As an alternative to private transport, Taxis make sense – they are great for the driver who is over the limit, and excellent for getting to places that public Transport can’t or won’t reach. You pay a premium to get the driver out of bed, and contribute towards the several licences that he and the operator have to have, but you can then leave your car at home, should you have one, or avoid queuing for the bus or crowding into the train. The client can then ride assured of an approved driver and healthy vehicle. Taxi and Private Hire licences are only issued to vehicles that have passed a full MOT test (this needs renewing twice a year) – drivers are subject to periodic Medicals as well as CRB checks.

So, a Taxi could be viewed as a “green” alternative – cars will have been checked frequently for emissions and safety, and they often carry more than the single ‘fare’ – maybe taking more than one car off the road.

If Taxi and Private Hire vehicles offset their emissions of CO2 through an accredited scheme (e.g. planting trees to compensate for carbon dioxide emissions from the business / vehicle) then they could claim to have green credentials, beyond gasoline users using diesel taxis in place of their own vehicles from time to time. However, the public may be unwilling to pay a premium in what is a very competitive market, and the bottom line is always price rather than environment. Road traffic accounts for around 10% of CO2 emissions from the UK (interestingly this is considerably more than air travel, which already has carbon levies in place on every journey), and is subject to several studies, including things like road charging and pollution taxes – we already have congestion charging and a banded road tax in effect. The Taxi sector could be seen as an easy target by legislators in order to make a green point in the future, when actually drivers and operators could be leading the response of the motoring public to the environmental challenge.

With floods, storms and shipwrecks hitting the news, the subject of climate change might soon be taken seriously by individual members of the British public – maybe taxi transport should be part of the debate, and it would be excellent to see Taxi companies taking the initiative and using environmental issues as part of their marketing strategies.

Andrew operates a private hire vehicle in South Wiltshire, UK, specialising in airport transfer work, for more information on the services offered visit the Lets Talk 2 http://lets-talk2.com/_wsn/page3.html