A taxi-related notice at Kemble was a reminder of the obscure world of access to stations (and costs imposed on multimodal travel). The mention of just two taxi firms made me wonder if the sort of one man band bookable rural taxi service has melted away.

Mark

Indeed - and ARE there typically taxis waiting / plying for business at Kemble station?

Please follow up, members - are taxis generally waiting / plying for hire at your local station?  If not, how easy is it to get a taxi and is there a single source / booking mechanism you would use (be it a local co-operative or something like Uber) or would you be searching / calling lots of different numbers?

This sounds like a job for a poll or two. I seldom take them, visually, there's plenty at Bath Spa during the day, rather less availability into the evenings and often a wait for taxis later in the evening when the city's bus service has also fizzled.

Anecdotally, advance-booking a taxi in Bath to e.g. the railway station for a train, is a risk as, once it's booked, the taxi booking system holds the job until the appropriate time and then chucks it into the pool in the hope that a driver is available to pick it up.

Also, booking via an app is encouraged and the last time I tried a phone booking the thing went to dev/null.

(I may have this completely wrong as to how the industry now works, but taxi drivers seem to be struggling with it too...)

Also, a significant taxi-travel requirement is for accessible vehicles and I'm not sure how this is met now.

Mark

Our licencing council insist that all new 'black cabs' are accessible. So we have plenty here.

Private Hire are a law unto themselves - but definitely realise the amount of work that is out there for accessible vehicles, so most companies have some....but they don't all work around the clock, so getting one late in the evening is quite a lottery unless booked well in advance.

*Admires Nailsea and Backwell station and surrounds on Google Streetview*

Ah, of course, the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Money was squeaky-tight.

Mark