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DPTAC position on taxis and private hire vehicles Published Date: 08/08/2020

The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) position on, and recommendations about, the accessibility of taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).

In the document, the DPTAC said it believes that taxi and PHV services should be fully accessible to disabled travellers, and this statement sets out our proposed framework for achieving such a service continuing “The driver needs to take active steps to ensure that the passenger is safe and comfortable, and provide reasonable assistance to enable the passenger to use their service.”

Recommendations

  1. DPTAC believes that it should be part of the role of a licensing authority to:
  • make drivers aware of the breadth of their duties
  • provide training in how to carry out the full extent of their role
  • discipline drivers who provide inadequate service to passengers
  1. The government to amend licensing legislation to make clear the full scope of the role of taxi and PHV services. This must give licensing authorities the powers to generate sufficient income to enforce this expectation of the role of drivers and apply appropriate sanctions
  1. Licensing authorities will need – with appropriate guidance from the government – to:
  • provide training for drivers on disability awareness and wider customer care issues
  • develop a straight-forward and fair way of taking disciplinary action against drivers who fail to provide a reasonable level of service
  • develop an exemption regime for drivers who have a disability or other health problems which may limit the assistance they can provide
  1. A mixed fleet of WAVs and conventional saloon cars is necessary at present due to the lack of a universally accessible vehicle.
  1. Legislation should require licensing authorities to set the proportion of WAVs required in their fleets of taxis and PHVs.
  1. Operators of larger fleets should be required to provide a proportion of WAVs. This proportion will be larger than the overall target for the fleet, depending on the number of smaller operators who are exempt.
  1. Subsidies will be required to cover the additional cost of purchasing a WAV