Future Proof - Taxi and Private Hire Services in London

Over 300,000 trips a day are made in taxis and minicabs and customer satisfaction has been decreasing - but recently the debate has been distracted somewhat by the focus on Uber.

The London Assembly believed a thorough review of the industry was long overdue.

Over the past 6 months, the Transport Committee held two meetings (as well as briefings) as part of the Committee’s investigation - it also commissioned an independent research group to conduct a survey of Taxi and Private Hire passengers.

Over 1,000 passengers were surveyed. 128 written submissions were recieved, from organisations, individual drivers or members of the public.

The investigation has highlighted some worrying problems.

‘Future Proof' is the Transport Committee’s report into the Taxi and Private Hire industries.

The report makes nineteen recommendations to the Mayor and TfL, including;

• Publish a long term strategy for the development of the taxi and private hire industries, strengthening enforcement and clamping down on touting.
• Improve vehicle and rank signage and develop specific public awareness campaigns which show how to correctly identify whether a driver/vehicle is licensed.
• Set out plans to ensure that all Underground stations located on the 24-hour Tube network have a taxi rank in place by the launch of the programme in September 2015.
• Incentivise the uptake of cashless payment options.
• Provide incentives to Private Hire vehicles to become wheelchair accessible.

The report, the passenger survey results and the submissions received, are all attached at the bottom of this page.