From Roger Bale.
JOHN O’Neill (JEP, 24 December 2008) does not believe that deregulation will improve the service provided by Jersey’s most flexible form of public transport – the taxi.

If I was a taxi driver protected by the limited number of plates available and without any supervised obligation to be on the road at certain times day and night, I would also be happy with the situation. But the reality is that our politicians are supposed to represent the interests of the population plus the tourists and commercial visitors’ requirements, and the limiting of taxi plates in no way serves the market.

Demand for taxis is not directly observable because the level of activity in the market is determined solely by supply. To substantiate the observation that there is an excess demand for taxis, observations of queues for taxis are frequent. These queues are longest around Christmas, weekends and at night.

Similar problems exist in relation to phone bookings, where some calls fail to secure a taxi. Waiting times can be long, particularly so for wheelchair-accessible taxis. Such queues, however, are likely to reveal an underestimation of the true demand for taxis because many would-be passengers will not wait, preferring to walk or use public transport or private cars, so shorter queues during the day do not necessarily mean that there is less demand at these times.

Another way in which the excess demand manifests itself is the declining use of out-of-town eating and drinking establishments. People have experienced problems with getting taxis home from these and they make their dining decisions accordingly.

Nobody, including Mr O’Neill, has explained why taxis, uniquely among service providers, must be protected and limited in number’ particularly when in return they have no supervised obligation to serve.
Rocque Berg,
Grande Route de la Côte,
St Clement.