Motorcabbies Invite Reduced "Tips."
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A correspondent of this journal recently expressed the view in our columns that taxi-drivers were shaping towards " queering their pitch." This result has been effectually achieved. So many untruths were uttered about the averages of " extras " and "tips," to the utter disgust of the cab-using public, that not a few hirers are now changed men. The generous " tip " of a few weeks ago is often replaced by the " average of id. per fare," for which one of the several rival secretaries vouches. It has been the writer's custom, heretofore, to give never less than is. to a driver in respect of a short-distance run8d. on " the clock," and 4d. to the driver: each man, therefore, pocketed 6d. (less, say, id. for the petrol consumed). The temptation to alter this is great. Why not pay 9d. The men's representatives, and the men themselves, assert that it is the rule. Why be the ex
ception—especially if it is not appreciated? We are almost converted to acceptance of the implied invitation from the men themselves to give only " the average of id" Then, too, in our " Twenty Points for Users of London Taxicabs," some 1,500 of which hang on the walls of the leading clubs, hotels, restaurants and other places where cab-hirers do largely congregate, and also in the wiaile of the 50,000 copies which we printed in pamphlet form, this paragraph occurs: "In addition to the exact charges, a civil and capable driver may be given a reasonable tip." Do the men wish to have this expunged from future issues of wall-cards and pamphlets: It looks as though that were the case. One of the secretaries, Mr. Sam Michaels, at a street meeting, is officially reported to have said•" We have Mr. Shrapnel' Smith asking the public to refrain from giving us tips." We are, here, obliged to protest. This statement is wholly untrue.
Our plan of campaign, with the clear objectives of conveying information to the public in regard to the fundamental points of taxicab law and, more recently, of exposing the fallacious nature of the widespread assertions that taxicab drivers earned meagre incomes, dates back to our issue of 27th January last, in which we published. in their original form, the "Twenty Points for Users of London Taxicabs," to which earlier reference has been made in this column. We have been at no time opposed to the drivers as a class, and the writer has at no time misrepresented them in the Press or elsewhere: he has stated that it was the custom of more than 75 per cent. of the men to fail to mark up the "extras " in the spaces provided for the purpose, and that they deliberately pocketed the money. We at no time said that " each man " took 2s. a day, but that this was the average. The words " each man " were, without authority or justification, put into the mouth of a member of the editorial staff of this journal, by a certain daily newspaper, in reporting an interview.
Scotland Yard Licenses an
Insufficiency of Taxi,-drivers.
We asked, four weeks ago, for 3,000 more taxi-drivers to meet London's imminent requirements, to the end that the public demand for motorcttbs may be adequately met without further avoidable delay. The shortage to which we then directed public attention has been denied, but official statistics for the 12 months ended the 31st ult. confirm the accuracy of our view. The following licences were issued by the Public Carriage Office during that period : for new motorcabs, 1,934; for newly-qualified drivers, 1,8,19. These figures disclose an insufficiency of supply which is of more-serious import than may appear. A fresh deficiency of 85 men, at a stage of growth when there is already a dearth, is of far-reaching effect. The total of motoreab licences in force at 31st ult. was 5,256; the total of drivers licensed to take them out was 5,580. How, we ask, can the legitimate and normal calls of the public be satisfied in these circumstances? Double-shift working is impossible, and a considerable proportion of the (albs is not on the road when it otherwise might be. At the end of the year 1904, when only two motorcab licences had been issued in the Metropolis, the total of hackneycarriages was 11,057, and the total of licensed drivers was 13,066. That gave a ratio of 1.18 man per cab, whereas to-day's ratio is 1.06 man per motorcab ! To permit a desirable percentage of double-shift working, the ratio should be at least three men to two cabs. To-day's state of affairs must be remedied, and theopportunity to put it right is vested in Sir Edward Henry and his chief officers. How soon will they recognize the occasion for a change of attitude? Have not men been "turned down" with a degree of apparent harshness, and without evidence of enough latitude„ in thematter of street and route knowledge? We hesitate tostate that there has been much unnecessary severity ; we do feel, however, the risk that expediency may be sacrificed to the ideal of exactitude in respect -of the geographical test. It is not too late, even now, at a time when hirers and proprietors are suffering in common, for a revision of the marking system to be made, for a reasonable increase—if only temporarily—to be sanctioned in the number of " errors " allowed during the viva-voce* examination, and for men who are efficient as drivers to be encouraged to face the task of " learning London." Of two evils, from the cab-using public's standpoint, an occasional deviation by the all-but-perfect driver from the best route is leas than the lack of any driver whatsoever! Further, we endorse the claims of those who say that the " finishing touches" to a driver's road and short-cut lore are rapidly given by his first month at the wheel of a motoreab which is actually plying for hire. Scotland Yard has a most-difficult duty to perform, in holding the balance between aspirants and the public with whom the men will come into contact should they ha passed, hut we maintain that there is a sound case for a slight lowering of the present high standard in the matter of a man's initial detailed acquaintance with out-of-the-way destinations or the names of short connecting streets.