Taxi Where Art Thou? The UK Locations Where its Hardest to Get a Cab
It seems that issues in the taxi and private hire trade have reversed over the past 2 years. At the height of the pandemic, drivers couldn’t find customers anywhere. But now, it’s the customers who are struggling to find a cabbie.
While some people see taxis as a luxury, they are often an essential form of transport in rural and remote areas. Taxis and private hires are also disproportionately used by vulnerable groups. A lack of cabbies, or, difficulty getting a cab can cause serious problems for some people.
Now, research from The Taxi Centre has identified the areas of the country where it is most difficult to get a cab. They compared the number of independent taxi companies to an area's population to determine the difficulty of getting a cab.
Worst regions to get a taxi
The three worst regions for trying to get a taxi are all in England. The North East comes in top-ranked, followed by the West Midlands and North West. You can see from the table below just how few taxi services there are per head in these areas.
Worst Counties to get a taxi
Despite the top 3 worst regions all being in England, more local results revealed a different story. The top 3 worst counties for trying to get a taxi are all in Scotland. Lanarkshire comes in top, followed by Renfrewshire and Sutherland.
Best places to get a taxi
Although the three worst places to get a taxi in the UK are in Scotland, the three best places are as well! Cromartyshire, Nairnshire, and Buteshire are ranked as the easiest places in the whole of the UK to get a taxi. People living in these areas probably aren’t even aware of the struggles the rest of the country is having with driver shortages.
Residents of Cromartyshire enjoy a ratio of only 71 people per taxi service. Lanarkshire taxi services have to accommodate over a thousand more people each. But perhaps this is no surprise considering it contains most of Glasgow.
Driver shortage
Large portions of the economy have recovered from the pandemic but the taxi and private hire industry was hit harder than most. This led to a significant number of drivers having found other work as delivery or HGV drivers. In some cases, drivers have used the pandemic to retrain entirely and start new careers.
This has led to a massive reduction in driver numbers, particularly in areas where there was already a shortage. Fleets across the country are now struggling to find enough drivers to service demand.
In the short term, fewer drivers might mean more business for those still working. Considering the earning impact of the pandemic, this is good news. But a lack of drivers does cause problems
People have an expectation of taxi services to be reliable and available whenever they’re needed. Driver shortages mean that customers are struggling even more to catch a cab. If hailing a cab or booking a private hire becomes increasingly difficult, it’s only a matter of time before people start assessing the other options. If customers start to choose other options it could be a massive problem for the industry.