London taxi numbers shrink to lowest in 40 years
The coronavirus pandemic has sent the number of London cabbies down to its lowest level in 40 years, new stats from the Department for Transport (DfT) have shown.
Over the last year, there has been a 29 per cent fall in the number of black cabs operating on London’s roads.
As of the start of this month, there were 13,884 in operation, the figures showed.
It comes after a year in which ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Bolt have benefited from people’s desire to avoid public transport.
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA), said: “Despite being one of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, the taxi trade has had no targeted support from Government and the majority of London licensed taxi drivers have been barred from accessing grants and other support from their local councils because they are licensed by TfL [Transport for London].”
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on London’s black cab trade and self-employed taxi drivers. Passenger demand fell to unprecedented levels as a result of Coronavirus restrictions, forcing record numbers of drivers to leave the trade they love and nearly 5,000 taxis have been lost from the fleet. Meanwhile, sales of new cabs collapsed.
“We are clear that it will take time to get back to where we were and there is more than can be done by Government, the Mayor and London Boroughs to help the trade get back on its feet.”
Taxi drivers have also been hamstrung by changes to London’s roads brought about by Sadiq Khan’s “Streetspace” plan.
Though an initial High Court challenge into the legality of the scheme, which has seen pavements widened and extra cycle lanes installed, was successful, the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict.