1st Edition

Taxi! Urban Economies and the Social and Transport Impacts of the Taxicab

By James Cooper, Ray Mundy Copyright 2010
    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    The taxicab makes a significant contribution to the accessibility of a city, and provides a wide range of services across many different social groups and urban environments. This study considers the roles and functions of the taxi from its origins as the first licensed form of public transport, to the current variations of vehicle type and operation, to predictions for its future development. Also addressed here is the impact which this ubiquitous form of transport has on contemporary urban life, and the analytical tools being used and developed for its licensing and control.

    Contents: Preface; Historical development of the taxi; The development of a licensing structure; Fundamentals of taxi analysis; Taxi analysis - application and interpretation; The role of technology in taxi operations; The role of the taxi in night time economies; The Role of airport taxis in airport ground transportation; The role of the taxi in specialist transport services; The use of taxis in a community and developmental role; Barriers to development; Taxi transport: toward a future direction; References; Index.

    Biography

    Dr James M. Cooper is the Head of the Taxi Studies Group at Edinburgh Napier University, Senior Research Fellow at the Transport Research Institute and Director of T2E Transport to Employment. Dr Ray A. Mundy is the John W. Barriger III Endowed Professor of Transportation & Logistics and Director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri - St Louis, and Taylor Professor Emeritus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Dr John D Nelson holds the Sixth Century Chair in Transport Studies and is Director of the Centre for Transport Research at the University of Aberdeen.

    'This meticulous analysis by James Cooper, Ray Mundy, and John Nelson, of the much undervalued role of the Taxi as a mode of urban transport, is in my view both brilliant in its concept and a very welcome book of referral for the Taxi industry and Licensing Authorities alike.' Bill McIntosh, General Secretary of the Scottish Taxi Federation, UK