Taxi to nowhere: Virus measures hit London black cab business
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Tony Georgiou sighed as he stood in front of a field full of parked taxi cabs, admitting he has lost count of how many are there.
Many London taxi drivers rent their instantly recognizable black cabs from fleet companies such as GB Taxi Services, where Georgiou is one of the owners.
But with London鈥檚 streets emptied by the coronavirus lockdown, many drivers are unable to keep paying for their vehicles and are handing them back in droves.
鈥淭here are probably around 150 to 200 vehicles that are here, which we鈥檝e had to take off the road,鈥 said Georgiou, whose company has parked its vehicles in Epping northeast of the capital. 鈥淚鈥檝e lost count.鈥
Famed worldwide, the British capital鈥檚 bulbous black cabs were originally designed to accommodate a passenger in a top hat.
To earn a license, drivers have to pass a fiendishly difficult exam called 鈥淭he Knowledge,鈥 which tests their recall of streets, routes and landmarks purely from memory.
But fields full of taxis are now a mass phenomenon, said Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers鈥 Association (LTDA).
鈥淚t鈥檚 happening all over, all round the M25 there are fields with cabs like that,鈥 said McNamara, referring to the main orbital motorway around London.
He called the situation 鈥渢otally and utterly unprecedented鈥 and 鈥渁lready not survivable for some.鈥
British symbol
Georgiou said that around 50 of the parked vehicles have already been targeted by thieves who removed catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters that will cost some 120,000 pounds (US$160,000) to replace.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 tell you if we are confident to get through this at the moment. It is a struggle,鈥 he said of his company, which has been operating for over 16 years.
Currently, only some 20 percent of cabs are operating, McNamara said, basing the assessment on the association鈥檚 own vehicle counts and official figures from Heathrow Airport.
The LTDA has around 11,000 members out of a total number of about 20,000 black cab drivers in the city.
McNamara now wants taxi drivers to get more financial support from the government, arguing that they recently invested in costly electric cabs and electronic payment machines.
London鈥檚 first horse-drawn cabs appeared in the 17th century.
The black cabs were once in a list of British symbols recognizable around the world, including red telephone boxes and police in conical helmets.
But McNamara said: 鈥淭he only one that鈥檚 left is black cabs.鈥
COVID-19 is 鈥渨ithout doubt the prime factor鈥 for falling numbers of taxis, he said.
Uber and other ride-hailing apps are 鈥渁bsolutely not鈥 a factor, he added, arguing that their prices have crept up and drivers are unpredictable.
Those cabbies still on the road may be earning 20 percent of their usual income, which can range from 15,000 to 80,000 pounds per year.
鈥淲e鈥檝e lost 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles since June,鈥 he said.
Some drivers have switched to making deliveries for supermarkets but the 鈥渧ast majority鈥 are not working, he added.
鈥業ncredibly frightening鈥
According to official figures from Transport for London (TfL), the number of licensed black cabs has gone down from more than 19,000 on March 1 this year to just under 15,000 on November 8.
A TfL spokesman said it had advised drivers on how to stay safe and mentally healthy during the pandemic and they have had grants to help them buy low-emission vehicles.
Drivers are 鈥渃alling on the government for more support鈥 rather than TfL, he said.
One cab driver, Sam Houston, was waiting in a queue at Heathrow to get a fare.
With air travel constrained, hitting tourism, he said the wait could be 20 to 24 hours instead of the normal three.
The 45-year-old has been a taxi driver for eight years and says that in normal circumstances it is a 鈥済ood living.鈥
But the COVID-19 period is 鈥渢he most difficult time I鈥檝e ever experienced,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he feeling it鈥檚 a semi-permanent change to the economy, a lot of people are finding that incredibly frightening.鈥
While some taxi drivers have claimed self-employed furlough payouts from the government, many have not qualified, he said, urging 鈥渢argeted support for our industry from local government and national government.鈥
McNamara also says taxi drivers should be singled out for help, in the same way that government helped restaurants try to bounce back after their enforced closure.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been hit equally hard, if not harder than the hospitality sector,鈥 he said.
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