Cyclists advised to avoid Bank junction at rush hour ahead of cabbie protest

ianrobo wrote:

Awful news for cyclists in London as Uber gets the green light to run taxi's unregulated.

Some cyclists may have bad words for Black cabs but to encourage even more unregulated cars onto London Streets which are killers with pollution is simply bad news for all.

Uber cabs have a much higher utilisation rate than black cabs.  So more of their driving is actually taking people places, rather than just driving round looking for fares.  Which surely causes less pollution?

The two main arguments I can see with Uber are that black cabs can fit a wheelchair in, so are a boon to the disabled; and that the Uber fares are so cheap that they could tempt people who'd usually use public transport into a cab.

But black cabs in no way deserve their privileged status with places to park everywhere, use of bus lanes plus ability to do no wrong in the eyes of the police.

I'm no fan of Uber but the rules that TFL have come up with would surely be challengeable in court as anticompetitive.

The proposals include a minimum five-minute wait time between ordering a private hire vehicle and it arriving, and banning operators from showing cars for hire within a smartphone app - a hallmark of the American company's service.

TfL is also proposing that passengers must be able to book fares up to seven days in advance, and limiting ride-sharing

Ride-sharing is something that should be allowed to reduce congestion and reduce pollution. It sounds like these rules have been written by Black cab drivers.

cat1commuter wrote:

I would have thought that cyclists would still be able to get through. If the traffic is stationary, it might be safer than usual!

Dig out the mountain bike or trails bike - Perfect timing to brush up on your skills for the winter months.

IanEdward wrote:

Quote:

Come on Google, autonomous cars by 2020, it'd see the end of all black cabs, minicabs, Addison Lee drivers and uber drivers etc.

Yeah! Get all those lazy bastards out of a job and on benefits where they belong by getting a massive foreign corporation to automate their jobs!

Progress (or rather, change) is always good for some and bad for others.

It would provide less hazardous work for other people in numerous countries, including our own. The cars will still have to be built and maintained, which means jobs. Fewer dangerously driven vehicles would make the congested streets less hazardous, encouraging more people to cycle and would reduce the pollution that kills thousands, tourists would like them and the suits and media types that routinely use taxis wouldn't complain as the driverless car journey will go on their expenses just as the taxi did but without the 'banter'.

Did you complain when high street grocers, butchers and miscellaneous food shops closed due to monopolisation by massive stores built by Tesco et al on edge-of-town greenfield sites (with new roads built solely to facilitate driving there)?

Or when rag & bone men and scrap merchants and other opportunists were replaced by council recycling & refuse trucks?

Or when the Cycling News, Bikeradar, road.cc etc became more useful than Cycling Weekly & the bi-monthly CTC mag for cycling news and reviews?

Do you still insist on going to your LBS for everything or do you flex your credit card with Wiggle / CRC?

Mobile phones, GPS etc are manufactured by their millions in China. Do you still buy & use paper maps from a newsagent to navigate and listen to Radio 4 for the weather instead?

Simon E wrote:

IanEdward wrote:

Quote:

Come on Google, autonomous cars by 2020, it'd see the end of all black cabs, minicabs, Addison Lee drivers and uber drivers etc.

Yeah! Get all those lazy bastards out of a job and on benefits where they belong by getting a massive foreign corporation to automate their jobs!

Progress (or rather, change) is always good for some and bad for others.

It would provide less hazardous work for other people in numerous countries, including our own. The cars will still have to be built and maintained, which means jobs. Fewer dangerously driven vehicles would make the congested streets less hazardous, encouraging more people to cycle and would reduce the pollution that kills thousands, tourists would like them and the suits and media types that routinely use taxis wouldn't complain as the driverless car journey will go on their expenses just as the taxi did but without the 'banter'.

Did you complain when high street grocers, butchers and miscellaneous food shops closed due to monopolisation by massive stores built by Tesco et al on edge-of-town greenfield sites (with new roads built solely to facilitate driving there)?

Or when rag & bone men and scrap merchants and other opportunists were replaced by council recycling & refuse trucks?

Or when the Cycling News, Bikeradar, road.cc etc became more useful than Cycling Weekly & the bi-monthly CTC mag for cycling news and reviews?

Do you still insist on going to your LBS for everything or do you flex your credit card with Wiggle / CRC?

Mobile phones, GPS etc are manufactured by their millions in China. Do you still buy & use paper maps from a newsagent to navigate and listen to Radio 4 for the weather instead?

Globalisation is a curse.

Personally I think the quality of the black cab drivers is better than anything I've seen from Addison-Lee. The idea of Uber worries me.

Cycling home this did not cause me one iota of problems (but to be fair I don't cycle through Bank).

IanEdward wrote:

Quote:

Come on Google, autonomous cars by 2020, it'd see the end of all black cabs, minicabs, Addison Lee drivers and uber drivers etc.

Yeah! Get all those lazy bastards out of a job and on benefits where they belong by getting a massive foreign corporation to automate their jobs! Bring on the Amazon drones as well, get all those delivery drivers out of a job as well!

Shouldn't you be out ploughing a field somewhere - by hand.

kie7077 wrote:

IanEdward wrote:

Quote:

Come on Google, autonomous cars by 2020, it'd see the end of all black cabs, minicabs, Addison Lee drivers and uber drivers etc.

Yeah! Get all those lazy bastards out of a job and on benefits where they belong by getting a massive foreign corporation to automate their jobs! Bring on the Amazon drones as well, get all those delivery drivers out of a job as well!

Shouldn't you be out ploughing a field somewhere - by hand.

Onward to fully automated luxury communism.

picko wrote:

Why is the title: "Cyclists advised to avoid Bank junction..." when the first line says "Cyclists and motorists have been told to avoid Bank junction..."?
The title makes out that cyclists are being singled out when this is not the case.

Because this is a cycling website and it resonates better with the readers

Asian Bike Man wrote:

Black Cap drivers are not the enemy. They just want to work and make a living like anyone else. We Live in a free country (or think we do at least). It is important to at least understand what they are try to say.

The individual drivers aren't, and there's nothing wrong with the principle of a regulated taxi industry. Many of us will have had bad experiences with taxi drivers in London, but they don't all deserve a bad reputation as collective responsibility is as unacceptable for them as it is for cyclists.

However, their trade bodies such as the UCG and the LTDA are fair targets. They have a history of opposing policies that support cycling, and the latter is now involved in legal action against the cycle superhighways.

Asian Bike Man wrote:

Black Cap drivers are not the enemy. They just want to work and make a living like anyone else. We Live in a free country (or think we do at least). It is important to at least understand what they are try to say.

Would you still say that after the ****s had played russian roulette with your life? Countless punishment passes I've had from them. And their vehicles stink up the roads and they campaigned not to sort their emissions out.

kie7077 wrote:

Would you still say that after the ****s had played russian roulette with your life?

Eh? By definition, you can't play Russian Roulette with someone else's life.

/pedant

vonhelmet wrote:

kie7077 wrote:

Would you still say that after the ****s had played russian roulette with your life?

Eh? By definition, you can't play Russian Roulette with someone else's life.

/pedant

Put revolver with 1 bullet against someone's head, spin the cylinder, pull the trigger - Russian roulette with someone else life, not the exact definition but close enough - like the cab drivers driving by within inches of my bike at 50mph - didn't exactly kill me but were close enough to potentially have killed me.

What proportion of London commuters do taxi drivers actually represent?

They seem to have ideas well above their station, granting themselves greater 'rights' to the roads that we are all supposed to share.