Showing posts with label Taxi Drivingin London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taxi Drivingin London. Show all posts

Sunday, 25 December 2011

Cambridge local area information

Travel Information

The services listed on these pages are local contacts judged to be useful for staff and students of the University and are not advertisements.

Taxi Services

Taxi Licensing Office: (01223) 457888
(This is not the number to ring when booking a taxi - see list below for taxi telephone hire.)
See TLO's statement [http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambarea/travel/taxis2.html] regarding the licensing of taxis and drivers for public safety (January 2005).

Taxi ranks (for Hackney Carriages)

  • Drummer Street
  • Parkside (the new National Express coach stop)
  • Railway Station
  • St Andrews Street

Nightime ranks

  • Outside Boots (Sidney Street)
  • Market Hill

Taxi telephone hire

Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:41 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, 16 December 2011

PMR Radio, an interesting thought

A colleague of mine came up with an interesting idea today, he said that if every Taxi was fitted with a PMR Radio or every driver carried a handheld PMR radio it could make driving a Taxi in London a lot easier which when you think could be quite a good idea. It would mean that drivers could relay information to each other about when taxis are required a certain ranks or any other location and due to the short range of PMR only the drivers in the local vicinity would receive the message. This idea could also help doorman at hotels that are off of the beaten track to locate taxis with ease without even walking out onto the street, this is such a simple idea that I am surprised that no one has thought of it before.

Posted by Tracey Wilson at 10:07 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Changes in London taxi drivers’ brains driven by acquiring ‘the Knowledge’, study shows

Acquiring ‘the Knowledge’ – the complex layout of central London’s 25,000 streets and thousands of places of interest – causes structural changes in the brain and changes to memory in the capital’s taxi drivers, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust has shown.
The study, published today in the journal Current Biology, supports the increasing evidence that even in adult life, learning can change the structure of the brain, offering encouragement for life-long learning and the potential for rehabilitation after brain damage.
In order to qualify as a licensed London taxi driver, a trainee must acquire ‘the Knowledge’ of capital’s tens of thousands of streets and their idiosyncratic layout. This training typically takes between three to four years, leading to a stringent set of examinations which must be passed in order to obtain an operating licence; only around half of trainees pass. This comprehensive training and qualification procedure is unique among taxi drivers anywhere in the world.
Previous studies of qualified London taxi drivers, led by Professor Eleanor Maguire from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London), have shown greater volume of grey matter – the nerve cells in the brain where the processing takes place – in an area known as the posterior hippocampus and less in the anterior hippocampus relative to non-taxi drivers. The studies also showed that whilst taxi drivers displayed better memory for London-based information, they showed poorer learning and memory on other memory tasks involving visual information, suggesting that there might be a price to pay for acquiring the Knowledge. The research suggested that structural brain differences may have been acquired through the experience of navigating, and to accommodate the internal representation of London.
To test whether this was indeed the case, Professor Maguire and colleague Dr Katherine Woollett followed a group of 79 trainee taxi drivers and 31 controls (non-taxi drivers), taking snapshots of their brain structure over time using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and studying their performance on certain memory tasks. Only 39 of the group passed the tests and went on to qualify as taxi drivers, giving the researchers the opportunity to divide the volunteers into three groups for comparison: those that passed, those that trained but did not pass, and the controls who never trained.
The researchers examined the structure of the volunteers’ brains at the start of the study, before any of the trainees had begun their training. They found no discernible differences in the structures of either the posterior hippocampus or the anterior hippocampus between the groups, and all groups performed equally well on the memory tasks.
Three to four years later – when the trainees had either passed the test or had failed to acquire the Knowledge – the researchers again looked at images of the brain structures of the volunteers and tested their performance on the memory tasks. This time, they found significant differences in the posterior hippocampus – those trainees that qualified as taxi drivers had greater volume of grey matter in this region compared to before they had started their training. This change was not apparent in those who failed to qualify or the controls. Interestingly, there was no detectable difference in the structure of the anterior hippocampus, suggesting that these changes come later, in response to changes in the posterior hippocampus.
On the memory tasks, both qualified and non-qualified trainees were significantly better at memory tasks involving London landmarks than the control group. However, the qualified trainees – but not the trainees who failed to qualify – were worse at the other tasks, such as recalling complex visual information, than the controls.
“The human brain remains ‘plastic’, even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks,” explains Professor Maguire, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. “By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired – or fail to acquire – the Knowledge, a uniquely challenging spatial memory task, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation. This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life.
“What is not clear is whether those trainees who became fully-fledged taxi drivers had some biological advantage over those who failed. Could it be, for example, that they have a genetic predisposition towards having a more adaptable, ‘plastic’ brain? In other words, the perennial question of ‘nature versus nurture’ is still open.”
In the research paper, Professor Maguire and Dr Woollett speculate on the biological mechanisms that may underpin the changes to the brain that they observed. One theory, supported by studies in rodents, is that when learning that requires cognitive effort takes place and is effective, there is an increase in the rate at which new nerve cells are generated and survive. The hippocampus is one of the few brain areas where the birth of new nerve cells is known to take place. Alternatively, it could be that the synapses, or connections, between existing nerve cells grew stronger in the trainees who qualified.
Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, comments: “The original study of the hippocampi of London taxi drivers provided tantalising hints that brain structure might change through learning, and now Eleanor’s follow-up study, looking at this directly within individual taxi trainees over time, has shown this is indeed the case. Only a few studies have shown direct evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain related to vital functions such as memory, so this new work makes an important contribution to this field of research.”
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:53 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Contributors Wanted

Fancy writing for the London Taxi Trades top ranking website? we are looking for contributions from the trade to be included in this site, if you have something interesting to relate, or a story to tell, or you just want to get something off your chest then please get in touch. We want to make this site a major resource for the trade and Taxi using public alike, we feel that the trade in London needs to promote itself a lot better than it has done in the past and by using this site we can achieve this aim. Obviously we cannot pa for your contributions as we do not make any money from the site, in fact it costs us money to keep the site going, but with over 40,000 unique visitors per month we feel that our website could make a substantial difference to the London Taxi Trade. So if you are interested in contributing then please call Jamie on 0208 123 3390.
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:41 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Raynes Park Taxi & Wimbledon Taxi

If you want a Black Cab in Wimbledon or Raynes Park
within 15 minutes, call 0208 099 7711
  • No run-in charge for instant hire in SW19 & SW20
  • £1.20 telephone booking fee applies for instant hire 

Taxi Call Wimbledon - 0208 099 7711 - is a unique Wimbledon Black Taxi service for many reasons

A local taxi service provided by local Licensed Taxi Drivers for those who live, work and visit Wimbledon, Raynes Park and Merton Park.
You may telephone from either a UK or overseas mobile telephone or landline.
No call centre or booking office is involved to delay the arrival of your Wimbledon or Raynes Park taxi.
When you telephone you are connected direct to a Taxi Call Wimbledon Driver who has a detailed knowledge of the area and “knows” how long it takes to reach you.
Taxi Call Wimbledon does not charge a “run in fee” for coming to collect you if your booking is for immediate hire in SW19 and SW20.  For immediate hire in SW19 and SW20 the meter goes on at the pick up point and a nominal £1.20 is added to cover our telephone system costs.
For Heathrow and Gatwick airports we offer very competitive under the meter advanced internet booking Fixed Prices from Wimbledon and surrounding areas including Putney, Wandsworth, Tooting and Earlsfield. We also offer a credit card pre-payment facility for airport bookings subject to a 10% charge on published prices and nominal facility fee.  To ensure we have enough time to allocate a driver at a fixed price, you should pre-book your airport journey.
All our drivers welcome your accompanied pets - just phone us next time your pet needs a Wimbledon taxi!
Taxi Call Wimbledon drivers are willingly helpful and will undertake short journeys, on an immediate hiring basis, to the shops, station, schools and doctors, as willingly as journeys to London Heathrow, Gatwick and City Airports.
Taxi Call Wimbledon - your personal Wimbledon Black Taxi service to Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton and to all local and UK destinations.  If you need Wimbledon Hospitality transport, taxis for Wimbledon corporate hospitality events are available. For corporate Wimbledon hospitality taxi transport information please visit our dedicated Wimbledon Corporate Taxi Hire page.
This Wimbledon taxi website was designed by Wimbledon Visitor
The Complete Guide to Wimbledon
Visit www.weddingtaxi.com for London Taxi Weddings
Visit the on-line shop at Wimbledon Visitor
to buy Wimbledon & London tourist maps
For local accommodation visit B&Bs in Wimbledon and Hotels in Wimbledon
Top of Raynes Park & Wimbledon Black Taxi page
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 08:53 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, 24 November 2011

Taxi Driver Protection

The safety of the taxi drivers is a key issue within the industry as the job takes them to some places that can be dangerous and also the great variety of people they have in their vehicles can also cause a threat to the driver. Over the last few years attacks on taxi drivers have become more and more frequent; this is why the security measures with in the vehicles have had to be increased accordingly.
One of the most secure taxis in the modern taxi world happens to be one of the traditional cars used the 'London Black Cab'. However, unlike the old traditional cars used for the service the new ones have many security features below are some examples and their purpose.
  • Most have a large plastic screen behind the driver separating the driver from the passenger. It has a hole just large enough for the exchange of cash meaning there can be no physical contact between the passenger and driver if any violent behaviour were to occur. This was developed not long after attacks on taxi drivers started happening more often and has worked extremely efficiently. Unlike a lot of other safety systems this system is fairly cheap in price but great in performance.
  • Some have an auto door lock system that causes the doors to lock automatically when the vehicle is stationary. This stops people being able to run out on the taxi driver with out paying the fare when stopped in traffic or when he has pulled over at the end of the journey. This system varies in price depending where you have the work completed but is still very effective for the price as it stops you loosing money in the long run, so still an advisable investment. Your best option is to shop around as there are many places through out the country that offer the service, just make sure they are fully licensed to carry out the work on your vehicle.
  • More drastic safety measures such as security cameras are being installed into many cabs especially cabs that don't have the dividing screen. Basic systems can cost around 600 but provide the taxi driver with evidence or is a great help if the person isn't caught straight away to act as a way of identifying the person responsible. They are advisable pieces of equipment to own if the driver is working in particular areas where crime is high or there is a large, varied population.
  • There are some taxi drivers that have installed a type of panic alarm so if they are attacked or wish to have assistance they push a button that sets off an alarm out side the vehicle so any one nearby knows the driver is in trouble. There have even been ones developed where the taxi driver can personalise the alert with a voice over stating that the person in the car is being attacked. These are fairly cheap systems although with there not being a great amount in action at the moment their effectiveness is still to be proven, many trouble starters are scared off in general just by the alarm being sounded.
These safety measures are a small price to pay for the protection of drivers from some of the dangers faced when on the job. With the chance of having to deal with violent intoxicated people it is advisable to have at least one of the safety measures in place before driving through the night as that is the prime time for trouble to start.
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:50 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Taxi Drivingin London

Due to the hectic and intricate nature of the city, taxi driving a black cab in London can be a real career choice for those undertaking employment in a hackney carriage service. London hackney drivers are expected to know the city intricately, and be able to pick up passengers from the street and take them directly to their destination via the most effective route. Consequently, learning this extensive map leads to greater financial rewards. However, congestion charges that are being introduced around London pose a threat to the earnings of taxi drivers, who are by and large self-employed.
As a passenger, it is possible to spot if a taxi is free by looking at the light on top of the car. It is turned off if the cab is empty. Bear in mind however that they are not obliged to stop; if a person is looking a little worse for wear for example. It is customary to tip about 10% of the fare.

What is The Knowledge?

The Knowledge is the world renowned test that potential hackney drivers must pass before they are allowed a licence to pick up passengers freely around London. For drivers who wish to pass the All-London Knowledge test, they are required to learn in-depth an area of a six mile radius around Charing Cross. This includes main streets and side streets as well as the optimum routes for certain journeys. The location and best ways to access all major landmarks and places of interest must be learnt, including:
  • Squares
  • Hospitals
  • Hotels
  • Places of Worship
  • Parks
  • Courts
  • Stations
  • Government buildings
  • Sports centres
  • Restaurants
  • Parks
  • Historic buildings
  • Theatres
If a driver wishes to specialise in suburban areas of London, a Knowledge test can also be taken for one of the 16 suburbs. Again, it will be necessary to know the streets and best routes as well as the main destinations in the chosen area. The applicant must also learn a general knowledge of central London.
The routes around central London or suburbs must be practised on scooter, as only licensed drivers who have passed The Knowledge may drive a black cab.
On average, it takes around four years to learn and pass the test to become an All-London black cab driver, and two to drive the chosen suburb. It depends heavily on the driver's ability and commitment, as some can complete it much faster.
Learning the Knowledge The primary resource is a known as the Blue Book, called 'Guide to Learning the Knowledge of London'. It details all the required places of interest throughout the six mile radius and describes routes with which the driver must become familiar. All-London applicants must learn 320 routes covering around 25,000 streets with associated landmarks. For the suburbs it will range between 30 and 51.
On completing an application form to begin learning the Knowledge, drivers are invited to a talk by the Public Carriage Office (PCO). This introduces them to the Blue Book and advises on how to learn the Knowledge.
When ready for examination, applicants will take a written exam followed by one-to-one "appearances" in which they must talk through the shortest route between two areas of London.
Requirements Drivers can apply to begin learning the All-London Knowledge at 18. To learn to taxi in the suburbs however, you must wait until you are 21. In each case, three years driving experience is required and a medical and criminal background check must be passed.
For Private Hire vehicles, it is not necessary to learn the Knowledge as the cars are pre-booked, and thus the driver can plan the journey in advance. They do however need competent map reading and route planning skills which will be tested by law from 2006.
 
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 10:17 0 comments
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)