Exeter taxi drivers threatened

Passengers upset at low-carbon detours

Taxi drivers in Exeter have been threatened by passengers angry at soaring fares caused by long detours around the city’s controversial Active Streets trial area.

Some won’t pay, while others are trying to get drivers to defy the law and go through the roadblocks.

One protester said their fare to get from one point in the low-traffic area to another had trebled as the taxi had to take a lengthy diversion around the perimeter of the trial zone instead.

Representatives of the city’s taxi trade say some passengers have reacted aggressively and are refusing to pay when asked for higher fares. Others have been threatening taxi drivers to try to get them to go through ‘bus gate’ restrictions illegally.

Private hire vehicle operators say they are having to pay drivers for extra hours because the trial has caused more congestion. They are having to reduce the number of jobs they can do, particularly during peak times, meaning longer waits for passengers.

A concession has now been offered to the taxi trade which will allow them to use the bus gates from the middle of next month.

More than 4,000 people have made their feelings known so far during consultations on the controversial Active Streets trial.

Some streets in Heavitree and Whipton have been blocked to through-traffic in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN), which supporters believe will reduce pollution and improve road safety.

Opponents of the pilot scheme say it has just moved the problems elsewhere, leading to congestion and increased pollution on ’boundary’ roads around the outside the pilot LTN area.

The county council’s Exeter highways and traffic orders committee (HATOC) agreed the pilot scheme in June, and will meet next week to discuss how it is going so far. The trial is in place for a maximum of 18 months, giving a potential end date of December 2024, after which the roadblocks will be removed or made permanent.

More than 1,600 people have attended public exhibitions showing the plans in Whipton and Heavitree.

Concerns raised included inadequate consultation before the start of the trial and ‘adverse’ effects including longer car journeys around the pilot area, higher taxi fares and the impact on older and disabled people.

However, some people also expressed support, saying the trial has encouraged a switch from driving to cycling and has made the school run ‘significantly calmer’.

Emergency services say there have been no serious problems, but point out that increased traffic on ‘boundary’ roads could delay responses. Disability groups said the trial had made journeys longer, and there were concerns over the amount of time carers can spend with patients due to increased delays.

Traffic flow figures show an increase of 11 per cent – to 16,600 cars a day – in Hill Barton Road on the boundary of the trial area, although other nearby roads have seen little change. Roads inside the boundary have seen vehicle numbers drop sharply.