Black cabbies

number9

Good or bad?

IMO some are terrible, most are good, but the last two serious run ins have been with these drivers.

This morning, approaching Monument, primary in left lane of two, black cab is INCES away from my knee, trying to intimidate me into the gutter. I raise an arm to warn him off, he BOUNCES IN HIS SEAT IN FURY and waves me out of the way. i hold my ground and sure enough round the blind corner the road's blocked by a turning van.

The cabbie was basically using his cab to bully me out of the way.

had similar when the cabbie cut me up and had no brake lights , when I told him he said:

"Oh, go and tell Ken!"

The PCO, remember, don't even log complaints from cyclists.

Gussio

London traffic wouldn't be London traffic without the black cabs and their cheery handlers. They add an edge to the commute, sometimes in a good way and sometime in a not so good way.

Random Vince

are these black cab drivers asin the driver's of cabs that are black or something else?

the cab braked but the brake lights didn't work?

someone learnt the hard way his brake lights didn't work in his cab when me and 3.5 tonnes of land rover and trailer wrote his cab off

"didn't you see my brake lights?"
"they didn't come on"
[lack of supprise]

sledge hammer straightened my bumper out

cupofteacp

Do black cabs pay congestion charge?

Random Vince

cupofteacp wrote:

Do black cabs pay congestion charge?

if you live inside the congestion zone do you have to pay?

you pay to enter, what if your car was there before the charge zone, it hasn't entered the congestion zone through it's boarder, you'd only end up paying if your car went out and back in again surely?

el_presidente

Random Vince wrote:

cupofteacp wrote:

Do black cabs pay congestion charge?

if you live inside the congestion zone do you have to pay?

you pay to enter, what if your car was there before the charge zone, it hasn't entered the congestion zone through it's boarder, you'd only end up paying if your car went out and back in again surely?

You get a 90% discount

snooks

number9 wrote:

Good or bad?

Yep, both

Like everything you and I tend to remember the bad ones more than the good ones, for obvious reasons. Also because they all look the same we tend to generalise and group them all as bad...But the amount who are bad is prolly no more than other drivers in general on the road.

Going back to my last commute, yesterday, over 26 miles. I had 2 cars, a lorry and a cab close the door on me....but I also had 4 cars and 2 cabs make room for me to allow me to overtake buses (which I said thanks to - and is does make a difference when someone on a bike says thanks to a car...well when I'm driving it does :0 ). the bad ones stick in my mind but I had to really think to remember the good.

If I'm in the back of a cab and the cabbie does something, I'll say something like "you could have given him a bit more room, mate" if they want to have a pop at cyclist, I'll just say they everyone is trying to get somewhere...they are after all on my payroll while I'm in the back.

Having said that they probably see us cyclist in the same way, all bad, no good.

At least with their rattley diesel engines you know when they're behind you

Eat My Dust

I only know 2 cabbies. Ones my next door neighbour and he seems like a reasonable guy. The other cabbie I've been out cycling with a few times. Saying that I have come across a few idiots in cabs!!

squired

I don't mind them. The only problem is that I think there are just too many of them in London. Forget the congestion charge - if the number of cabs in London was halved it would almost wipe out congestion overnight and make London far more pleasant for everyone.

Kafka\'s Doll

What is the rationale for allowing them into bus lanes, out of interest? They're no more part of 'public transport' than limo chauffeur services. In fact, a chauffeur service is exactly what they are. They're big cars with big engines, often with one or two people in them. What's the difference between them and any other big car with one or two people in?

Gazzaputt

Agree there are a fair few idiots out there driving black cabs but I do think if you show some road sense they can be courteous.

That said the two fights I've had have both been with cab drives after appalling driving resulting in nearly wiping me out. One on purpose.

Gussio

Gazzaputt wrote:

Agree there are a fair few idiots out there driving black cabs but I do think if you show some road sense they can be courteous.

That said the two fights I've had have both been with cab drives after appalling driving resulting in nearly wiping me out. One on purpose.

Proper toe to toe street fighting?

Gazzaputt

Yep knocked one spark on his back in a petrol station after he thought prodding me in the chest was a good idea and another tried to run me down. I caught him at a set of lights and kicked the shite out of his cab and then him.

Not proud but only times in 11 years of commuting in London.

I do think that motorists think if you ride a bike you can't throw a punch.

spen666

Random Vince wrote:

cupofteacp wrote:

Do black cabs pay congestion charge?

if you live inside the congestion zone do you have to pay?

you pay to enter, what if your car was there before the charge zone, it hasn't entered the congestion zone through it's boarder, you'd only end up paying if your car went out and back in again surely?

WRONG!

You pay for using your vehicle in the CC Zone. There are often mobile camera vans inside the zone, not at boundaries to catch those who use vehicles inside zone and do not enter/ leave zone during its operational hours

Crapaud

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

What is the rationale for allowing them into bus lanes, out of interest? They're no more part of 'public transport' than limo chauffeur services. In fact, a chauffeur service is exactly what they are. ...

Hmmm.... What's the rational for allowing bikes to use bus lanes? Public transport they are not!

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

...They're big cars with big engines, often with one or two people in them. What's the difference between them and any other big car with one or two people in?

More seriously, I don't have a problem with taxis using bus / taxi / cycle lanes. IMO they are public transport - just a different mode used in a different manner to buses. If everyone who uses a taxi used a private car instead, the roads would be more clogged that they are, and they would require a parking space at either end of their journey.

Outside of the rush hour, how many buses do you see that are packed to capacity?

tardington

In Edinburgh, we have black cabs and 'hire cars' which are just normal looking cars with wee signs mounted about the reg plates (it says Edinburgh Council blah blah and a number). The black cabs are generally pretty good drivers, but the hire cars are <i>mental</i> - up one way streets, u-turns in front of ambulances, short cuts over pavements etc :shock: I've seen all this in the last couple of weeks btw!

number9

There's some shocking Edinburgh taxi videos on Youtube.

The worst black cabbies are the fat middle aged dinosaurs who are really aggressive on the roads. I'm alert and wary and everything but if a cabbie gets hailed he will zomm over to the left with sod all indicating or mirror checking.

The PCO are useless gits- they log nothing.

Eat My Dust

tardie wrote:

In Edinburgh, we have black cabs and 'hire cars' which are just normal looking cars with wee signs mounted about the reg plates (it says Edinburgh Council blah blah and a number). The black cabs are generally pretty good drivers, but the hire cars are <i>mental</i> - up one way streets, u-turns in front of ambulances, short cuts over pavements etc :shock: I've seen all this in the last couple of weeks btw!

Can't be as bad as the the hire cab (not black cab) that drove off after I had climbed into the back seat, wouldn't have been so bad, but Mrs EMD was only half way in!!!! If I hadn't shouted at him to stop, I've no doubt he would have dragged her all the way down the road!

BentMikey

I reckon most cabbies are pretty good people. Like any group, there are a few loons who give the rest a bad name.

always_tyred

Didn't they do a survey of most stressful jobs, and cabbies came out on top? (I don't know who "they" are, or if they killed Kenny)

Black cab drivers work LONG hours and time is money. I'm sure cyclists are considered a mennace, as are most other road users, but hitting a bike is bad for business.

My general impression is that I generally know what a black cab is trying to achieve, even if its a bit tight or agressive, making them safer to share the road with, by far, than a white van or the average driver doing the school run.

Minicabs? Often look like they've just left the scene of an accident. If you look closely, those wee signs actually read "Beware".

secretsam

BentMikey wrote:

I reckon most cabbies are pretty good people. Like any group, there are a few loons who give the rest a bad name.

Shock, horror, I agree with BentMikey - on the whole they are courteous and drive assertively but well. I've had a couple of run-ins, but given the volume of cabs on my run that's hardly surprising. And it must be a terribly stressful job. They probably hate cycle couriers, but that's understandable, the Clerkenwell Crackpots across the road are an absolute menace and give the rest of us a bad name.

And I use them for work sometimes, and they're great - unlike minicabs or taxis in other towns, they KNOW WHERE THEY ARE GOING.

Finally - they do not pay Congestion Charge, as public transport they are exempt.

cee

black cabs.....

i used to work as a cab office controller part time, whilst a poor student.

cab drivers are the biggest bunch of moaning cnuts i have ever come across. they don't work that long hours.....mostly do an 8 hour shift and when was the last time you were in a cab when the driver wasn't telling you about the 3rd holiday they had had this year.

but they should be allowed to use the bus lanes, because although they are not as public transport as buses, it is about the number of people/journeys they service while they are in town. and as already said, you don't have to park it somewhere all day

star_rover

I reckon if I was a black cab driver in London I'd probably get thoroughly facked off with cyclists. Not excusing any cabbies' dodgy driving, but if you had to drive in London for 10+ hours a day and put up with the mental riding by most cyclists you'd have a pretty low opinion of anyone on a bike. And it's not just the couriers in the City but the numpties all over town trying to ride like them.
Having said that, they do act as if they own the road, have way too much power (threaten them in any way and they just 'down tools' en masse in the middle of the road), and are grossly over priced.

hamboman

I really like black cabs cos they know the roads, how to drive and how much space to give different road users. Would rather cycle alongside/in front of/behind a taxi than any other road user. thumbs up to them

graham_g

Black cabs, no problem on the whole.

Private hire. I'd say from experience in cities all over the uk that 75% of them are f**king loons who shouldn't be on the road.

Porgy

Yeah salt of the earth. Especially the one who having run over the back wheel of my bike got out of his cab, waited till I stood up, punched me so that I fell back on the ground and then kicked me in the stomach repeatedly.

All this because I was in front of him at a junction waiting to take a right turn, and he wasn't willing to wait. He wanted to turn right too - I don;t see that he could have got there quicker than me.

In fact - black cabs seem to give me the most trouble after buses. If I'm cycling along a road at 25 - 30 mph - they always have to be in front of me - however dangerous the manouvre required. They never use their indicators. I've seen loads going through red lights, and reported them, and been told that there's nothing that the PCO can do. I took my last compaint to the GLA (Jennie wotsername the green party rep) and still got nowhere.

graham_g

Porgy - In defense of my last comment, I've rarely ridden in London

Porgy

snooks wrote:

number9 wrote:

Good or bad?

Yep, both

Like everything you and I tend to remember the bad ones more than the good ones, for obvious reasons.

Having said that they probably see us cyclist in the same way, all bad, no good.

that may be true, but I'm not aware of any incidents where black cabs or drivers got crushed, run over, run off the road, or injured deliberately by a cyclist in a bad mood. It must be a daily occurence the other way.

Porgy

Graham G wrote:

Porgy - In defense of my last comment, I've rarely ridden in London

I accept that they're no problem if you rarely encounter them 8)

Porgy

hamboman wrote:

I really like black cabs cos they know...how much space to give different road users.

Yeah - bikes get about 2 mm

Porgy

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

If everyone who uses a taxi used a private car instead, the roads would be more clogged that they are

This is clearly not true - the roads would be less clogged - there wouldn;t be all the empty taxis driving about and parked up at every London station.

Not quite on subject but - I used to work at Paddington and could see the taxi rank from my desk. There was an accident nearly every week caused by the taxis blocking the view of cars coming out of a nearby junction (despite a TfL sign warning taxis not to do this). Cars would edge out cautiously but completely blind, straight into a busy road with fast moving cars and buses. Once we even had a double decker bus crash into our building - took all night to remove.