Great Western Coffee Shop

From the Railway Gazette (https://www.railwaygazette.com/metros/cycle-taxis-for-the-last-mile-from-metro-stations/57623.article)


Would this work at your local UK station?

What is a cycle taxi? They're trying to make it sound like not a rickshaw but I bet that's what it is. Generally enough of those around to make a specific scheme unnecessary ? unless they've got guaranteed fares too.

The company's website shows it as bike, not cycle. In Indian English there's a clear distinction: bike = motorcycle, cycle = pedal cycle. Perhaps someone at Railway Gazette interpreted bike in the British English sense!
https://rapido.bike

Wow - things must have changed in India since I spent three weeks travelling around by train in 1986. Then every time you left any station in any urban area (however small) you would be besieged by operators of every kind of conveyance (cycle rickshaw, pony trap, tuk-tuk, taxi) keen to take you on your "last mile"

I think grahame probably meant 'traditional' rather than 'transitional', so I've changed the subject of the leading post. Hope that's right?

I'd thought of it as transitional referring to transit between station and destination. But perhaps I was over-interpreting.

He did ... thank you for the change.  A transitional taxi is one that you get into in your PJs and while travelling get dressed for the day ... getting out at destination in pinstripe suit and with bowler hat. For longer distance journeys, transitional taxis offer a full restaurant service so you arrive fed up.


You were, but I like it!

https://youtu.be/CVFcIJWe0zE

Yes it sounds like a rickshaw.
There is a plague of these in London, hated by licensed taxi drivers and by many other road users.
They have a very poor reputation WRT to road safety, overcharging, and allegedly assaulting lady passengers.
There was a fashion for fitting electric motors and rendering them faster and even less safe.

I only ever used one once, too far to walk, and no proper taxis to be had. I was rather concerned that the scrawny youth might expire whilst conveying me.

Despite these negative views, I see a future for electrically assisted rickshaws. They would need some form of inspection and licensing if carrying fare paying passengers. (I am in favour of the absolute minimum of regulation of E-bikes, E-scooters, and similar lightweight electric vehicles for private use. More regulation would be needed for "hire and reward")

BTW, when I was working in London, a rickshaw entered the private car park one night, and the rider and passenger performed a sexual act on the contraption. A the crucial moment it turned turtle.
The persons involved presumably believed that darkness gave at least partial privacy. The CCTV used good low light cameras. The film was considered hugely entertaining and was widely circulated.

Oxford has restricted rickshaws since 2007 for pre-booked journeys only, ie not to be able to ply for hire on the street. To do so would require a hackney carriage licence and there aren't any being issued for anyone. There have been a few companies operating rickshaw tours in the past but they don't seem to last that long and there are none currently. I understand the current council would be amenable to a separate licence category, but has no power to create one, a new bylaw being required.

It is an oddity that the whole area of legislation for taxis/private hire vehicles is different in London from elsewhere and that in many cases it is more restrictive yet in others less.

The idea of dividing taxis into 'hackney' and 'private hire' (I think I've got the right terms) is a rather odd and artificial one. Many, probably most, countries do without it. It seems to only be relevant in terms of protecting two distinct markets, rather than the safety standards you might be interested in as a passenger.

The situation where you approach a hire car sitting at the roadside and ask if he's available and he tells you he's not a hackney carriage and can't take you unbooked, but if you phone the number on the side of his car and ask, they'll accept you booking and let him know and he can then take you seems ... a peculiarity of the system which is outdated if it were ever in date.

Isn't it to do with regulating the number of vehicles plying the streets looking for business?   Different jurisdiction, but I recall hackney cab licenses in Dublin limited in numbers and changing hands at high prices ... with licenses applied to the car not the driver, so that the same car was used by multiple drivers in shifts.