Taxis

[dj97]

Will we be able to build a taxi company and have city-issued taxis pick up fares around the city?

Here is how I think it should work. Once a taxi company is constructed, they drive around the city looking for fares. Cims who don't own a car and have no access to public transport will be prime fares for them. When such a cim leave their house, they will stand on the curb and hail a nearby cab (or call one if there aren't any nearby). A taxi will come from the company lot (or from the street if the taxi is nearby) and pick up the cim from their home. The taxi will then drive the cim to their destination. The cim will exit the taxi, and the taxi continues on its way.

Also, you can set the area where each taxi company have their taxis patrol. Each one would have their own company colors, as well.

 

[Sotrax]

Nice little idea. Taxis should be more successfull with more dense city area since taxis are more common in higher society class.

 

[Steve B.]

Yeah this is a good idea. In addition to cruising cabs you could also be able to place taxi stands at airports, train stations and other high demand areas.

You could also raise some revenue by issuing the drivers special licenses and selling medallions to the companies (or individuals). It would also provide jobs.

 

[Victor Cortez]

Well, I'd rather see Taxi Policies instead of founding a taxi company.
For example, you impose that all taxis are eletric/hybrid vehicles, then, as sub-policy you can decide whether you want to give money to taxidrivers to buy those vehicles or not. If you don't give money, people are pissed off, if you give money, people are happy and private car usage decreases, but well, you lose money.

 

[lemonsquid]

good thing about taxis is that they can all look the same and not hurt anyones feelings about diversity

 

[charlesnew]

Yes, I think that taxis are very important to big cities.

 

[dj97]

Yes, I think that taxis are very important to big cities.

They really are! But they must also function as taxis as well for it to feel like a big city.

 

[dj97]

Nice little idea. Taxis should be more successfull with more dense city area since taxis are more common in higher society class.

That's a great idea!

Yeah this is a good idea. In addition to cruising cabs you could also be able to place taxi stands at airports, train stations and other high demand areas.

You could also raise some revenue by issuing the drivers special licenses and selling medallions to the companies (or individuals). It would also provide jobs.

Those are also great ideas!

 

[dj97]

Well, I'd rather see Taxi Policies instead of founding a taxi company.
For example, you impose that all taxis are eletric/hybrid vehicles, then, as sub-policy you can decide whether you want to give money to taxidrivers to buy those vehicles or not. If you don't give money, people are pissed off, if you give money, people are happy and private car usage decreases, but well, you lose money.

Policies could be implemented as well.

 

[Sotrax]

Well, the city planning here is a little bit the socialistic way. I decide about water, electricity, street building, garbage, police, healthcare, deathcare, public transportation .. so why not taxis?
(In the former GDR Berlin, Taxis were run by the public transportation company BVB, that had also run bus, tram and subway service.)

 

[Sir Leningrad]

That's not socialistic, that's the common rule over the political board, and that's what public institutions are for everywhere, to provide basic services. A private company may sell electricity, water, etc. to you, but the decision of where and when to build the infraestructure is public, and the money to build it usually comes from taxes too for most of them. The bigger the job, more public involvement there is. That's why telephone and internet cables are usually all private, but not with water. Also, taxi licenses and similar things are also decided by public institutions everywhere. Who els is going to have the authority to do so?

 

[Sotrax]

That's my opinion as well, but not the regular opinion. Politicians, especially in Germany, thought it would be better for the competition on the marked if almost all public services would run private. So after the end of the GDR, the state of Berlin sold the water supply(buyed it back some years ago), they made the public transport private and wanted to sell them (but it's still in states hand, but run as a private company), they sold the energy supply (the former power stations and the electicial network are now in the hand of Vattenfall, a swedish energy company), all former official housings are split into 5 or 6 private run companys with a little state influence. Telephone, Post, all now is run by private companys. So, I agree, that all public services should run by the state, but that sadly is not the current status and If you suggest to lead back to state influence on these companys, you normally get called a socialist, which is meant as a bigger insult in Germany as it is with communist in the USA.

 

[Victor Cortez]

Private competition is great where there can be competition.
Selling a monopoly asset to a private company (ie, water supply for a whole city) is the mother of all fuck ups.

Water supply, health care, education etc, should be public, no matter what.
Phone (the service, not the network), airlines (the planes, not the airports), and some other things can be private.


Getting back to topic, the way it works in all the cities that I know of (and I might be wrong), is that the city does not own one single taxi, What the city does is figiving out licenses (for money, of course) for people who want to run a taxi company. And this is what should be in game, not plopping "taxi" stations or anything, but simply deciding how much money you ask for the taxi license and if there are high or low requirements for it.

 

[dj97]

Private competition is great where there can be competition.
Selling a monopoly asset to a private company (ie, water supply for a whole city) is the mother of all fuck ups.

Water supply, health care, education etc, should be public, no matter what.
Phone (the service, not the network), airlines (the planes, not the airports), and some other things can be private.


Getting back to topic, the way it works in all the cities that I know of (and I might be wrong), is that the city does not own one single taxi, What the city does is figiving out licenses (for money, of course) for people who want to run a taxi company. And this is what should be in game, not plopping "taxi" stations or anything, but simply deciding how much money you ask for the taxi license and if there are high or low requirements for it.

The reason I wanted the taxi company to be plopped is so you wouldn't have taxi companies popping up everywhere. Plus, since it's a citywide service and have special agents, I would think you would to decide where it should go. Besides, there are some cities with a city-owned taxi company.

Maybe we can make a compromise. You enact a policy that allows for-hire services. A person will offer to build a taxi company in exchange for you giving them a license to operate there (which gives you money, as well). All you do next is plop their taxi company, and they'll do the rest. You don't control anything else.

Or, the companies can be zoned in commercial areas, but only a few will be built and spaced out. I don't think we want taxi companies popping up everywhere next to each other.

The most important thing here is that the taxis behave like real taxis.

 

[Barkydog]

The taxi idea is a good one. Here in the UK local authorities who run city and urban councils have control over taxi policies so that would be a good fit for the game.

You could have such powers as:

-Selling taxi plates (For the cabs.) as well as badges and licenses for the drivers. (Although here I think operators who run the companies are also licensed.)
-Deciding the number of cabs you want to license as well as the areas you want them to operate in since some authorities have their areas split into zones and drivers are licensed to pick up in their own zones only.
-Decide on tariffs & fares so you can set the minimum fares. (You might let drivers charge more on Friday & Saturday nights as well as at Christmas and new Year.
-Decide on if all taxi's are accessible for the disabled or if you want a mixture say Black cabs and cars licensed to work the ranks/street hails.
-Decide the colour of your taxi fleet.
-Decide to have public hire or a private Hire system for taxi's or have both to give more choice. Since some people will want a cheaper ride and will book a private Hire cab by phone. But others will want to get a cab from a rank or hail in the street so they are happy to pay higher metered fares.
-Have the choice to license minibuses as taxi's so people can travel together in a group.
-provide taxi vouchers for the Elderly and Disabled.
-Place taxi ranks at busy locations, (Deciding on the number of cabs allowed to use each rank.
-Allow taxi's free use of bus lanes.
-Provide demand responsive taxi rides in rural areas where it's cheaper to send a taxi than to subsidise a bus route.
-Your transport budget to include taxi journeys for school pupils who are disabled or unable to use public transport to get to school.

 

[Sinbuster]

I can see it now: Mayor, our taxi drivers are protesting the new Uber app!

 

[Victor Cortez]

Maybe we can make a compromise. .

This is a videogame forum on the internet! There can be neither civilized discussion nor compromise! Have you learned nothing!?!
No, seriously, your idea makes sense. That's how it should be.

 

[Sir Leningrad]

That proposal is quite good. When I said that many services are designed and paid by public institutions I didn't mean they run them later. I agree that some would be better run publicly, but all I want is options, like having the possibility of having private schools even if in reality I would like it to be all public or mainly public.

 

[dj97]

That proposal is quite good. When I said that many services are designed and paid by public institutions I didn't mean they run them later. I agree that some would be better run publicly, but all I want is options, like having the possibility of having private schools even if in reality I would like it to be all public or mainly public.

An option that sets taxi companies to be run publicly (you) or privately (them) sounds nice. It allows for more flexibility.

 

[lemonsquid]

An option that sets taxi companies to be run publicly (you) or privately (them) sounds nice. It allows for more flexibility.

and prevents monopolies!