New rules coming into force next year mean that all hackney carriage taxis in South Gloucestershire must be wheelchair accessible. But the changes have led to fears that more drivers could quit and switch over to private hire vehicles, such as Uber, instead.
From July all hackney carriages registered in the district will have to be accessible to people in wheelchairs. Hackney carriages are the sort of taxis that passengers can hail in the street or at a rank outside a station, while private hire vehicles must be booked in advance, like via an app.
South Gloucestershire Council has been considering the policy for years but delayed and delayed the new rules, most recently due to a shortage of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. But councillors on the regulatory committee finally voted through the changes on November 14.
David Redgewell, a transport campaigner, said: “There are hardly any buses now to the villages of Wotton-under-Edge, Charfield, Wickwar and Hawkesbury Upton. People in those areas are relying on public taxi services. I often use them from Yate railway station.
“Without accessibility, a driver would have to literally take my wheelchair to pieces and put it back together. It’s not acceptable. There’s a risk if I fall and can’t get back up. Local transport authorities should be making sure that the network is fully accessible.”
But there are concerns that the new rules would drive down the number of hackney carriages in the district even further, after dropping precipitously since the pandemic. Many drivers have recently switched over to private hire vehicles.
Shashikumar Bhurton, director of Bristol Parkway Taxis, said: “The overall concern is there’s a lack of hackneys. The main places we have taxi ranks in South Gloucestershire are Bristol Parkway and Kingswood High Street. Has there been any data to support that we have to all have WAVs?”
The last delay was in March 2023. A survey was promised to explore the demand for wheelchair-accessible vehicles in South Gloucestershire, but this hasn’t been done. One council officer said they couldn’t find any external consultant who could carry out the survey.
Conservative Councillor Keith Cranney said: “We will probably end up with a lot less hackneys, which does seem quite unfair because they’re out there trying to earn a living. They [hackney carriage drivers] aren’t doing anything wrong and they’re working well to provide public transport for our residents in South Glos.
“We owe it to the trade to be clear and transparent, and not just make that decision gung-ho until that survey is done. Then we can say that all the relevant data has been gathered. Until that’s done I think we have no option but to defer, until that survey is carried out and we’re burnished with all the proper facts about how much disability use is needed.
“We’re dealing with people’s livelihoods here. Let’s be fair to all sides. I’m not saying we don’t need wheelchair-accessible vehicles, we clearly do. But let’s find out the actual need here in South Glos.”
However, the committee then took a recess, in which they continued to discuss the policy but without members of the public or the press being able to observe what was said. After the recess, Cllr Cranney appeared to have completely changed his mind.
He said: “Having had the opportunity to discuss our concerns, and having taken further advice from officers, I would like to withdraw my earlier motion [to defer the decision]. Instead I would like to propose that, if that committee is minded, we support the recommendation to update the council’s policy, so that all hackney carriages are wheelchair accessible from July 1, 2025.”
Six months after that date, council staff will report back to the committee on the impact of the changes. After the meeting, Cllr Cranney was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service what happened during the recess to lead to his change of mind. He did not provide an answer.