Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Letter to Mayor

The London Assembly Transport Committee has written a letter to the Mayor of London with 8 recommendations on the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) industry in London.

Recommendations include:

1. TfL should set out an engagement plan for developing the updated Taxi and Private Hire Vision. This should be a participatory process, including engaging with Assembly Members and the London Assembly Transport Committee.
2. The Mayor and TfL should consult around including Pedicabs, and other forms of transport, in the new Taxi PHV strategy.
3. The Mayor should work with Government on any legislative changes required to achieve the vision. This could include re-visiting discussions around capping PHV numbers and cross-border hiring, the content of pedicab legislation, and the potential to license taxi apps.
4. The Mayor should look at what steps he can take to increase competition in the approved London taxi market.
5. The Mayor should continue to liaise with the Government around support for the Plug-In Taxi Grant, and push for the Grant to be extended beyond April 2025. The Mayor should also continue to make the case to Government that all accessible vehicles, including taxis and wheelchair accessible PHVs, should be VAT-exempt.
6. The Mayor and TfL should further explore making the Knowledge more modular, allowing people to complete the programme alongside their jobs. In response to this letter, the Mayor and TfL should set out what steps it is taking to encourage and support more women and people from a diverse range of backgrounds to enrol in the Knowledge.
7. TfL should review its approach to how it deals with breaches of 20mph speed limits, to focus on behaviour change and achieve safe speeds and remove perceptions of unfairness. It should monitor the number of cases and trends over time and review awareness of 20mph limits and see if more can be done to reduce offending. TfL should write to the Committee with an update on this and how it has changed the tone of correspondence to drivers.
8. TfL should assess their new driver policy and reorganisation of the appeals process to ensure it is fair, independent and transparent.