Licensed taxis 'on the up' in the UK

Date: 14/2/2012

The number of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles has increased in England and Wales.

Data from the Department for Transport revealed there were 78,000 licensed taxis operating as of March 31st 2011 - a three per cent increase on the figure recorded in 2009.

Similarly, the number of licensed private hire vehicles also went up by three per cent to 155,100 in the same timeframe.

The DfT noted the number of taxis has grown steadily over the past few decades, "with a faster rate of increase following the 1985 Transport Act which amended the circumstances in which a local authority could control taxi licences."

Some 44,300 licensed taxis - or 61 per cent - had wheelchair access and 31 per cent of the overall total operated in London.

It was also revealed by the government that road traffic as a whole was 3.6 per cent higher in the final quarter of last year compared with the same time in 2010.

Posted by Mary Treen