Worst located and served taxi ranks at stations that have them?

[AlastairFraser]

Reading's bus network is pretty decent, aye. Like you say: just as well given the eye-watering price of black cabs!

Well, the only issue is the night bus network got heavily cut back a few years before I left for uni. But you can generally get a bus to within a mile of most of the housing in the conurbation at least 20 hours a day.

 

[ian1944]

Re. Waverley, I thought that banishing taxis from inside was to do with supposed air quality. Couldn't have all that diesel muck now that all the trains were elec ...

 

[XAM2175]

Re. Waverley, I thought that banishing taxis from inside was to do with supposed air quality. Couldn't have all that diesel muck now that all the trains were elec ...

Security was the main rationale AFAIK, but getting all the exhaust out from under the roof was a handy silver lining.

Personally I can't say I miss them, although I suppose in another few years when the majority of taxis are electric having them back inside could be acceptable if there was ever any willing to shift on the security aspect.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Security was the main rationale AFAIK, but getting all the exhaust out from under the roof was a handy silver lining.

Personally I can't say I miss them, although I suppose in another few years when the majority of taxis are electric having them back inside could be acceptable if there was ever any willing to shift on the security aspect.

It may well be that a shift in security tech could help at the same time. The thing they're concerned about is a truck full of explosives being driven in; if it was possible to automatically detect that then you're sorted.

 

[zwk500]

It may well be that a shift in security tech could help at the same time. The thing they're concerned about is a truck full of explosives being driven in; if it was possible to automatically detect that then you're sorted.

It depends on the nature of the threat - A number of attacks in the UK have been carried out or attempted using suitcase-sized devices in regular saloon car boots, which could be quite difficult to detect from a Taxi filled with luggage from a hotel. Also the recent trend in using any car as a weapon won't have helped, although that's easier to stop with good design.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It depends on the nature of the threat - A number of attacks in the UK have been carried out or attempted using suitcase-sized devices in regular saloon car boots, which could be quite difficult to detect from a Taxi filled with luggage from a hotel. Also the recent trend in using any car as a weapon won't have helped, although that's easier to stop with good design.

Nonetheless plenty of research is no doubt going into drive through explosives detection, because it's not just Waverley that would want it, but lots of organisations - ferries, Eurotunnel, Government sites....

 

[zwk500]

Nonetheless plenty of research is no doubt going into drive through explosives detection, because it's not just Waverley that would want it, but lots of organisations - ferries, Eurotunnel, Government sites....

Very true. And it'll be very handy for lots of applications. But explosions aren't the only security risks, so don't hold your breath about cab ranks moving back inside stations too far.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very true. And it'll be very handy for lots of applications. But explosions aren't the only security risks, so don't hold your breath about cab ranks moving back inside stations too far.

I'd probably more say the killer of cab ranks is the move away from Hackney carriages to Uber and the likes, to the point that I think some cities will abolish Hackney carriages soon enough. (They're already pretty much irrelevant in a good many places even if they exist).

Yes, there's a risk of driving a car onto the concourse, but that can be mitigated with weighty barriers.

 

[Mikey C]

Obviously there are worse ones out there, but the current Paddington taxi rank is far worse than the old one, being further away and up an escalator and on the wrong side of the station nearer the "commuter" platforms rather than the "Intercity" ones.

 

[och aye]

Security was the main rationale AFAIK, but getting all the exhaust out from under the roof was a handy silver lining.

Personally I can't say I miss them, although I suppose in another few years when the majority of taxis are electric having them back inside could be acceptable if there was ever any willing to shift on the security aspect.

That might be difficult considering the taxi rank and drop off point is now occupied by platforms 5 & 6

 

[XAM2175]

That might be difficult considering the taxi rank and drop off point is now occupied by platforms 5 & 6

D'oh

(but the two extra platforms are definitely the better of the two options, in my mind)

 

[Walter Whigham]

Currently Stirling has a taxi rank bang outside the main entrance but there are plans afoot to completely rehash the frontage of the station and remove the taxi rank elsewhere - likely to be some distance away and in the open. This is a product of Stirling Councillors' thinking, who regardless of political hue, are renowned for not being very bright.