private hire vehicles within the study area, and to give chance for people to identify current issues and factors which may encourage them to use licensed vehicles more.
Such surveys can also be key in identifying variation of demand for licensed vehicles across an area, particularly if there are significant areas of potential demand without ranks, albeit in the context that many areas do not have places apart from their central area with sufficient demand to justify hackney carriages waiting at ranks.
These surveys tend to be undertaken during the daytime period when more people are available, and when survey staff safety can be guaranteed. Further, interviews with groups of people or with those affected by alcohol consumption may not necessarily provide accurate responses, despite the potential value in speaking with people more likely to use hackney carriages at times of higher demand and then more likely unmet demand. Where possible, extension of interviews to the early evening may capture some of this group, as well as some studies where careful choice of night samples can be undertaken.
Our basic methodology requires a sample size of at least 200 to ensure stable responses. Trained and experienced interviewers are also important as this ensures respondents are guided through the questions carefully and consistently. A minimum sample of 50 interviews is generally possible by a trained interviewer in a day meaning that sample sizes are best incremented by 50, usually if there is targeting of a specific area or group (e.g. of students, or a sub-centre), although conclusions from these separate samples can only be indicative taken alone. For some authorities with multiple centres this can imply value in using a higher sample size, such as 250 if there are two large and one moderate sized centre.
It is normal practice to compare the resulting gender and age structure to the latest available local and national census proportions to identify if the sample has become biased in any way.
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More recently, general public views have been enlisted from the use of council citizens’ panels although the issue with these is that return numbers cannot be guaranteed. The other issue is that the structure of the sample responding cannot be guaranteed either, and it is also true that those on the panel have chosen to be there such that they may tend to be people willing to have stronger opinions than the general public randomly approached.
Finally, some recent surveys have placed an electronic copy of the questionnaire on their web site to allow interested persons to respond, although again there needs to be an element of care with such results as people choosing to take part may have a vested interest.
For this survey, a total of 300 interviews were undertaken, with a modest sample in one of the suburban areas of the City. In terms of the overall sample, more women were interviewed than the even split that occurs in the national 2018 statistics for the City, with 63% of those interviewed being women. An exact match had been obtained in 2015. However, the split in terms of age groups was remarkably close to the expected census 2018 values, with no proportion being more than 1% different – better but similar to 2015. This suggests the sample is a good representation, although slightly over- representing female views.
Overall, 84% said they lived in the area, with a much higher proportion of local population interviewed in the suburban area than in the city centre, as might be expected. This proportion was remarkably similar to 2015.
Across the full sample, 39% said they had use a licensed vehicle in the Hull area in the last three months. This was a further significant reduction from the level of 67% identified in the previous survey, which itself was a reduction from 2015.
People then told us how often they used licensed vehicles. Assuming numbers of trips for each frequency, the overall estimate of licensed vehicle trips per person per month was just 0.9, very low. This is also a reduction from the 2.4 in 2015, and consistent with the previous question. When asked specifically about hackney carriage usage, the value dropped to 0.3 (0.5 in 2015), suggesting a third of usage of licensed vehicles is hackney carriages. This level is very similar to the 32% who said they normally got a licensed vehicle at a rank. This level was very similar to 2015. However, 13% said they hailed, a very high level, much higher than the negligible level quoted in 2015.
54% said they phoned for a licensed vehicle, with the final one per cent saying they used an app (very low). This was reduced from the 2015 level of 70%, with most reduction being people saying they used smart phones or freephones.
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Just under half those responding told us the companies they contacted to obtain a licensed vehicle. 69% of these gave just one company, with 23% giving two companies and the remaining 8% three. This suggests a fair level of satisfaction with one company, although there is also significant choice between operators. 24 different names were given, although some were vague, including one simply saying ‘rank’. Some may be colloquial or other names for the larger companies. The numbers show a reduction in the people naming two or three companies, suggesting improved customer satisfaction with a company now than in 2015.
There were three companies obtaining more than 10% of responses. The top scoring company obtained 23%, followed by 15% and 12% respectively – giving exactly half the responses shared by these three companies. This was very similar to 2015. Three further companies had between 5 and 8% each, with six others between two and 4.9%. All these suggest relatively high levels of competition and no domination by any specific company in the area.
Further questions were then asked focussing on hackney carriage usage. The first sought views about ranks. Three quarters of respondents told us the ranks they were aware of, and many told us if they used them or not. 25 different names were provided, though it was not clear where many actually were.
41% of the responses were people saying they could not remember the last time they used a hackney carriage in the area. This is much reduced from the 2015 value of 68%. However, the level who could not remember seeing a hackney carriage was relatively low, at just 4%- very similar to the 2015 value. This is the usual conclusion where hackney carriages are clearly visible, just not used.
Of those saying if they used the ranks they named or not, 74% said they used the rank they named, although a high number did not go on to say if they used ranks they named or not.
Only the station rank was particularly well known. 44% said they knew of the Paragon Station rank, with a further 12% saying Ferensway, assuming this is now the station rank. The four different names given for the Queen’s Gardens rank only totalled just under 5% of responses – much lower than the 2015 value of 17%. Lowgate obtained just 2% (similar to 2015). Other ranks, including ones long gone, were also mentioned, but not by many people. Overall, this suggests poor knowledge of where ranks are, and certainly what to call them. This seems worse than in 2015, which was already a concerning situation in terms of knowing where to get hackney carriages.
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Fourteen different locations were named where people would like there to be ranks. 30% of the mentions were for a rank at the hospital. 24% said ‘old town’ but did not say where. Some suggested there needed to be ranks where they already existed, but none were significant in number. There were just 33 total mentions across the locations – a lot less than the 74 in 2015. However, 79% of those naming new locations said they would use the location were it introduced.
There were a total of 86 mentions of problems people had with the hackney carriage service. 49% of these issues were in regard to driver communication. The next highest proportion, 15% was for driver knowledge of the area. Overall, none of these were really significant. This was a large improvement from the higher number of quotes in 2015 when there were some 157 mentions made and also spread over various issues.
Unusually, a very similar number of mentions were made of matters that would encourage people to use hackney carriages more. The only real matter was if fares were cheaper. Strangely, the equal number of responses occurred in 2015 as well, though now price was totally dominant compared to 2015.
Overall, these two questions tend to suggest high satisfaction with the service provided by hackney carriages in the area. However, they also tie in with the fact that 41% of those responding to the frequency question said they could not remember the last time they used a hackney carriage.
In terms of need of adapted hackney carriages, 91% said neither they nor anyone they knew needed an adapted hackney carriage – higher than in 2015. Of those requiring an adapted vehicle, all said WAV, and the proportion was mainly for people they knew rather than themselves.
The two latent demand questions were then asked. 10% said they had given up waiting at a rank for a hackney carriage. However, of the responses, there were just under a fifth that were not rank related. The rank-based latent demand value is therefore 7.3% assuming all not responding had not given up at any time. This is an increase from the value of 1.035 in 2015. The latent hailing value was 3.3%, with most giving up hailing in the ‘city centre’.
When asked if there were enough hackney carriage in the Hull City council area, 90% said that there were. 72% of people took time to respond either way to this question.
87% of those questioned responded to if they would use an electric powered hackney carriage or not. 44% said they had no preference. 51% said they would, but only if it did not cost more. Just 6% were willing to use such a vehicle and pay more for using it (up to 10% more).
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68% of respondents had regular access to a car – a much higher level than the 51% of 2015, and possibly accounting for some of the reduced levels of quoted licensed vehicle usage by this sample.
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5 Key stakeholder consultation The following key stakeholders were contacted in line with the recommendations of the BPG:
Supermarkets Hotels Pubwatch / individual pubs / night clubs Other entertainment venues Restaurants Hospitals Police Disability representatives Rail operators Other council contacts within all relevant local councils
Comments received have been aggregated below to provide an overall appreciation of the situation at the time of this survey. In some cases, there are very specific comments from given stakeholders, but we try to maintain their confidentiality as far as is possible. The comments provided in the remainder of this Chapter are the views of those consulted, and not that of the authors of this report.
Our information was obtained by telephone, email, letter or face to face meeting as appropriate. The list contacted includes those suggested by the Council, those drawn from previous similar surveys, and from general internet trawls for information. Our target stakeholders are as far as possible drawn from across the entire licensing area to ensure the review covers the full area and not just specific parts or areas.
For the sake of clarity, we cover key stakeholders from the public side separately to those from the licensed vehicle trade element, whose views are summarized separately in the following Chapter.
Where the statistical analyses in Chapter 2 demonstrate low levels of wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) provision, an increased emphasis will be given to the issue in terms of the focus of stakeholders but also in specific efforts to contact disabled users and their representatives. However, it must be remembered that none of our consultation is statutory and for cost effective and fixed budget reasons we limit our attempts to contact people generally to a first attempt and reminder.
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Supermarkets Six supermarkets told us their customers used licensed vehicles. Three had freephones, two others would either call for customers or customers phoned themselves for vehicles, whilst one had a freephone but also found customers called for vehicles themselves. Four were not aware of ranks, and two that did mention ranks actually gave company names. There had been no problems mentioned and two took time to say that the service provided was very good, friendly and helpful. However, the service is principally provided by private hire rather than hackney carriage (or at least phoned for hackney carriages if the latter). Two other supermarkets contacted had no comment.
Hotels All seven hotels that responded told us their customers used licensed vehicles. Three said reception would obtain a vehicle, two said customers usually contacted but staff would do so if asked and the other two said reception would contact, but people sometimes made their own contact. Two were aware of the station rank which customers might use whilst three others provided phone numbers. One had issue with double fares at Christmas and one said vehicles never came on time, but all others had no issues. Two further hotels made no comment.
Public houses Five pubs responded. All said their customers used licensed vehicles. One said staff would obtain a vehicle, three said people usually phoned or staff would make contact whilst the final respondent said staff would usually contact but sometimes customers did this themselves. Two were not aware of any rank and again the three that did quote provided a company name. One suggested service was terrible, two others had no issue, one said the service was reliable and another that it was better than another coastal town nearby.
Night clubs Five night clubs proved uncontactable. Two others made no comment. The single club which responded said their customers did use licensed vehicles, generally contacted for customers by staff. They were unaware of ranks and of any issues with the service provided.
Other entertainment venues Four entertainment venues responded. Two said customers did not use licensed vehicles. Two said they did, but that people always made the contact. One named a company and the other was unaware of any nearby ranks. Whilst one had no issues, the other felt more vehicles were needed.
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Restaurants Two restaurants told us their customers used licensed vehicles. One said staff would obtain vehicles whilst the other said there was a mix of staff obtaining vehicles and people doing so. One was not aware of any rank whilst the other provided a company name. One had received no complaints whilst the other said service had always been very good. Three others made no comment and two were not contactable.
Hospitals The local hospital made no comment.
Police The police had no issues with hackney carriages and their operation. The only issue they had with licensed vehicles was related to private hire outside one night club.
Disability Several groups were contacted but had no comment. One group told us they had reports from members that they were ignored when trying to hail hackney carriages, with vehicles clearly available for hire driving past them despite their attempts to hail them. They also had reports that members were finding it hard to get wheel chair accessible vehicles principally at night, but often needing bookings well in advance to obtain vehicles. They were willing to work with licensing to clarify the issues further.
Rail and other transport operators A meeting was held with the station manager. They were very pleased with the service provided by the hackney carriages at the station. Though an extra permit is needed at a cost, anyone can have a permit if they pay. The space has been reorganised to maximise feeder space and handling of departures, to good effect. They told us that hackney customers see the station rank as a main city rank, and it remains accessible 24 hours per day, though the station itself is secured between midnight and 05:00. The only issue arising is with cleanliness of the rank arising from overnight usage, which has to be cleared before the station opens. All believe the rank is in the right place though there have been suggestions to move to the car park side, which have been resisted by all parties successfully.
Other council representatives Input was provided regarding the local transport plan background – essentially that this was as in 2015. Two other representatives from the public transport section of the Council spoke with us, one confirming they felt the current number of hackney carriages remained appropriate, quoting the performance provided during the City of Culture year, when there were very few cases when the current fleet was not able to meet demand effectively.
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6 Trade stakeholder views The BPG encourages all studies to include ‘all those involved in the trade’. There are a number of different ways felt to be valid in meeting this requirement, partly dependent on what the licensing authority feel is reasonable and possible given the specifics of those involved in the trade in their area.
The most direct and least costly route is to obtain comment from trade representatives. This can be undertaken by email, phone call or face to face meeting by the consultant undertaking the study. In some cases to ensure validity of the work being undertaken it may be best for the consultation to occur after the main work has been undertaken. This avoids anyone being able to claim that the survey work was influenced by any change in behaviour.
Most current studies tend to issue a letter and questionnaire to all hackney carriage and private hire owners, drivers and operators. This is best issued by the council on behalf of the independent consultant. Usual return is now using an on-line form of the questionnaire, with the option of postal return still being provided, albeit in some cases without use of a freepost return. Returns can be encouraged by email or direct contact via representatives.
Some authorities cover private hire by issuing the letter and questionnaire to operators seeking they pass them on when drivers book on or off, or via vehicle data head communications.
In all cases, we believe it is essential we document the method used clearly and measure response levels. However, it is also rare for there to be high levels of response, with 5% typically felt to be good and reasonable.
A very helpful rank tour was provided by the Trade on the day of the Inception. As well as identifying operation of ranks individually, the overall ethos of the hackney carriage trade was explained. After the last survey, but before the City of Culture year, 15-20 hackney carriage plates were sold arising from low levels of business. Also, drivers now tend to rent radios by shift rather than full time, with much better remuneration from serving ranks at night than from phone bookings. They told us that the level of vehicles working for private hire had reduced to about 20 vehicles now.
They told us that the Station is the main rank, with other daytime trade almost exclusively from the (much quieter) Queens Gardens rank. Changes in demand have increased the number of drivers now having station permits (about 80% of the trade), although 10-12 vehicles focus on the latter rank.
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Central night demand focusses on the station and Lowgate, with some issues at the latter arising from barriers being removed. There is still a felt impact of the loss of the Sugar Mill rank even though this was some while ago. There is a lot of suburban hackney carriage demand, both with short term use of ranks, hailing and some informal locations, but often just for an hour on weekend nights. It is felt that Friday is about half as busy as Saturday at present.
They felt they had dealt well with the higher demands from the City of Culture celebrations, and that this proved there were sufficient hackney carriage vehicles available. There was a lot of collaboration between the hackney carriage trade and its partners (particularly the station), including work-rounds such as allowing non permit vehicles access on days expected to be busy to ensure customer service was provided.
They advised us of a recent campaign suggesting more vehicles were needed, but felt the real issue was need for drivers willing to work when private hire companies were busiest, rather than for vehicles per se.
The all-driver survey resulted in seven hackney carriage and 16 private hire responses (70% of the total), not a high level of overall response.
On average, respondents had been in the trade 15 years, with hackney carriage respondents with marginally more experience than those responding from private hire. However, the longest serving respondents were from the private hire trade, as were the shortest serving.
In terms of the working week, there was an even share (of 39% each) for people working five or six days. None said they worked seven days, with all but one of the rest working four days, quite a tight focus in terms of days active. Hackney carriage drivers tended to work slightly longer hours on average.
The main matter affecting when people worked was meeting family commitments, with 26% saying this was their top issue. 22% worked to cover busy times. 17% chose times that suited them, 13% avoided rush hours and heavy traffic and 9% were concerned about and avoided times when customers might be aggressive.
A high 72% owned and drove their own vehicle with just 13% saying someone else drove their vehicle.
81% accepted pre-bookings, of which 43% were via office radios and a further 26% by direct phone-calls. One person said the pre-bookings they had were in fact school contracts. Hackney carriages all said they accepted pre-bookings, many by direct phone to them, or from recommendation.
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The main rank serviced was the Station rank, followed by Lowgate, Queen’s Gardens and Princes Avenue (with equal numbers for these last three).
There was strong support from both parts of the trade for retaining the limit policy (77% agreed). All hackney carriages agreed, whilst most private hire also agreed, though those disagreeing were all private hire.
Those who would react to removal of the limit would mainly work longer hours to maintain their income.
For the full response, 65% said they obtained most work by phone and 30% from ranks. When split by hackney carriage and private hire respondents, hackney carriages obtained 61% of fares on average from rank and 33% from phone, whereas private hire obtained two thirds of fares from phone, as would be expected. Whilst all hackney carriages said ranks were their main method, none of them said they got fares exclusively from the rank.
73% felt there were enough hackney carriages in Hull.
Many comments were made, with focus on too many vehicles from the hackney carriage side, with two private hire drivers saying the main shortages were at busy times, but that the issue was focussed on a very few hours. One private hire person suggested that ranks had been focussed on during the survey to the detriment of hailing passengers, but gave no further proof of this.
Overall, the driver survey supports the current status quo and retention of the limit, even given that more private hire responded than hackney carriage.
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7 Evaluation of unmet demand and its significance It is first important to define our specific view about what constitutes unmet demand. Our definition is when a person turns up at a hackney carriage rank and finds there is no vehicle there available for immediate hire. This normally leads to a queue of people building up, some of who may walk off (taken to be latent demand), whilst others will wait till a vehicle collects them. Later passengers may well arrive when there are vehicles there, but because of the queue will not obtain a vehicle immediately.
There are other instances where queues of passengers can be observed at hackney carriage ranks. This can occur when the level of demand is such that it takes longer for vehicles to move up to waiting passengers than passengers can board and move away. This often occurs at railway stations but can also occur at other ranks where high levels of passenger arrivals occur. We do not consider this is unmet demand, but geometric delay and although we note t his, it is not counted towards unmet demand being significant.
The industry standard index of the significance of unmet demand (ISUD) was initiated at the time of the introduction of section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act as a numeric and consistent way of evaluating unmet demand and its significance. The ISUD methodology was initially developed by a university and then adopted by one of the leading consultant groups undertaking the surveys made necessary to enable authorities to retain their limit on hackney carriage vehicle numbers. The index has been developed and deepened over time to take into account various court challenges. It has now become accepted as the industry standard test of if identified unmet demand is significant.
The index is a statistical guide derived to evaluate if observed unmet demand is in fact significant. However, its basis is that early tests using first principles identified based on a moderate sample suggested that the level of index of 80 was the cut-off above which the index was in fact significant, and that unmet demand therefore was such that action was needed in terms of additional issue of plates to reduce the demand below this level, or a complete change of policy if it was felt appropriate. This level has been accepted as part of the industry standard. However, the index is not a strict determinant and care is needed in providing the input samples as well as interpreting the result provided. However, the index has various components which can also be used to understand what is happening in the rank-based and overall licensed vehicle market.
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ISUD draws from several different parts of the study data. Each separate component of the index is designed to capture a part of the operation of the demand for hackney carriages and reflect this numerically. Whilst the principal inputs are from the rank surveys, the measure of latent demand comes from the public on-street surveys, and any final decision about if identified unmet demand is significant, or in fact about the value of continuing the current policy of restricting vehicle numbers, must be taken fully in the context of a careful balance of all the evidence gathered during the survey process.
The present ISUD calculation has two components which both could be zero. In the case that either are zero, the overall index result is zero, which means they clearly demonstrate there is no unmet demand which is significant, even if other values are high.
The first component which can be zero is the proportion of daytime hours where people are observed to have to wait for a hackney carriage to arrive. The level of wait used is ANY average wait at all within any hour. The industry definition of these hours varies, the main index user counts from 10:00 to 18:00 (i.e. eight hours ending at 17:59). The present index is clear that unmet demand cannot be significant if there are no such hours. The only rider on this component is that the sample of hours collected must include a fair element of such hours, and that if the value is non-zero, review of the potential effect of a wider sample needs to be considered.
The other component which could be zero is the test identifying the proportion of passengers which are travelling in any hour when the average passenger wait in that hour is greater than one minute.
If both of these components are non-zero, then the remaining components of the index come into play. These are the peakiness factor, the seasonality factor, average passenger delay, and the latent demand factor.
Average passenger delay is the total amount of time waited by all passengers in the sample, divided by the total number of passengers observed who entered hackney carriages.
The seasonality factor allows for the undertaking of rank survey work in periods which are not typical, although guidance is that such periods should normally be avoided if possible particularly as the impact of seasons may not just be on the level of passenger demand, but may also impact on the level of supply. This is particularly true in regard to if surveys are undertaken when schools are active or not.
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Periods when schools are not active can lead to more hackney carriage vehicles being available whilst they are not required for school contract work. Such periods can also reduce hackney carriage demand with people away on holiday from the area. Generally, use of hackney carriages is higher in December in the run-up to Christmas, but much lower in January, February and the parts of July and August when more people are likely to be on holiday. The factor tends to range from 0.8 for December (factoring high demand level impacts down) to 1.2 for January / February (inflating the values from low demand levels upwards).
There can be special cases where summer demand needs to be covered, although high peaks for tourist traffic use of hackney carriages tend not to be so dominant at the current time, apart from in a few key tourist authorities.
The peakiness factor is generally either 1 (level demand generally) or 0.5 (demand has a high peak at one point during the week). This is used to allow for the difficulty of any transport system being able to meet high levels of peaking. It is rarely possible or practicable for example for any public transport system, or any road capacity, to be provided to cover a few hours a week.
The latent demand factor was added following a court case. It comes from asking people in the on-street questionnaires if they have ever given up waiting for a hackney carriage at a rank in any part of the area. This factor generally only affects the level of the index as it only ranges from 1.0 (no-one has given up) to 2.0 (everyone says they have). It is also important to check that people are quoting legitimate hackney carriage rank waits as some, despite careful questioning, quote giving up waiting at home, which must be for a private hire vehicle (even if in hackney carriage guise as there are few private homes with taxi ranks outside).
The ISUD index is the result of multiplying each of the components together and benchmarking this against the cut-off value of 80. Changes in the individual components of the index can also be illustrative. For example, the growth of daytime hour queueing can be an earlier sign of unmet demand developing than might be apparent from the proportion of people experiencing a queue particularly as the former element is based on any wait and not just that averaging over a minute. The change to a peaky demand profile can tend towards reducing the potential for unmet demand to be significant.
Finally, any ISUD value must be interpreted in the light of the sample used to feed it, as well as completely in the context of all other information gathered. Generally, the guide of the index will tend not to be overturned in regard to significant unmet demand being identified, but this cannot be assumed to be the case – the index is a guide and a part of the evidence and needs to be taken fully in context.
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For this survey the results of the formal test of significance of unmet demand (the Index of Significance of unmet demand, ISUD) are presented in the Table below, together with previous results to provide context.
Component Current Values 2015 Full Excl Station survey Station only Average Passenger Delay (mins) 0.65 0.57 0.72 2.2 Off Peak Delay 2.78 4.35 0 12 Overall delays over a minute 28.18 23.1 23.25 38 Seasonal Factor 1 1 1 1 Peakiness factor 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 Latent Demand(combined) 1.11 1.05 1.06 1.035 (rank) ISUD calculated 23.23 29.87 0 502
Latent demand, rank only 1.077 1.02 1.057 Latent demand, hail only 1.033 1.03 1.003
As noted above, it is usual for ranks where there are supplementary restrictions, such as having to pay for permits, to be excluded in considering unmet demand and its significance as adding extra plates could not be guaranteed to add extra vehicles to such locations. However, the situation for Hull is complicated by the fact the station rank remains available when the station is closed, can sometimes be used by those without permits, and has become accepted as part of the overall rank provision, and a significant part at that.
However, the results show that all three tests for Hull provide levels of unmet demand which the index suggests are far from being significant, with the worst case being when council only ranks are considered. This does suggest some focus on the station rank, although that is also reasonable as it does provide the bulk of demand in the City at this time.
The situation has clearly improved since the last survey, when there was suggestion that observed unmet demand was significant using the index (although further consideration, see later, confirmed this was not due to vehicle shortages). The key change has been reduction in the average passenger delay values observed by quite significant levels. This was matched by reduction in the level of passengers travelling in hours where there was over a minute of average delay. Off peak delays also reduced – with the station actually seeing no such hours at all.
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However, latent demand has increased, interestingly with a focus on people saying they tend to give up at the station, which is counter to the other evidence from the index which suggests generally the station peforms better than the other council ranks.
From the pure index point of view, the result of this survey suggests that though there is both patent and latent unmet demand, this is not significant using the formal cut-off value of 80 in any scenario. It is therefore unlikely that a conclusion of unmet demand being significant will result overall, but the final judgement has to be from weighing and balancing all evidence (see succeeding chapters).
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8 Summary, synthesis and study conclusions This Hackney carriage unmet demand survey on behalf of Hull City Council has been undertaken following the guidance of the BPG and other recent case history regarding unmet demand and its significance.
Background and context The database of information for this survey was gathered during March and August 2018 including an inception, a tour of ranks, on street interviews, rank observation at the same time as in 2015, key stakeholder consultation and obtaining the views of licensed vehicle drivers and operators. Since the last survey, the transport planning background has not changed, although the rank infrastructure has changed significantly partly related to work undertaken in preparation for the year long celebrations in 2017.
Whilst hackney carriage vehicle numbers have remained the same through the period since the last survey, private hire grew, fell in 2017 and have recently seen further small increase. The area retains its fully wheel chair accessible hackney carriage vehicle policy, with no real WAV element to the private hire fleet, meaning any such operators are fully dependent on hackney carriages to provide WAV style transport. Private hire operator numbers have shown some growth, but not consistently. The hackney carriage vehicle limitation policy has been in place since at least 1994 and has seen regular review on the three-yearly guidance base of the Best Practice Guidance.
Rank observations Changes to central ranks saw the removal of one central rank, the movement of another, and access changes to the other main central rank. A new rank was introduced to the central area roads which has seen some usage. The suburban ranks also saw revision, with the attempts to provide ranks in one area effectively abandoned. Changes to club operation saw loss of use of one location and a new rank introduced to cover a new club introduced. The trade appears to have taken the opportunity these new ranks provided.
In essence the main change to overall rank usage has seen the private rail station rank become the principal focus of rank usage in the city centre, with some flexibility on the private nature allowed when necessary, used to good effect during the busy year.
Overall, since 2015 rank usage estimates are down about 4%, but still significantly less than the peak levels observed in 2009. The marginal overall reduction since 2015 has also seen a more significant reduction in the average passenger delay statistics since that survey.
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Despite the overall reduction, positive signs include two ranks now seeing some usage compared to 2015, and two new ranks seeing some fair levels of usage despite being new. Usage of the station, Lowgate and The Welly ranks has actually increased. Princes Avenue and Queen’s Gardens however have declined. The station rank dominates usage even more, now at 60%, with the second busiest rank having a quarter of that level. With the Queen’s Gardens rank, these three ranks provide over 90% of estimated passengers in a typical week.
On all three observed days, the peak rank usage was in the 23:00 hour. However, the Saturday peak was highest at a total of 319 passengers, with Friday two thirds of this level and the Thursday 43% of Friday. However, just one hour throughout the whole period observed saw no passengers at any rank, the 07:00 hour on the Saturday morning.
Total Saturday flows are about 40% higher than Friday. The busiest hour at any single location was 03:00 in the early hours of Saturday morning at the station, a time when the station was actually not operating, demonstrating the fact that this rank is now fully part of the City mix rather than being related strictly to the station.
Despite the dominance of the top three ranks, the area does see active ranks not just in the City centre, and hackney carriage service is clearly across the City not just focussed on the central area.
Disabled usage of ranks was high – with 15 people observed over the course of our actual surveys, and a further 48 observed with some non WAV necessary form of impairment. These levels of usage were higher than in 2015 which itself was a high level of usage compared to other areas around the country. This is clearly a benefit of the fully WAV style fleet.
Issues with abuse of ranks by other vehicles were moderate, with 12% of observed vehicles at or near ranks private cars. Private hire provided 8% of observations, out of town vehicles 2% and 1% goods vehicles. Many ranks are designed to prevent abuse, although key abuse was at the club ranks, where most competition is usually expected given the range of modes of transport used – with quite a number using private cars (and as typical for clubs, possibility that staff vehicles might be amongst those abusing the provision).
Main usage by private hire was at the St Stephen’s rank, partly related to its great location for access from the Centre, and perhaps partly related to less usage from that location by hackney carriges.
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Passenger delay was observed in 19% of observed rank operating hours, but only applied to 14% of all passengers, though 23% of passengers travelled in hours when there was average delay of a minute or more. However, in context the overall average passenger delay was 39 seconds, relatively low, and significantly lower than in 2015 despite our more robust sample size.
Using a similar methodology to 2015, but on the busiest day rather than the Friday, two thirds of the fleet were observed active on that day. A third of the total fleet were observed in two hours from 21:30 onwards at the station. Queen’s Gardens saw much less of the fleet. The observations confirm a good level of vehicle remain available were demand to increase, a good test of the flexibility of the fleet at the present time.
On street public views The on-street public views found a reduced level of 39% of people saying they had used a licensed vehicle in Hull in the three months before the survey. Overall usage at 0.9 licensed vehicle trips per person per month was also low, reduced from 2.4 in 2015, and reducing further to 0.3 trips by hackney carriage. However, the proportionate reduction for hackney carriages was much less, having only reduced from 0.5 in 2015. Hailing appeared to have increased significantly. The level of rank usage, with 32% saying they normally got licensed vehicles from a rank, was very similar to 2015.
For those phoning, there seems very good level of satisfaction with the company chosen, though there remains significant choice between operators, with just three gaining more than 10% of overall responses. The top three scored 23%, 15% and 12% totalling exactly half the total. Nine other companies had proportions ranging from 2% to 8%.
The level of people not remembering the last time they used a hackney carriage fell to 41%, consistent with the lesser reduction in overall usage of hackney carriages. The proportion never having seen a hackney carriage remained at the low level of 4% similar to 2015, possibly a result of the WAV styling of the vehicle making them more distinctive. Nearly three quarters said they used the rank they named. However, rank knowledge was much worse than in 2015, with the main rank known being the Station. Where ranks are known, the naming of them is uncertain. There was call for new ranks, but at a much lower level than in 2015.
Satisfaction with the hackney carriage service was significantly improved. The largest issue was driver communication although not at a significant level. However, the only issue that would increase hackney carriage usage was if they were cheaper.
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In terms of requirement for WAV style vehicles, less said they needed them or knew anyone who did, although the focus for those needing a vehicle was on WAV, very different to 2015.
Latent demand had increased since 2015. However, 90% said they felt there were enough hackney carriage in the City at this time.
With regard to electric vehicles, 51% of those responding said they would use one but only if it did not cost them any more; with just 6% willing to pay up to 10% more to use one.
Key stakeholder views Nearly all key stakeholders said their customers used licensed vehicles, but most were private hire either phoned for by staff or by customers, with little awareness of ranks apart from by hotels. The police had no issue with hackney carriage operations.
There was a view put forward by one disability group that their members were finding it hard to hail hackney carriages, and that they had to book well ahead if they wanted WAV at night (although this could relate to the issue that private hire are dependent on hackney carriages to provide booked WAV services).
Very positive views were given by the rail operator regarding the service provided at their private rank, although they also confirmed this rank was now more a key City rank than one just related to the station. Further, one public transport representative felt the performance during the City of Culture year demonstrated that the current level of hackney carriages remained appropriate and effective.
Trade views A best practise trade involvement through the study helped to set the overall background to current hackney carriage operations. Since the last survey there has been a move to hackney carriages operating less with private hire or radio links and to renting radios by shift rather than by the week. Focus has moved to the Station rank being the most significant, with many more vehicles having permits there (about 90% of the total) with just 10-12 vehicles focussing on the Queen’s Gardens rank. There had been some 15-20 plates sold arising from poor levels of business. Further, the trade encourages passengers to head to the main ranks to wait at night, rather than hailing, as people can wait under the cover of CCTV at the main rank locations, and they found it proves best to encourage all vehicles to service the main ranks rather than get ‘picked off’ by hailing on their way back to the ranks.
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The representative confirmed suburban ranks provide good levels of demand albeit often for short and specific periods only. However, the hackney carriage service does cover the whole of the City and not just the city centre. They also told us they felt they had been able to provide a good service to the City of Culture demands and only had issues with a few of the very largest events.
The all-driver survey did not provide a high level of response, with a higher proportion coming from private hire, which is unusual. The typical working week from respondents was five or six days, with longer hours worked typically by hackney carriage drivers. 9% chose not to drive when passengers were expected to be aggressive.
72% said they owned and drove their own vehicles with just 13% saying someone else drove their vehicle, quite low. 81% accepted pre-bookings, with many hackney carriages getting direct calls to their mobile numbers, often from recommendation.
The Station was the main rank, followed by Lowgate, Queen’s Gardens and Princes Avenue with equal shares quoted. 77%, including many private hire, agreed with the limit being retained at its current level. Reaction to more plates would typically be working longer to maintain income.
Whilst all hackney carriages said their main method of obtaining fares was from the ranks, none did this exclusively, although previous answers suggest direct phone was often a key method of obtaining fares from known customers.
Formal evaluation of significance of unmet demand The formal evaluation of unmet demand, using the industry standard index of significance of unmet demand (ISUD), was undertaken as a pointer determined from key elements of the rank and on street surveys. For Hull at this point in time in 2018, the results showed a worst case value of just under 30, well short of the cut-off value of 80 taken to suggest unmet demand could be significant.
The index also suggested that the station rank sees best service, as might be expected given the extra cost and also its dominance. It also suggests the performance of the hackney carriages has improved since the last survey. The only element of the index which has worsened is that for latent demand. However, the overall conclusion is that there is no unmet demand that is significant from the ISUD point of view. It is therefore highly unlikely that any other factor will outweigh this conclusion.
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Synthesis The licensed vehicle situation in Hull has changed significantly since the last survey in 2015. Key changes relate to the city centre traffic revisions and other adaptations in advance of the City of Culture celebrations in 2017. The club scene has changed significantly, and the hackney carriage trade has gained a clear focus through new representation. The main rank focus has become the station, where a supplementary permit is needed, yet more have felt demand has encouraged them to take this permit. Despite this focus, other ranks are used, including many in the suburbs, and the hackney carriage fleet provides generally city-wide levels of service to customers.
Although the trade encourage customers at night to go to the main ranks, there is still a high level of hailing claimed by those spoken to in the streets. The move to servicing ranks as the main way to meet late night demand, together with reduced demand, has seen a significant improvement in the level of service to customers as measured by elements of the ISUD index.
The only two negative points identified from this survey are a very poor current knowledge of ranks by the public, and some limited comment that it is now hard to get a WAV by booking in evenings and at night, which could be a result of the policy change and the fact that all WAV style licensed vehicles are within the hackney carriage fleet.
Conclusion The overwhelming conclusion is that there is no unmet demand at this point in time, either patent or latent that could be considered significant in terms of Section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act. The committee therefore has the option available of retaining the hackney carriage vehicle limit, and also retaining this at the current level of active plates at the time of the survey.
From our national experience and from our review of all the available evidence in Hull at this time, we consider that the limit is currently acting in the public interest, ensuring good service is provided to those wishing to use hackney carriage services across the City. The positive attitude and operating principles of the trade should be encouraged and appreciated, and the limit is a key way this could be communicated by the Committee.
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9 Recommendations On the basis of the evidence gathered in this Hackney carriage unmet demand survey for Hull City Council, our key conclusion is that there is no evidence of any unmet demand for the services of hackney carriages either patent or latent which is significant at this point in time in the Hull City Council licensing area. The committee is therefore able to choose to retain the limit, at the level of active plates at the time of the survey, and would be able to support this decision if necessary.
There remains the need to ensure the view about unmet demand is kept current, and best practise currently recommends repeat no more than three years, meaning a fresh, independent survey, is required to occur with rank surveys undertaken no later than mid-May 2021, and note should be made to procure such services to allow this review to occur.
There would be strong merit in better advertisement of the current active ranks, with an on-line and printed map a sensible option.
Finally, the issue of access to WAV style vehicles via private hire companies would merit additional review to ensure that the highly accessible hackney carriage fleet, demonstrably well-used, is clearly understood and available to all.
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Appendix 1 – Industry statistics
Hull City Council
No given start date, but at least since 1994
% lv total % hcv hcv phv hcd phd Operators phv total d WAV WAV 1994D 150 193 1994D 85 1997D 150 980 1130 189 997 1186 1997D 85 1999D 150 995 1145 193 1069 1262 1999D 63 71 2001D 169 934 1103 192 1000 1192 2001D 61 100 2004D 170 910 1080 196 904 1100 2004D 56 100 2005D 170 917 1087 207 986 1193 2005D 58 100 2007D 170 970 1140 232 1070 1302 2007D 64 100 2009D 170 1124 1294 221 1161 1382 2009D 91 100 2010N 170 1118 1288 221 1192 1412 2010N 88 100 2011D 170 1155 1325 220 1222 1442 2011D 85 100 2012N 170 1190 1360 228 1266 1493 2012C 96 100 0.4 2013D 170 1199 1369 235 1309 1544 2013D 106 100 0.5 2014N 170 1194 1364 237 1323 1560 2014N 100 100 2015D 170 1125 1295 239 1336 1575 2015D 94 100 2017D 170 1043 1213 220 1139 1359 2017D 101 100 2018C 170 1071 1241 220 1171 1391 2018C 107 100
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Appendix 2 – List of ranks (in order of 2018 level of usage)
List Location No. of Operation Comments T.R.O sign in place Number Taxis Time
019 Ferensway, West side 24 hrs Taxi permit None Survey Outside Paragon Interchange holders only Trade comment – they feel they work well with the station (the station agreed this). 80% of hcv have permits, and there has been recent agreement that on very busy days the non permit vehicles can help out if no vehicles are there. Though this rank is private, it remains open to all 24 hours and tends to be the main night rank alongside Lowgate. Both the trade and station advised us of this, and both were very pleased this was the case, and felt it served customers well. Lowgate, East side 8 8.00pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 8.00pm-6.00am 014 Before Scale Lane 6.00am “Stand for ? taxis 8.00pm – 6.00 am” survey Head of rank SVW 7/17 CL 2018 015 Lowgate, East side 6 9.30pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 8.00pm-6.00am survey Before Bishop Lane 6.00am “Stand for ? taxis 9.30 pm – 6.00 am” (with Feeder to above SVW 7/17 CL 2018 above) Queen’s Gardens 9 24 hrs Taxi rank At any time except taxis 012 (formerly in Alfred Gelder St, paved area “Stand for ? taxis” survey South side outside Empress PH, SVW 07/17 CL 2018 but moved with road revisions) Trade note – IV 2018 – Ferensway and Queen’s Gardens (QG) are the two daytime ranks. However, QG demand is slow and many have taken rail permits since the last survey to give them other opportunities. QG has about 10-12 regular hcv servicing it. Typical demand is one job an hour! Busy times are 1400-1600 when North Sea Ferries workers are going home, and 1200-1500 Saturday for shopping demand. Text alerts and facebook are used to communicate between hc drivers. Drivers encourage passengers to wait at the two key locations of the Station and Lowgate at night, and discourage flagging which can lead to shortage of vehicles at ranks and queues. Both locations are actively observed by CCTV encouraging safe waiting. Friday demand is now believed to be half of Saturday. 023 Beverley Rd, West side 4 6.30pm- Located in “Stand for 4 taxis 6.30pm to 6.00am” survey Outside Wellington Club 6.00am parking bay IV – mainly Thursday nights Beverley Rd, West side Non- 11.30pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 11.30pm-6am 022 Outside Banks Harbour P.H stated 6.00am Combined taxi survey and t.r.o signs (with located both above) ends of taxi
bay Newland Ave, East side 4 10.00pm- DYL “No stopping except Taxis” Outside Piper club 6.00am “Stand for 2 taxis” 029 SVW 5/17 IV 2018 Survey Mainly used midnight to 0200 Issues in being across vehicular access to the club.
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Paragon St, either side at West 4 + 4 24 hours TBM + DYL No waiting at any time except taxis Survey end, new since last survey “Stand for ? taxis” (both sides) IV SVW not yet updated for revision 031 Princes Ave, East side 3 6.30pm- On street No waiting except taxis survey Outside The Linnet and Lark P.H., 1.00am parking 6.30pm-1.00am now The Bowery P.H. “Stand for 3 taxis” SVW 5/17
030 Princes Ave, East side 4 6.30pm- On street No waiting except taxis survey Outside Dukes cafe/ bar 1.00am parking 6.30pm-1.00am (with “Stand for 4 taxis” above) SVW 5/17
Trade comment – the above two ranks are both busy but principally around midnight. A private hire office is also nearby. Demand further up the road at Pearson’s is met by people phoning or by flagging down hcv travelling to the above ranks. Baker Street, South side 4 11.00pm- On street “Stand for 4 taxis” 038 Outside rear of central library. 6.00am loading bays SVW 7/17 Survey Before Prospect St Renewed usage with opening of Fuel club opposite. 008 Ferensway, West side 4 24hrs TBM No stopping Except taxis Outside St Stephens Holiday Inn + solid yellow “Stand for 4 taxis 24 hrs” survey line SVW 7/17 CL 2018
Cleveland St, West side 4 11.30pm- Single yellow “Stand for 4 taxis 11.30pm to 6.00 Outside Spiders night club 6.00am line am” 018 Operates Sat nights only – confirmed by trade with Survey reduction due to buses and a nearby phv office – key time is 0200-0300 Ranks still in place, but rarely used (with reasons) Anlaby Rd, North side 1 11.30pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 11.30pm-6am. Opposite Midland St 6.00am “Taxi stand for 1 taxi 11.30pm to 6.00 am” 020 SVW 7/17 CL 2018 Little footfall, main rail exit is near main rank. Anlaby Rd Non- 11.30pm- TBM + DYL At any time North side stated 6.00am Combined taxi except taxis 021 O/S First Trans-Pennine rail car (about and t.r.o signs 11.30pm-6am park 5) located both SVW 7/17 ends of taxi Little footfall, main rail exit is near bay main rank.
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Princes Ave, East side 4 6.30pm- On street No waiting except taxis 6.30pm-1.00am “Stand for 4 taxis 6.30pm – 1.00am” North of Hinderwell St 1.00am parking bays Outside no 80 Nb rank sign SVW 7/17 047 added since Main activity at rank further south on Princes Avenue (see above) Aug 14 streetview George St, North side 3 11.00pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis Outside Hull Trinity Academy 6.00am 11pm-6am “Stand for 3 taxis 11.00 pm – 6.00am” 003 SVW 7/17 CL 2018 “ IV2018 – markings very faded on road.
Club served closed and converted to residential flat accommodation George St, South side 2 11.00pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 11pm-6am
Outside White House Dental 6.00am “Stand for 2 taxis 11.00pm – 6.00am” SVW 7/17 IV 2018 002 Practice Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. George St, North side 3 11.00pm- TBM + DYL At any time except taxis 11pm-6am Opposite Kenworthy House, 6.00am “Stand for 3 taxis 11.00pm – 6.00am” 004 outside George House SVW 7/17 IV 2018 Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. West St, South side 6 24 hrs TBM No waiting except taxis. Opposite prospect centre No loading 8.00am-6.30pm Feeds Cross St, 006 “Stand for ? Taxis 24 hrs” 005 SVW 7/17 Less used with loss of main Ferensway rank Cross St, East side 2 24 hrs TBM No waiting except taxis. Feeds Mill St 007 No loading 8.00am-6.00pm “Stand for 2 Taxis 24 hrs” SVW 7/17 006 Markings faded as on cobbled surface Less used with loss of main Ferensway rank Mill St, North side 4 24hrs TBM + DYL No waiting except taxis. Former feeder to Ferensway No loading 8.00am-6.00pm Southbound, now removed. “Stand for 2 Taxis 24 hrs” 007 SVW 7/17 CL 2018 Less used with loss of main Ferensway rank, also on SVW was under roadworks Anne St, West side 5 11.30pm- DYL “Taxi stand for five cars 11.30 pm – 010 Outside Divas PH 6.00am 6.00 am” (old sign) SVW 7/17 Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey.
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Anlaby Rd / Carr Lane, North side 3 8.00pm- Middle of “Stand for 3 taxis 8pm to 2am” 011 Before South St 2.00am redundant bus CL 2018 SVW 7/17 o/s Ebenzer Morley stop road Rarely used for some while, including at markings. time of last survey. Market Place, West side 3 10.00pm- DYL “Stand for 3 taxis 10.00pm to 6.00 013 Outside Job centre Plus 6.00am am” SVW 5/17 CL 2018 Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. Kingston Square, West side 2 6.00pm- DYL Old sign “Taxi stand for 2 cars 6 pm – 016 After Albion St. O/S Kingston 1.30am 1.30 am SVW 7/17 CL 2018 Court flats Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. Cottingham Rd, North side 2 / 4 8.00pm- For 2 cars “Taxi. stand for two cars 8.00 pm to 027 Opposite Old Grey Mare P.H 11.30pm Dual rank 11.30 pm and for four cars 11.30pm to 11.30pm- For 4 cars 6.00 am” (old sign)
6.00am Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. Cottingham Rd, North side 2 10.00am- DYL Double “Taxi stand for two cars 10.00 am to 028 Approx 185m west of Ferens Ave 4.00pm yellow lines 4.00 pm” (old sign) Rarely used for some while, including at time of last survey. Holderness Rd, South side 4 8.00pm- None Old sign “Taxi stand for four cars 8.00 032 Outside the Mill P.H 4.00am pm to 4.00 am” SVW 5/17 033 Holderness Rd, South side 4 6.00pm- Single yellow “Stand for 4 taxis 6.00pm to 6.00 am” Outside The Crown P.H 6.00am line SVW 5/17 Wellington St, North side 2 8.00pm- DYL Double Old sign – “Taxi stand for two cars 034 West of Humber Place 1.00am yellow lines 8.00pm to 1.00am” on cobbled street, SVW 7/17 036 Hessle Rd, South side Non- Non- TBM for 2 cars No waiting at any time except taxis Outside Asda car park stated stated in lay by SVW 7/17 Beverley Rd, East side 3 8.00pm- Single yellow Mon-Sat 7am-9am 4pm-6.30am Outside Zachariah Pearson P.H, 3.00am line “Stand for 3 taxis 8pm to 3am” visible on now the Harry Pursey P.H. streetview Aug 14, also seen IV 2018 but identified as unused by Trade Rep 001 George St, North side 7 9.00pm- Raised paved “Stand for 7 taxis 9.00 pm to 6.00 Opposite Browns books 6.00am taxi rank am”, IV 2018
Ranks removed since previous survey
Ferensway, East side 5 24hrs TBM + DYL No stopping Outside House of Fraser Except taxis 009 REMOVED WITH ROADWORKS
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Ranks not identified by review
017 Kingston Square, West side 2 6.00pm- DYL SVW 7/17 no evidence any more Before John St 1.30am Beverley Rd, East side 4 11.30pm- Located in SVW 7/17 no evidence any more 024 Outside Grove house residential 6.00am parking bay home 025 Beverley Rd, East side 3 8.00pm- Single yellow No evidence SVW 05/17, sign was Before Washington St 11.30pm Line there in 2014 SVW Spring Street, West side 4 11.00pm- Parking bays SVW 7/17 nothing obvious Before Portland Street 6.00am 042
No waiting except taxis Newland Ave, West side 3 6.30pm- Parking bays After Ella St Outside no 31 1.00am Temporary 6.30pm-1.00am 043 Suspended SVW 5/17 and IV - gone 18.02.15 No waiting except taxis Newland Ave, West side 3 6.30pm- Parking bays After Ella St Outside no 41 1.00am Temporary 6.30pm-1.00am 044 Suspended SVW 5/17 and IV – gone 18.02.15 No waiting except taxis Newland Ave, East side 2 6.30pm- Parking bays Outside no 18 1.00am Temporary 6.30pm-1.00am 045 Suspended SVW 5/17 and IV – gone 18.02.15 Newland Ave, East side 2 6.30pm- Parking bays No waiting except taxis
Opposite no 41 1.00am Temporary 6.30pm-1.00am 046 Suspended SVW 5/17 and IV – gone 18.02.15 Note: IV 2018 Other four ranks above set up to service other clubs including Tofts but had not been in best locations and unused. Actual pick-ups now occur opposite Marshall Street Humber Dock St, East side 3 24 hrs Old sign and plate there Aug 14 035 Before Blanket Row streetview, now no evidence SVW 7/17 Alfred Gelder St, South side 5 9.00pm- On street No waiting except taxis Opposite Guildhall 3.00pm parking bays 9.00pm-3.00am 037 Temporary Appears gone, SVW 7/17 Suspended 10.12.14 Spring Bank West, South side 8 None – unable to see SVW 7/17 039 Temporary In Lay by before Pulman St Hull fair Stand for Anlaby Rd, North side 2 None – now bus lane, unable to see on hours duration of 040 After Lonsdale St o/s Pole 4 SVW 7/17 Hull Fair Fitness
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Preston Rd, South Side 6 None DYL None – nothing visible SVW 7/16 041 Before Poorhouse Lane. Adjacent to K.C Light stream Stadium Key to notes above: DYL – Double Yellow Lines SVW – comment identified from Streetview review Aug 2018 TBM- Taxi bay marked on road CL 2018 – on council list 2018 from internet IV – Inception day visit with trade, 2018 Trade note – IV 2018 – tends to be one busy and one quiet Saturday per month with the other Saturdays with demand in between. Only 20 hcv now work on phv circuits, and many tend to rent radios by shift.
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Appendix 3 – Timetable of rank observations
Please see separate document
Appendix 4 – Detailed rank observation results
Please see separate document
Appendix 5 – Detailed on street interview results
Please see separate document
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Appendix 6 List of Stakeholders consulted
Key consultee Response Supermarkets Asda, Mount Pleasant N Asda, Beverley Road Y Sainsbury’s Local, Newland Avenue Y Morrison’s, Holderness Road Y Morrison’s, Anlaby (N) Tesco Superstore, Hall Road Y Waitrose, Willerby Y Sainsbury’s, Hessle Y
Hotels Express by Holiday Inn, City Centre Y Premier Inn, Tower Street Y Mercure Hull Royal Hotel Y Hotel Ibis Y Pickering Park Hotel N Cross Keys Hotel Y The Dorchester Hotel Y Inkerman Tavern N The George Hotel Y
Restaurants / Cafes Napoleons Y Pelhams (N) 1884 Wine and Tapas Bar Y Two Rivers Restaurant N Riddlers (N) Garbos Bar and Grill N Texas Tony’s Café Hull N
Entertainment The Deep Aquarium Y Big Fun Hull N The New Adelphi Club (N) Funstation, St Stephen’s, Hull Y Hull Truck Theatre Y Escape Hull Y Hull New Theatre (N) City Limits Witham N
Public Houses Sailmakers Y Head of Steam Hull Y The Three John Scotts N Ye Old Black Boy (N)
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Ye Old White Harte (N) Larkins Bar Y The Bowery Y The Piper Newland Avenue (N) Banks Harbour (N) Admiral of the Humber N Ebenezer Morley Y
Night Clubs Welly Club (N) Spiders (N) Yates Trinity House Y Fuel (N) Gate No. 5 (N) The Old School House (N) Atik N Propaganda N
Other key stakeholder groups Hull Royal Hospital N First Transpennine, Hull Y (face to face) Passenger Transport Support, Hull City Y Senior Passenger Transport Officer, Hull City Y Transport Strategy Officer, Hull City Y Hull and East Riding Institute for the Blind N Learning Partnership Board (N) HCDP N Choices and Rights Y Humberside Police N FIND N Hull RED (N) 5 Senses N CASE Training N Danny’s Dream N
Trade Hackney carriage representative Y (rank tour) Private Hire – via A2Z Licensing N All drivers, via on-line and letter questionnaire Y Key: - Y, response; N – no response despite contact; (N) – unable to get any response to contact at all; R – refused to contribute.