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 24/07/2008, 8:44 AM
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APPLECENTRAL
Joined on 24/07/2008
Posts 6
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In answer to the front page of this weeks Weston Mercury about fare prices. I am the owner of Apple Central Taxis. I would like to make some points about the article.
1. Our fares have not doubled this year. We have only raised the fares once earlier this year by 20p a trip. The fare and half is for two reasons. Fuel costs and licensing costs are costing drivers at least £100 pounds a week more to run their Taxi than last year. Also the local council have set the meter fares on Hackney carriage vehicles after midnight to such a high level that drivers who normally work for their firms are leaving and working the ranks for double the money.
2. We as a firm pride ourselves on giving customers a good reliable service and safety for lone females late at night. It is and has always been very important to us. We have noticed many of our drivers are leaving us at a crucial time Saturday nights to work the ranks leaving the firm with nowhere near enough cars to cope with the demand. We have to find a solution because we do not want to make people wait up to an hour or more on the streets. By offering drivers more money to work this 4 hour period we were able on T4 weekend to give an exceptional and speedy service with over 60 cars working. The customer who said he paid £12.50 to Milton Rd must have used a Hackney carriage vehicle. Our fare even at the higher rate would be no more than £6.00. If the person who said that reads this let me know and if one of our drivers did charge that amount for a single journey I will personally reimburse the person £6.50. By charging for one 4 hour period we are able to keep our prices down for the rest of the week. Remember when you flag a car down off the street you will still be paying 25% more than we charge during that 4 hour window. Remember nearly every Taxi firm in the country charge more after midnight every night. We are only charging extra for 1 night.
I welcome a response to this forum and if you want to contact me personally applecentral@aol.com please feel free to do so as we do care about our customers. What do you want? Pay a bit more and go home quickly and safely or pay the same amount as before and wait up to and over an hour for a Taxi. Please let me know as your opinion is very important to us.
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25/07/2008, 7:00 AM
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furby
Joined on 25/07/2008
banwell
Posts 50
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the problem is not the cost now, but why were the prices kept so low.. you are still charging less than most other places and provide a service that gets it right more times than it gets it wrong...everybody knows the cost of fuel has risen and that our beloved council doesnt miss a trick when it comes to revenue streams. if the service you provide stays at a high standard then great , if it falls ,then you will lose customers....regards furby
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25/07/2008, 3:29 PM
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C-Frost
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DearFurby,
Thank you for your reply and I agree with you totally on what you say. Why have the prices been held back is a good question. I guess the answer is the fact that we often feel we need to keep the prices as low as possible so as to maintain the level of work we receieve (14000) calls a week plus we are in competition with all other firms in the town. Our policy is to try and keep the fares as low as possible so as to generate more business. We have already seen North Somerset Council raise the prices much higher for Hackney Carriage vehicles than any Private Hire firm possibly up to double the rate. Unfortunately that is the reason why we have had to raise the fares for this time period of 4 hours a week because all Hackney carriage drivers are leaving their firms and working the ranks. I cant blame the drivers because after all everyone needs to earn more money. We pride ourselves on giving a good service and because of this we cannot achieve our targets. Keeping people waiting or stranded for up to an hour or more is not acceptable to me. The public will vote with their feet of course and we may lose out on this. We now give our customers a choice, pay more and get home much quicker, or pay less and wait for an hour or more. If we didnt raise the fares we would definately be letting people down badly. There is a safety issue to this because we dont want to leave vulnerable people starnded in town late at night especially lone women.
Thanks for your reply and I hope I receive many more.
Robert Rowe
Apple Central Taxis Ltd
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26/07/2008, 9:06 AM
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furby
Joined on 25/07/2008
banwell
Posts 50
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i see what you mean Mr Rowe. i can only speak for myself but i have been told many times by your drivers that if the phone operators took a little more time and were a little more accurate that would help as well. many a time i have been left wondering wether the person im speaking to actually heard me before they hung up! Your drivers have never let me or my family down and are a credit to your company, regards furby
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28/07/2008, 6:19 PM
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APPLECENTRAL
Joined on 24/07/2008
Posts 6
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Hi Furby,
Point taken and I am aware there has been problems with our office staff or to be fair some of them. The majority are really good!. Having said that we are looking to improve in this area and we have already introduced NVQ level 2 training for our drivers and we are also going to put all our ofice staff through the same course which will make us an official Proffessional Taxi Company.
One thing this forum is teaching me is we need a good website where our customers can air their views about our service, good or bad.
Thanks for your comments
Rob
Apple Central Taxis
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30/07/2008, 12:22 AM
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Mark Norville
Joined on 28/07/2008
Posts 15
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As an ex user of Apple Cabs for many a year, and as a now Ex Westonian/Westonian people of Weston should be really thankful the prices are not as bad as they are here.
Taxi charges are standard time during the day, 6ish every night, they go up to time and a half, and past midnight they go to double time.
First time I caught a taxi here I was shocked as hell, as a £3.40 journey when I went in, ended up costing me £5.60 ish on the return journey for the same distance.
If they ever introduce this kind of pricing in Weston, then you would be grinding to a halt.
If you are a car driver, then you will know that road tax has risen, and will continue to rise for people carriers, petrol prices has risen 116.9 was what I was paying so from around 300 miles on a full tank, I was ending up with 250 miles with a full tank.
Diesel is now the highest that it has ever been, whereas diesel used to be cheaper than petrol, but the new called city diesel is £1.35.
Need to do the maths people and thank yourself lucky you only get charged time and a half for Christmas and New year
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30/07/2008, 7:55 PM
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APPLECENTRAL
Joined on 24/07/2008
Posts 6
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Good post Mark,
Prices are much dearer everywhere else in the country for Taxis. We endeavour to keep our prices competitive but sometimes we have to make difficult decisions to maintain a good level of service. Safety is very important especially in this day and age. Keeeping people waiting too long is not what we want!
Rob
Apple Central Taxis
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30/07/2008, 10:28 PM
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C-Frost
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Well, I managed to get a lift home last Saturday - after 12 - but had already been warned about the price rise. If I was in need of a taxi, I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to ensure my safe return home at the end of a night (and I know taxi drivers have a lot to put up with at this time of night too, so am trying to see things from both points of view) however, what I would and do object to with or without the price increase, is the fact that I am almost always told the taxi will be about 15 mins to half an hour and regularly have waited well over this time, sometimes alone, and ofter more than 2 hours for a taxi to turn up despite repeated calls asking where my cab is.
I choose to wait by Dolphin Square as with its CCTV feel that this is the safest option but sometimes have had to seek refuge in the chip shop across the way. If I am told it would be over 2 hours to get a taxi, I would try to make other arrangements (walk to the office to wait in a safer environment for example) but no, not only me, but friends and my daughter. (One night she had to wait 4 hours as I was unable to drive to town to pick her up myself). And all of this was from Apple
I used to be on Apples preferred customer list or whatever it used to be called and even this didn't help so I now use another company.
ps - I am not a disgruntled teenager, but still a regular 'townie' who likes to go out and socialise.
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31/07/2008, 1:21 AM
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Mark Norville
Joined on 28/07/2008
Posts 15
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Oh and just adding to this as thankfully I haven't taken too many taxis here.
All the taxis are on meters, hackney meters. So as soon as your picked up your charged about £1.20 during the day, and then 20p per or so per unit.
The meter does not stop even when you get to a red light, so if you encounter three red lights, or indeed very heavy traffic which is usually the normal, the price hike is massive.
On a good day you could be looking at £4.00 for approx a mile journey, during rush hour traffic or lights against you, has been as high as £5.40 during the day.
I'm not in London, I'm not in Manchester or Glasgow, I'm still in the Good Old West Country but a massive difference to the prices in Weston.
Anytime you need a PR man Rob, I'm your man lol
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08/08/2008, 9:23 AM
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furby
Joined on 25/07/2008
banwell
Posts 50
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ok , who let marlene out.... did anyone else read her bit in the opinions spot... im amazed at the womans foresight and knowledge , and also she might, just might, have read the little letter that apple drivers were showing to customers a good three weeks before T4 ,strange that it said exactly the same as marlene .. could it be she is a closet apple customer??????, she says that taxis stand or fall by the standards they achieve. well, 25 years ago ARC were the biggest, now they lag behind woodspring but just ahead of weston n worle. .. just a thought...regards furby
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10/08/2008, 8:31 PM
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APPLECENTRAL
Joined on 24/07/2008
Posts 6
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Good post Furby.
I dont want to criticise other taxi Companies but we have invested continuously into our business over a number of years and can now offer a level of service second to no one. After 3 weeks of charging extra we are now consistently providing 50+ cars during the club rush with waiting times drastically reduced to 10 - 15 minutes. It is a shame we have had to charge more for this quality of service but now the customer has a choice, wait up to 2 hours in Town and pay less or pay 50% more and get home safely and quickly.
2000 bookings every Saturday night with job figures growing suggests to me we are giving the public what they want. That must say something.
Rob
Apple Central
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The Weston Merc... » General » Hot News and Po... » TAXI FARE HIKES!
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