Black cab driver? good/bad job?

londonTiger

kfw wrote: »

Our firm use to use blackcabs and comcab alot but now use addison lee and city exec and carrot because they are just outright cheaper. My old neighbour was a blk cab driver and said he is having to almost work double the hours to get the same money as a few years ago. Plus when you are ill or on holiday you earn zero so with some greed takes over meaning little or no worklife balance

Addison lee is definately a much more economical way to run cabbing. It costs the commuter less, there is probably more consistency of work and the company can organise the "fleet" better so drivers aren't having to run random trips and focus on a certain area.

The fact that AL are now in courioring sort of explains how they operate their cab drivers.,

I think black cab drivers have the edge in terms of their monopoly for bus lanes. They can drive in and out of the bus lanes and if you want to get anywhere fast in central London a black cab has a huge advantage over AL. The fact that they're the only people allowed to pick up fares from the street is an advantage of sorts too.



I also think that the economy plays a part in black cab earnings, it is definitely a premium way to travel (one step down from having a personal chauffer). The lack of fares is probably down to people being more conservative with their money.

The holiday pay, sick pay etc is all factored into the wages, I'm a freelancer and business owner since I can remember. It never was an issue for me. Frankly if you have a 9-5 job you're getting a pay decrease just so the company can put money aside for employers NI, holiday pay, redundancy pay, sick cover etc. If you can manage money it's not an issue at all.