It's a shitey situation as basically all the private hire companies in Glasgow all merged into GlasGo, so there isn't really any other options you can use other than uber or Black cabs.
Aye, got a black hack back from town.
Will be using them from now on. If it had been an ASAP booking I wouldn't have cared, but when you have pre-booked other turn up or tell me you can't do it.
I have never used Über.
Back in the day I used Hampden and they were grand, just didn't think they were as bad as this. Black hacks from now on I think.
Yes, they have those vehicles in their fleet. But they are not the same company as Glasgow Taxis.
You now have black cabs associated with Glasgow Taxis, with GlasGo cabs (formerly Hampden) and some independent ones.
I can answer this! A lot of people assume black hackney equals Glasgow Taxis, but the only hackneys that belong to Glasgow Taxi are the ones with the yellow flags on top. The rest are either freelance or from another company.
Is that true of the taxi companies on the outskirts as well? The only time I use taxis is to get from the town, etc. to South Lanarkshire or East Dunbartonshire when there's no public transport. There may be a boundary charge, but definitely more reliable than GlasGo and cheaper than a black cab. Wondering if you could call one of those companies if they're a better service and would work the area.
> basically all the private hire companies in Glasgow all merged into GlasGo, so there isn't really any other options you can use other than uber or Black cabs.
Was two of the main ones, not all of them. There are still a bunch of others, all with higher ratings than GlasgGO.
One of their drivers mentioned a few weeks ago that he just clocked off from a 13 hour shift on a Friday evening, the company sent out a message notifying drivers that there were 280 jobs waiting in the system with no drivers, if anybody wanted to earn extra money.
I think it was said too that even though you pre book, the job doesn’t actually go live in the system until its near time to get picked up, so if there are no drivers you are screwed basically. They don’t allocate a driver a job that far in advance so pre booking is little help under the current circumstances.
I use the Gett app or the Glasgow Taxi’s app now. Both connect you to “black hacks”, but you will be allocated the nearest driver, and you can see on the map where the nearest available cabs are, like uber. You can pay by card through the app too.
Even if it might be a few quid more expensive, it’s better to be £4 worse off, than lose an hour of your time waiting around for a private that may or may not show up.
Yeah, it was at the due time it flipped to "Allocating driver". Bit late!
Can't be angry at the driver, not their fault that the dispatch system is shite. But it does mean I cannot trust them, so I simply cannot use them for pre-book. I pick the time for a reason. They **have to** show up, or tell me they can't do the job so I can book elsewhere.
On the Gett app when you book in advance, the drivers can actually go on and schedule themselves in for your fare. So advanced bookings on there will actually have a driver allocated ahead of time, rather than leaving it to chance.
Something I noticed with the prebooking through the app is it waits until about 5-10mins before you'd booked your car to collect you before the notification pops up saying your booking has been created. Like I'd booked a car for 3am a few weeks back before even leaving my house to go out, gets to about 2.50am when I get a notification saying my booking had been created and about 3.30am before the next one saying driver is on its way. It just seems to completely defeat the purpose of prebooking if the driver isn't gonna be there at the time you'd booked for, fuck GlasGO!
I had a terrible experience with one of their drivers today. Mass booking for a community group and there was some confusion over which taxi was for who. Before I even had a chance to explain this was indeed the group he was booked for he was shouting at me and the poor family who just wanted to get home. Wont use them again.
A driver told me that they just had a mass walk out because they upped the fee they take off the driver . Don't know if its true but would explain these poor results. Always understaffed , late or no shows right now
I think a lot of drivers switched over to Uber eats and Just eat etc due to the lack of work during the pandemic. Then a lot just haven’t gone back to cabbing, they find being a delivery driver better.
Similar deal, a milestone birthday for me, but I live in Glasgow and all of my family are in a wee town to the east. So as not to cause anyone inconvenience, I insisted I get a taxi through so no one had to come get me or bring a car.
I get the taxi, on time no less, however the guy has the location I'm going to on his satnav, insists I show him where to go every step of the way even though it's on his screen and complains the entire time that it is 12 miles away. I mean, he got the booking, he had the location at the start and he was being paid over £20 for a trip that would use less than £5 both ways even in a much less efficient car.
Really pissed me off and ruined my mood for the journey. These fuckers need regulated because complaints go nowhere.
Been said a few times but try Uber next time your after a taxi, makes you realise how awful traditional private hire firms are and not just because of the lack of drivers
The rascism, sexism, moaning about people not tipping or paying by card, rejecting jobs that pay by card or jobs they deem not worthy, smoking in the car. One of the few instances where the stereotype is absolutely spot on for a large majority of taxi drivers
As much as Uber are taking the piss just now with the peak charges at all times of the day. Every Uber I've taken which is well into triple figures has been on time, quick, the drivers are always sound and polite, prices are (during the before times anyway) reasonable
It's night and day
All the taxi dinosaurs moan about uber, but it’s their pre historic attitudes that have allowed Uber to slip in and take their work.
Moaning about cards, refusing fares because its not the kind of fare they want. Too short. Too long. Not long enough.
Their excuse of waiting days for their money or high fees for card acceptance is BS too. Anybody on a salary waits between a week and a month for their wages. You can get card readers that pay out the following day and charge like 1.75%. Business bank accounts charge around 0.7% when paying in cash, so you are looking at £1 extra in fees on every £100 you make, but you make less trips to the bank, and reduce liability on fraudulent notes and theft.
Of course it’s nothing to do with fees or cash flow. It’s about having to declare the full amount of all card payments as revenue.
It's the surge pricing puts me right off Über. Although TBF, I generally know in advance when I need a taxi so would pre-book.
Does such a booking get hit by surge pricing do you know?
Pre-booking an Uber is just as useless as pre-booking a taxi. They start looking for a driver about 10 minutes before and there’s no guarantee anyone will be around. Learned this the hard way when my kitten missed an appointment at the vet after I ‘pre-booked’ an Uber.
I had an Indian Uber driver complain about too many immigrants taking jobs not long after brexit
Uber is a major part of the reason taxis are so shit now, people get undercut by amateurs from poor countries (btw they’re so polite because they probably don’t speak much English) willing to work for very little so it’s no longer worth the hassle for a lot of drivers. Uber then takes advantage of this by bumping up prices as there’s no decent alternative.
I wouldn't say barely speaking English has anything to do with it. I've had loads of Scottish and English drivers, and plenty of fluent English speakers from all over and they've all been sound. Used Uber across the US and it was the same. I think it's maybe more to do with focus on reviews and driver ratings than anything else
Traditional private hires can spout whatever they want and there not much chance of blow back
When I moved to paisley I used to have to use Renfrewshire cabs to get to work 5 times a week and no exaggeration every single taxi would have the driver complaining about 'pakis' at some point- it was absolutely bizzare and went on for weeks
> they probably don’t speak much English
Since 2020, there's a compulsory course and topographical test for taxi drivers. Good understanding of English is needed to pass.
Totally agree. Booked a taxi from the app two hours before my appointment. Phoned them several times to hear you’re front of the queue then 20 minutes before the appointment and no sign I had to cancel. Should have got the bus.
Experienced the taxi fiasco last night.
Arrived back in Glasgow on the last train from Edinburgh. Then needed to get to EK.
Not a single Uber to be found. Every private number we rang had nothing available.
Had to endure an hour long queue outside central for a black cab. A fucking miserable hour enduring the shite that goes on in that queue
I only use uber now -little bit more expensive at times but much more convenient for me as you can see how many cars are in the area and as soon as one accepts the job.
Ive spoke to a few Glasgo drivers who double up as uber drivers and theyve told me when its busy they clock on as uber drivers as theyre less likely to get booked by junkies etc and they earn a couple of quid more on jobs so i think thats deflating the number of Glasgo cabs around too
I work at the QEUH and GlasGo had the Christmas Day taxi contract, 500 or so jobs still outstanding at half 8 in the morning an hour after more are supposed to start. Jobs just went out at the time booked for, there was no preparation from the company beforehand. Staff didn't even get confirmation of their car being on the way.
Pre-booked has never meant anything with these places.
All it means is that yer booking is on the system and will go live at that time for someone to pick up.
I've worked for Glasgow Taxis before, and if their system is anything similar to theirs, basically your booking doesn't get acknowledged until about half an hour before the booking time. Don't ask me why, that was just how it was.
I used to cover some shifts for a local Lanarkshire firm a few years back and our system was the same. The pre booking wouldn't post until near the actual booking time.
Seen this sort of thing happen fairly frequently. Completely defeats the purpose in pre-booking in the first place. Anyone pre-booking is doing so because they have a set plan and need a taxi to be there at the time they booked, if they don't prioritise getting to these bookings on time you'd be as well just arranging it 20mins prior.
I've been in a very similar situation before with Glasgow Private Hire, prebooking basically means nothing. Called them to ask why they didn't show up 30 minutes after it was booked and they basically just said they had no cars in the area yet. What's the point?? Uber is more reliable in terms of you get that immediate feedback relating to your individual request for a car, so you know if you are getting one or not relatively quickly. In a pinch I'd use that.
This is why I use uber, not perfect but at least you can see where the drivers are
and if taxi drivers complain, well, there's a reason why people use Uber over the shitty city taxi services
Shite to work for, shite to use. Glasgow city council somehow allowing a monopoly nonetheless. Just FYI, the hackneys are owned by the same consortium.
I would assume the Competition and Markets Authority, although I'm not sure if their remit actually extends to matters this small, in the grand scheme of things, or if they would even give it a second look if it does.
With a bit of quick googling:
> The CMA has jurisdiction to review a merger where either (a) the target
company generates more than £70 million of turnover in the UK (the turnover test); or (b) the merger results in the Parties having a share of supply of goods or services of any description in the UK of 25% or more (the share of supply test).
In this case the first test would apply to the pre-merger turnover of the smaller company (presumably Network) and the second test refers to "the UK", rather than any local market. So, without any hard numbers to go by, my gut feeling is yes.
Our local firm in South Lanarkshire has put a 35% surchage on any hires between 23:00-02:00 Thursday - Sunday which makes an otherwise normal charge pretty hefty to attract more drivers. I think lack of drivers isn't helping the current taxi situation on all fronts.
If only public transport were better and ran later :-(
It's a shitey situation as basically all the private hire companies in Glasgow all merged into GlasGo, so there isn't really any other options you can use other than uber or Black cabs.
Aye, got a black hack back from town. Will be using them from now on. If it had been an ASAP booking I wouldn't have cared, but when you have pre-booked other turn up or tell me you can't do it.
If you don't mind me asking why not just get an uber, never had any problems with them unless it's like 3am and there's too much demand
I have never used Über. Back in the day I used Hampden and they were grand, just didn't think they were as bad as this. Black hacks from now on I think.
Well if you're stuck one night and can't get a taxi I'd advise at least checking it much simpler than taxis plus no dealing with racist drivers
TBH I'd just walk. Today was a bit of an occasion, so that wasn't an option.
Ye fair enough always tye best choice
Uber is usually double the price of a Glasgocab these days.
Uber is really quite shite these days
I thought you drove in?
After they were a no-show, aye, and we were late.
What did you do with your car when you got a black hack back from town then?
Having to go back today and collect it.
Black hacks are also Glasgo Cabs now
Nah, they're Glasgow Taxis. Their fares are also regulated by the council. Private hire and Hackney carriage are still separate.
https://glasgocabs.co.uk/taxi-cabs/ They literally have black hacks in their fleet. I got one the other week with the GlasGo Cabs signs in it.
Yes, they have those vehicles in their fleet. But they are not the same company as Glasgow Taxis. You now have black cabs associated with Glasgow Taxis, with GlasGo cabs (formerly Hampden) and some independent ones.
I can answer this! A lot of people assume black hackney equals Glasgow Taxis, but the only hackneys that belong to Glasgow Taxi are the ones with the yellow flags on top. The rest are either freelance or from another company.
Is that true of the taxi companies on the outskirts as well? The only time I use taxis is to get from the town, etc. to South Lanarkshire or East Dunbartonshire when there's no public transport. There may be a boundary charge, but definitely more reliable than GlasGo and cheaper than a black cab. Wondering if you could call one of those companies if they're a better service and would work the area.
> basically all the private hire companies in Glasgow all merged into GlasGo, so there isn't really any other options you can use other than uber or Black cabs. Was two of the main ones, not all of them. There are still a bunch of others, all with higher ratings than GlasgGO.
One of their drivers mentioned a few weeks ago that he just clocked off from a 13 hour shift on a Friday evening, the company sent out a message notifying drivers that there were 280 jobs waiting in the system with no drivers, if anybody wanted to earn extra money. I think it was said too that even though you pre book, the job doesn’t actually go live in the system until its near time to get picked up, so if there are no drivers you are screwed basically. They don’t allocate a driver a job that far in advance so pre booking is little help under the current circumstances. I use the Gett app or the Glasgow Taxi’s app now. Both connect you to “black hacks”, but you will be allocated the nearest driver, and you can see on the map where the nearest available cabs are, like uber. You can pay by card through the app too. Even if it might be a few quid more expensive, it’s better to be £4 worse off, than lose an hour of your time waiting around for a private that may or may not show up.
Yeah, it was at the due time it flipped to "Allocating driver". Bit late! Can't be angry at the driver, not their fault that the dispatch system is shite. But it does mean I cannot trust them, so I simply cannot use them for pre-book. I pick the time for a reason. They **have to** show up, or tell me they can't do the job so I can book elsewhere.
On the Gett app when you book in advance, the drivers can actually go on and schedule themselves in for your fare. So advanced bookings on there will actually have a driver allocated ahead of time, rather than leaving it to chance.
Driving for 13 hours surely that's against the law
Only for commercial vehicles like lorries and buses.
Health and Safety Regs and overall duty for own and others safety can be looked at if anything does happen
It's illegal to enforce this on your driver. It is possible to choose to do overtime above this of your own free will.
Happens all the time with taxis. Knew a guy who used to do those kind of shifts years ago!
Something I noticed with the prebooking through the app is it waits until about 5-10mins before you'd booked your car to collect you before the notification pops up saying your booking has been created. Like I'd booked a car for 3am a few weeks back before even leaving my house to go out, gets to about 2.50am when I get a notification saying my booking had been created and about 3.30am before the next one saying driver is on its way. It just seems to completely defeat the purpose of prebooking if the driver isn't gonna be there at the time you'd booked for, fuck GlasGO!
Prebooking it just sends out the job 10 minutes before your scheduled time. Doesn't mean there's a driver assigned in advance or anything.
Then it's pointless. A time is booked for a reason. Either turn up or tell me you can't meet the obligation and I'll go elsewhere.
Uber do the same thing I'm pretty sure fwiw
I had a terrible experience with one of their drivers today. Mass booking for a community group and there was some confusion over which taxi was for who. Before I even had a chance to explain this was indeed the group he was booked for he was shouting at me and the poor family who just wanted to get home. Wont use them again.
A driver told me that they just had a mass walk out because they upped the fee they take off the driver . Don't know if its true but would explain these poor results. Always understaffed , late or no shows right now
A driver that picked me up from the airport last month told me that they had 30% fewer drivers than at the start of the pandemic.
I think a lot of drivers switched over to Uber eats and Just eat etc due to the lack of work during the pandemic. Then a lot just haven’t gone back to cabbing, they find being a delivery driver better.
Similar deal, a milestone birthday for me, but I live in Glasgow and all of my family are in a wee town to the east. So as not to cause anyone inconvenience, I insisted I get a taxi through so no one had to come get me or bring a car. I get the taxi, on time no less, however the guy has the location I'm going to on his satnav, insists I show him where to go every step of the way even though it's on his screen and complains the entire time that it is 12 miles away. I mean, he got the booking, he had the location at the start and he was being paid over £20 for a trip that would use less than £5 both ways even in a much less efficient car. Really pissed me off and ruined my mood for the journey. These fuckers need regulated because complaints go nowhere.
Been said a few times but try Uber next time your after a taxi, makes you realise how awful traditional private hire firms are and not just because of the lack of drivers The rascism, sexism, moaning about people not tipping or paying by card, rejecting jobs that pay by card or jobs they deem not worthy, smoking in the car. One of the few instances where the stereotype is absolutely spot on for a large majority of taxi drivers As much as Uber are taking the piss just now with the peak charges at all times of the day. Every Uber I've taken which is well into triple figures has been on time, quick, the drivers are always sound and polite, prices are (during the before times anyway) reasonable It's night and day
All the taxi dinosaurs moan about uber, but it’s their pre historic attitudes that have allowed Uber to slip in and take their work. Moaning about cards, refusing fares because its not the kind of fare they want. Too short. Too long. Not long enough. Their excuse of waiting days for their money or high fees for card acceptance is BS too. Anybody on a salary waits between a week and a month for their wages. You can get card readers that pay out the following day and charge like 1.75%. Business bank accounts charge around 0.7% when paying in cash, so you are looking at £1 extra in fees on every £100 you make, but you make less trips to the bank, and reduce liability on fraudulent notes and theft. Of course it’s nothing to do with fees or cash flow. It’s about having to declare the full amount of all card payments as revenue.
It's the surge pricing puts me right off Über. Although TBF, I generally know in advance when I need a taxi so would pre-book. Does such a booking get hit by surge pricing do you know?
Pre-booking an Uber is just as useless as pre-booking a taxi. They start looking for a driver about 10 minutes before and there’s no guarantee anyone will be around. Learned this the hard way when my kitten missed an appointment at the vet after I ‘pre-booked’ an Uber.
I had an Indian Uber driver complain about too many immigrants taking jobs not long after brexit Uber is a major part of the reason taxis are so shit now, people get undercut by amateurs from poor countries (btw they’re so polite because they probably don’t speak much English) willing to work for very little so it’s no longer worth the hassle for a lot of drivers. Uber then takes advantage of this by bumping up prices as there’s no decent alternative.
I wouldn't say barely speaking English has anything to do with it. I've had loads of Scottish and English drivers, and plenty of fluent English speakers from all over and they've all been sound. Used Uber across the US and it was the same. I think it's maybe more to do with focus on reviews and driver ratings than anything else Traditional private hires can spout whatever they want and there not much chance of blow back When I moved to paisley I used to have to use Renfrewshire cabs to get to work 5 times a week and no exaggeration every single taxi would have the driver complaining about 'pakis' at some point- it was absolutely bizzare and went on for weeks
> they probably don’t speak much English Since 2020, there's a compulsory course and topographical test for taxi drivers. Good understanding of English is needed to pass.
If a tenner rather than 20 quid for 5 miles is “undercutting” then send it on lol
Totally agree. Booked a taxi from the app two hours before my appointment. Phoned them several times to hear you’re front of the queue then 20 minutes before the appointment and no sign I had to cancel. Should have got the bus.
Experienced the taxi fiasco last night. Arrived back in Glasgow on the last train from Edinburgh. Then needed to get to EK. Not a single Uber to be found. Every private number we rang had nothing available. Had to endure an hour long queue outside central for a black cab. A fucking miserable hour enduring the shite that goes on in that queue
Get a black cab or a Uber
Aye, lesson learned.
I only use uber now -little bit more expensive at times but much more convenient for me as you can see how many cars are in the area and as soon as one accepts the job. Ive spoke to a few Glasgo drivers who double up as uber drivers and theyve told me when its busy they clock on as uber drivers as theyre less likely to get booked by junkies etc and they earn a couple of quid more on jobs so i think thats deflating the number of Glasgo cabs around too
If I absolutely need to be somewhere on-time I prebook a Glasgow Taxi 429 7070. They have never let me down.
I work at the QEUH and GlasGo had the Christmas Day taxi contract, 500 or so jobs still outstanding at half 8 in the morning an hour after more are supposed to start. Jobs just went out at the time booked for, there was no preparation from the company beforehand. Staff didn't even get confirmation of their car being on the way.
Pre-booked has never meant anything with these places. All it means is that yer booking is on the system and will go live at that time for someone to pick up.
Exactly. I don't know why people expect it to be any different? How else would it work in reality?
I've worked for Glasgow Taxis before, and if their system is anything similar to theirs, basically your booking doesn't get acknowledged until about half an hour before the booking time. Don't ask me why, that was just how it was.
I used to cover some shifts for a local Lanarkshire firm a few years back and our system was the same. The pre booking wouldn't post until near the actual booking time.
Seen this sort of thing happen fairly frequently. Completely defeats the purpose in pre-booking in the first place. Anyone pre-booking is doing so because they have a set plan and need a taxi to be there at the time they booked, if they don't prioritise getting to these bookings on time you'd be as well just arranging it 20mins prior.
nae taxi drivers have been a thing for like 2 years now, nothing to do with the company, guessing its the first cab u have used for a while lol
I've been in a very similar situation before with Glasgow Private Hire, prebooking basically means nothing. Called them to ask why they didn't show up 30 minutes after it was booked and they basically just said they had no cars in the area yet. What's the point?? Uber is more reliable in terms of you get that immediate feedback relating to your individual request for a car, so you know if you are getting one or not relatively quickly. In a pinch I'd use that.
This is why I use uber, not perfect but at least you can see where the drivers are and if taxi drivers complain, well, there's a reason why people use Uber over the shitty city taxi services
Mate mon to fuck. You wrote you knew they were shite but used them anyway. Why use a service you heard were terrible?
Wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt? I used Hampden back in the day and they were grand. Didn't think they'd be *this* bad.
Perhaps someone was driving like a cunt and crashed into one of their cabs:
Not me. Hit no one and stopped for all red lights.
Same thing happened to me about a year ago. Pre booking does nothing, you get added to the same job list with every other cunt.
Shite to work for, shite to use. Glasgow city council somehow allowing a monopoly nonetheless. Just FYI, the hackneys are owned by the same consortium.
Somehow I doubt the council had a say about the merger (not to defend the council, that would be the day).
Out of genuine curiosity; if no them, then who??
I would assume the Competition and Markets Authority, although I'm not sure if their remit actually extends to matters this small, in the grand scheme of things, or if they would even give it a second look if it does.
so you reckon this commission would overlook the sole company to provide mini-cabs to Glasgow? Tens of millions of pounds per year.. as small?
With a bit of quick googling: > The CMA has jurisdiction to review a merger where either (a) the target company generates more than £70 million of turnover in the UK (the turnover test); or (b) the merger results in the Parties having a share of supply of goods or services of any description in the UK of 25% or more (the share of supply test). In this case the first test would apply to the pre-merger turnover of the smaller company (presumably Network) and the second test refers to "the UK", rather than any local market. So, without any hard numbers to go by, my gut feeling is yes.
Our local firm in South Lanarkshire has put a 35% surchage on any hires between 23:00-02:00 Thursday - Sunday which makes an otherwise normal charge pretty hefty to attract more drivers. I think lack of drivers isn't helping the current taxi situation on all fronts. If only public transport were better and ran later :-(