Third of taxi passengers in Cardiff don’t feel safe
NEARLY a third of people using taxis in Cardiff say they feel unsafe, new research has shown. A survey of 733 people was carried out by AECOM to find out how people felt about getting taxis in Cardiff.
It found 57% of respondents stated that they felt safe using licensed vehicles in Cardiff, 29% said they did not feel safe and 14% didn’t answer the question.
Those who responded were asked to say how they felt safety could be improved. The highest-ranked answer was for increased police presence at pick-up areas.
The city gives out licences to hackney carriage vehicles – which can be hailed in the street – and private hire vehicles, which have to be booked in advance. Uber also operates in Cardiff.
As part of the survey, drivers were asked if they had been attacked in the past 12 months, whether physically or verbally.
Around half of hackney carriage drivers said they had been verbally attacked in the past 12 months and 13% said that they have been physically attacked. When it comes to private hire drivers, 65% said they had not been attacked.
People were also asked if they felt there were enough taxis in Cardiff – 36% said there are sufficient numbers and 44% said they did not know.
The survey found that average taxi supply significantly exceeds average passenger demand on all days of the week.
Drivers were asked if they felt the numbers of licences were right.
The vast majority of respondents said they felt there were too many hackney carriage vehicles in Cardiff.
The majority of those surveyed rated their last trip as “good” in terms of driver quality, “average” in terms of price and “average” in terms of waiting time.
The Welsh Government is consulting on whether changes should be made to the private hire system.
A review has recently made 84 recommendations, including a national standard for drivers, giving new enforcement powers so staff can work across borders and better arrangements to regulate fares.
The report will go to the environmental scrutiny committee on Tuesday. Councillors will be asked if they want to give any feedback to cabinet before they also discuss the report.