NEARLY three million taxi rides take place in Reading every year.
And the busiest place to pick up a cab is the horseshoe taxi rank at the south exit of Reading’s railway station. Figures show there are 11,628 journeys per week from this location – more than half (52%) of the total.
The next most popular was Station Hill, which sees 2,948 rides hailed each week – 13%, while 2,582 journeys (12%) are made from the rank at the north exit of the station.
These three station taxi ranks together account for more than three quarters (77%) of the cab trade.
There were 583 passengers (3%) going from the taxi rank at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, and 460 (2%) going from Station Road.
Collectively, there are approximately 2.73 million taxi journeys are made annually in Reading, with 1.17 million of those starting from taxi ranks.
And 210,000 passengers use cabs, with 368,200 hirings are made through apps and 982,000 passengers call to book a private hire taxis journey.
The figures were revealed in a survey conducted last year to determine whether there is ‘unmet demand’ for cabs in Reading, which would justify more cabs being added to the fleet.
The current limit of hackney cab licenses is 216.
Options to keep or relax the limit were recently discussed at a Reading Borough Council’s licensing applications committee.
Asif Rashid, chairman of the Reading Taxi Association (RTA) said: “This report was very thorough, it’s overdue, the results aren’t surprising. What does stick out there has been a drop in trade.”
The data from the survey conducted by Ian Millership of CTS traffic & transportation showed a 27% decline since 2019.
Mr Rashid said the ‘most significant’ statistic was that 85% of passengers travelled at times when there was no delay to get a cab at all.
Syed Abbas, a driver who rents his cab, called for the limit to be eased so that himself and others can make the switch from being cab renters to cab owners.
Mr Abbas said: “We only request to the licensing committee, officers and our RTA union and all other owners of hackney cabs to come forward and give the right to deserving drivers to have opportunities to get their licenses.
“If the council issues five licenses per year for three years that will help all the deserving drivers who have been working for more than 15 years.”
Councillors argued that removing the limit could only be justified if there is an increase in demand.
Cllr Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) said: “Given the catastrophic government we have, it’s hardly surprising.”
He also thanked cab drivers for their work during the pandemic.
Cllr Paul Woodward (Labour, Church), the committee chairman hoped the demand for cabs would increase as the economy improves.
The committee decided to retain the limit on cab licences at 216 at the meeting on Tuesday, February 20.
