Afternoon:
10°c
You have to feel sorry for black-cab drivers. It's not their fault that John Worboys - sentenced to an indeterminate jail sentence on Tuesday for rape and sex attacks - was one of their number. Any woman knows that at certain times of night and in certain states of intoxication, she is statistically far safer in a black cab than anywhere else (including on her own two unsteady feet. And, yes, I'm talking about myself here).
Black cabs remain a safe haven. The problem is, can anyone afford them? This, rather than a freak criminal case, is the greater threat to women's safety. Our black cabs have become so expensive that they're a luxury a lot of us can no longer justify.
This isn't the drivers' fault. They don't personally set the fare. That's down to the Public Carriage Office, part of Transport for London. And this agency doesn't seem to have worked out yet that hundreds of black cabs are cruising around the capital empty for hours on end.
It's not just long-distance late-night fares that seem painful. I expect to pay £50 at least from Waterloo if I'm stupid enough to miss the last train home to Teddington after midnight when the peak tariff kicks in. But it would be nice to think that you could get a cab occasionally in the middle of the day, because you're in a hurry or caught in a downpour, for less than a fiver. This is now out of reach.
Every time I get into a taxi (which is, I now realise, only about twice a month instead of twice a week), I ask how business is. "Really bad," is always the reply. A 10-minute fare never comes to much under a tenner. It's got so bad that I'm seriously contemplating not wearing heels into town any more. And that, my friends, is bad.
Fifteen years ago The Economist reported that compared with New York or Paris, "London taxis are not inordinately expensive". That changed as soon as Ken Livingstone's high tariffs made it worth drivers' while to work longer hours. Post-recession, the extra cost makes no sense - and also puts London out of step with other world capitals. I have taken cabs in both New York and Paris in the past month and queried the reasonable fares ("C'est tout?") - and that's even taking the humiliating exchange rate into account.
Boris Johnson must encourage the Public Carriage Office to get wise to the economic climate. Fares have already gone up another 3.4 per cent this year, which was put down to the higher cost of fuel.
Of course drivers are struggling with their business costs - everyone is. Yet the supply and demand problem we faced under Livingstone - when we had more customers than taxis - has now been reversed. The cabbies' reputation has taken a knock with the Worboys case. But it's extortionate fares that could really kill them off.
My teenage dream ticket
I wasn't expecting much from Spring Awakening, the new Tony Award-winning rock musical which has just transferred from the Lyric Hammersmith to the Ivor Novello theatre. In précis, it doesn't sound good. An adaptation of an obscure play set in 19th-century provincial Germany, it's about a group of teenagers discovering where babies come from. In reality, it is mind-blowingly original, innovative and irreverent, like High School Musical as written by Goethe, with elements of Dead Poets' Society and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The music is superb, and the performances by the novice cast made me weep so copiously with joy that, true to the show's theme, I began to wonder if I was pregnant (I'm not). Awe-inspiring theatre that restores your faith in humanity — and teenagers.
Bright sparks on the shortlist
Another month, another literary prize list from which I have only read one of the nominated authors. At least from the Orange Prize shortlist I can recommend Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else, a fictionalised account of the life of Nikola Tesla, the man who believed he was the one who really invented electricity. (This is much more interesting than I have made it sound.) Now I am torn between denouncing the other five on the shortlist and knuckling down and actually reading them.
I'm easily most drawn to Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday, about a woman who never celebrates her birthday. Isn't that just so much more intriguing than who really invented electricity?
* The weirdness that is Vauxhall ticket hall continues to fascinate. I use this underground oasis as the yardstick by which I measure the temperature of the capital. Recent bursts of Vivaldi's Spring are no surprise — someone often pipes classical music through the Tannoy. But what worries me is a new development — joss sticks burning. The smell is strongest near the cash points. Is it a hippy remnant of the G20 protest? Or someone trying a morale boost for the populace? Either way, it's a bad sign.
Reader views (9)
Water taxis in Venice are about the same price, but at least there is no rule that says 'can't go there governor, outside the six mile limit.'
- Mark, Venice, Italy, 23/04/2009 22:00
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The one time I had to use a black cab from Heathrow into London for business (when I wasn't skint!) my cab driver was all sweetness and he excelled himself in using shortcuts to get into London to avoid traffic.
British cab drivers are the BEST in the world and the GREEKS the worse!
- Cathy, Europe (the Med), 23/04/2009 18:07
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Yep, black cab prices are truly scandalous, and a cabby I know admits this. The problem is that the "black cab" lobby is very powerful, so any attempt by anyone, left or right, to reduce fares will be resisted with a howl of protest. Horribly, the only answer is to let market forces take over - as demand falls, thousands of cabbies will lose their jobs, forcing fares to come down a long time in the future. But it's such a pity that the "black cab" lobby can't take a proactive and sensible approach now by voluntarily reducing fares instantly. A 20% cut in fares would get people flocking back.....
- Nick, London, 23/04/2009 17:35
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Why don't you use your noddle and share a cab ? Ta - da instant savings !!!
- Anthony, Basildon, 23/04/2009 17:02
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Mini cabs are now more expensive than Black Taxis, in my experience.
- Ted, London, 23/04/2009 16:36
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Can anybody give me a single reason that we should still have a black cab monopoly? Satnav negates the knowledge, simple background checks would make minicabs safer and how much does it cost to display a photo ID? Taking a cab from Heathrow into London must be the worst introduction to London you can imagine. $50+ for a noisy ride with a surley driver.
- Mark, London, 23/04/2009 15:03
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Why do London cabbies so resist being paid by credit card, een though they have vredit card symbols displayed on their vehicles. I have had cab drivers refuse point blank 9and very rudely) to take me from Heathrow to Ealing unless I pay cash despite the fact that the fare is over £40 (plus the credit card surcharge) I travel all over the world on business and cab drivers in almost every other city in the developed world consider the credit card to be a legitimate form of payment, but back in London cab drivers treat the suggestion of card payment as if it were obscene. With fares as high as they are now and passengers apparently scarve, perhaps cabbies will begin to treat us with a little more respect and not tell me to get lost next time I ask to pay by credit card.
- Anna, Ealing, 23/04/2009 13:34
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Black cabs are expensive and they expect a tip as well. We are not living in Victorian times any longer and this closed shop needs to be broken up.
- Stuz Graz, Wimbledon, London, 23/04/2009 13:22
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The fundamental problem with black cabs is that they have a monopoly and therefore prices can be hiked by the public carriage office knowing full well that no other competition is out there to challenge them.In this day and age the 'cabbies knowledge' has virtually become redundant with the advent of sat/nav.It is high time this monopoly was scrutinsed and a rival service set up, preferably using electric vechicles.
- David, London, 23/04/2009 12:21
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