Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Taxi drivers ‘furious’
City council axes scheme offering disabled discount
Chris Elder, taxi driver representative for Unite, said the decision had been taken without any consultation with drivers.
He said drivers were demanding a meeting with council representatives in a bid to have the decision reversed.
The Taxicard scheme — which allows discounted 24-hour access to taxis — will stop at the end of this month.
Instead, the council plans to invest £50,000 of the savings made from the decision into a new members-only minibus scheme, which will transport people to the shops, GP surgeries and other locations.
Mr Elder said that in recent months, taxi drivers throughout the city had invested a lot of time and money in learning how best to help disabled passengers.
He added: “This decision has angered taxi drivers in Dundee — the council didn’t even have the decency to involve us in talks.
“Many taxi drivers have invested up to £30,000 on wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
“That is a huge investment for sole operators and this new plan means that their wheelchair-accessible taxis will likely now not be used by wheelchair users.
“Taxi drivers were also expected by the council to go on training courses to learn how to properly assist disabled passengers.
“That involved time and money and now taxi drivers risk that investment being wasted.”
Council leader John Alexander said when the Taxicard scheme was first launched by Tayside Regional Council in 1992, service buses were much less accessible than they are now.
He said: “The council also recognises that the general availability of bus services has also been a cause for concern in some communities.
“As a response, the council is developing a new members-only minibus service, which will launch this month.
“That will see council minibuses and drivers being deployed to new routes in parts of town that have been most affected by the loss of regular bus services.
“We have agreed to explore those needs and try to identify ways of deploying our own fleet to the benefit of Dundonians which at the same time ensures value for money for taxpayers.”
A TAXI boss has said that cab drivers are “furious” at a decision by Dundee City Council to stop funding discounted travel for disabled people.