Beating the rise in fuel costs

Ushering in the new year was not just a set of parties and festivities but also increases in public transport costs and fuel (via the fuel duty and the increase in VAT) – The Scotsman referred to it as New Year fuel duty rise leaves lorry drivers facing ‘a £95m hangover’ and The Independent also mentioned that the situation could get worse due to a potential spike in the price of oil – and the price of fuel has gone up 20% in the last two years as highlighted in this BBC article. In The Independent article, the Freight Transport Association was quoted as saying that these price rises would see lorry drivers paying an additional £1,200 per year in fuel costs. The Daily Mail suggests that motorists will need to pay an additional £255 per year to run their cars.

Obviously this is concerning for those who drive and those that provide transport services; however this also needs to be seen in the context of the massive inefficiencies across the transport sector. One of the terrible statistics is single occupancy in vehicles which averages 60% (and 84% for commuting) which is crazy. Price rises could be ‘combated’ by increasing charges to customers, which then just serves to compound the inflationary pressures created by the VAT and fuel duty increases. The better solution is to look at where efficiencies can be generated. Given the scale of inefficiencies within the industry (30-40% empty running/ dead mileage for taxis and road freight), the real answer is to address this which can happen very easily, whether it be driver training, more efficient fuel products or technology solutions that help better match up demand and supply, which is obviously at the core of what our technology does. Continued price rises will also start to change the equation around the cost-benefit of switching to hybrid technology and coupled with the announcement about subsidies to purchase electric vehicles will potentially see some interesting developments in this direction. This is of course accompanied by significant capital expenditure so really the short term solution and the easy wins are around driver training and technology.

I appreciate the concerns that motoring associations and industry commentators have, but the reality is that the transport industry is immensely inefficient and has a massive environmental impact – the way to deal with this is to seriously implement more sustainable ways of travelling and nothing else is good enough.

Why will people only share cabs during a tube strike?

On Wednesday, there is some likelihood that there will be a tube strike on the London Undergound and Docklands Light Railway. When it happened last year, there were a number of taxi sharing initiatives set up by Transport for London (TfL) that were reported on. It really is a shame that taxi sharing (and car sharing) is not part of normal life here as it is in other countries as it is a great way to save money, meet new people and reduce your impact on the environment. Peter Jackson from the BBC considered this last year during the tube strike and his leading comment was:

“Londoners hit by a 48-hour Tube strike are being encouraged to taxi-share to keep the city moving. It’s an idea that makes sense on any day of the year – but can the notoriously reticent British really take it to heart?”

It is an unfortunate set of circumstances but pretty true. Typically, our customers save 30% of the shared component of their fare when they share, so there is an economic argument in favour of sharing, and in these tough financial times, that’s not a bad deal.

PS. If you do want a cab during the strike, I would book early online or via 0844 669 4444!

Travelling to Festivals

According to a BBC article, travelling to and from events is the most environmentally harmful aspect of festivals. This was based on a report by Julie’s Bicycle, which is a not for profit organisation that was set up a while back to help the industry clean up its act. I’ve really only been to one big concert in the UK and by far – the worst bit was the nightmare of trying to leave at the end because everyone was getting in their own taxis – of course many of these people would have been going to exactly the same train station (the only one in a twenty mile radius of where the concert was at).

An oft cited statistic from me recently is from the DfT‘s recent report on traffic statistics for 2009. In it, it highlights that 84% of all passenger car traffic in the UK involves only a single occupant. This is a pretty crazy statistic – and I guess partly why there is so much traffic congestion. There is plently of empirical evidence to demonstrate the financial and environmental savings that can be achieved through improving the utility of transport vehicles. We’re about to start an activity with a very large retailer and a university to understand what incentives are enough to get people to share and what the real and perceived barriers are. While this is initially based around minicabs (as they are part of a regulated scheme), the same principles could apply to any form of sharing.