The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on the taxi and private hire industry, and while new DfT data shows signs of recovery, the shortage of drivers remains a major issue

The total number of licensed taxi and private hire vehicles in England increased slightly between 2021 and 2022, though the number of licensed drivers continued to fall, according to new figures released by the Department for Transport.

Vehicle numbers tumbled during the Covid-19 crisis from an pre-pandemic all-time high of 298,600 at the start of 2020 to 251,100 in 2021. But the 2022 survey shows a slight revival to 260,700, though this is still almost 40,000 down on 2020.

And despite an increase in vehicles, driver numbers continue to fall. There were 330,300 driver licences in 2022, a decrease of 3.4% compared to 2021’s 342,100 and almost 45,000 down on prepandemic levels of 264,700 in 2020. The situation could be worse in real terms, as the data includes licenses of drivers who may have stopped driving during the pandemic but whose licenses have not yet expired.

The data also shows long-term growth in the sector compared to 2005, when there were 184,500 licensed vehicles and 242,100 licensed drivers. Of the 260,700 licensed taxis and PHVs in England in 2022, just under a quarter (58,000) were taxis. The total number of licensed vehicles increased by 3.8% between 2021 and 2022, driven by a 5.1% increase in PHV numbers.

The number of taxis fell by 0.6% over the same period, though numbers on London black cabs increased by 9.0%, a sign of post-pandemic revival. During 2020, large numbers of older black cabs were taken off the road and many have not returned to service.

Outside London, taxi numbers in England fell by 3.4%, while PHV numbers rose at a greater rate than in London. Of the 202,700 licensed PHVs there was a larger increase in England outside London compared to London, 6.0% and 3.8% respectively.

Licensing authorities (outside London) are able to impose limits on the numbers of taxis licensed to operate within their area. However, they are unable to impose such limits on PHVs. In 2022 74 licensing authorities (25% of licensing authorities with licensed taxis) applied a limit on the numbers of licensed taxis, with a further 10 setting limits either for some of the areas they covered, or some vehicle types. These figures have been broadly similar over the last couple of years.

In England as a whole, licensed vehicle numbers increased by 3.8% between 2021 and 2022. But there was considerable variation between regions, however, with some regions seeing small falls in numbers, while others saw large rises. The number of licensed vehicles in the West Midlands increased by 17.2% between 2021 and 2022, for example, while the number in the East Midlands fell by 2.3%.

LICENSED TAXI AND PHV VEHICLES PER 1,000 PEOPLE

In 2022, there were on average 4.6 licensed taxi and PHV vehicles per 1,000 people in England, an increase from 4.4 in 2021. The number of licensed vehicles per 1,000 people generally decreases as areas become more rural. In London, there were 10.6 vehicles per 1,000 people, compared with 1.9 in areas that were largely rural. Several rural areas had less than 1 licensed taxi per 1,000 people.

Wolverhampton had the highest number of licensed vehicles per 1,000 population, with 49.5, though this figure is distorted by the fact that many Wolverhampton-licensed drivers and vehicles operate in other cities, as it is easier and cheaper to obtain a Wolverhampton licence than in many other places.

LICENSED DRIVER NUMBERS

Toe total of 330,300 licensed drivers in England was an 11,800 drop (3.4%) on 2021. Of the total, 65% were PHV-only licences, 12% were taxi-only licences and 22% were dual taxi and PHV licences. Decreases were seen in the total number of driver licences across most regions, but not all. The South East saw the largest fall in driver licences, at 7.0%,

Decreases were seen in the total number of driver licences across most regions, but not all. The South East saw the largest fall in driver licences, at 7.0%, while the West Midlands saw the largest increase, at 4.5% – again, a factor of Wolverhampton licensing.

A more accurate picture of driver numbers comes from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), a large study of the employment circumstances of the UK population, run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This uses something called the Standard Occupational Classification system (SOC 2020) to record numbers of “taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs”

The ONS data has tracked the number of “taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs” in England between 2009 and 2022. The number of taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs fell between 2009 and 2013, from around 202,000 to 164,000. This number then increased to a peak of around 214,000 in 2019. The 2020 number fell to 171,000, then tumbled to 119,000 in 2021. The 2022 data shows a 7% increase to 127,000, though this is still 26% lower than 2020 levels.

LICENSED PHV OPERATORS

The number of licensed PHV operators in England decreased by 5.7% to 14,200 from the previous year, and 13.8% lower than the peak in PHV operators at 16,500 in 2009. The fall was greatest in London, where the number of PHV operators declined by 12.3% to 1,700 operators between 2021 and 2022 as many smaller operators exited the business.

Outside London, the decrease was 4.7% to 12,500 operators in England, partly due to business closures and partly due to consolidation as companies merged or were taken over. This year we have seen a number of regional players including Take Me and DG Cars making multiple acquisitions.

In the year ending March 31, 2022, 1,900 applications were made by new PHV operators (either new companies, or existing operators not already licensed by that licensing authority).

ACCESSIBILITY

In England, 14% of all licensed vehicles were wheelchair accessible in 2022. In total, 55% of all taxis were wheelchair accessible while only 2% of PHVs were wheelchair accessible. This is similar to the proportions in 2021.

In London, all 14,600 taxis were wheelchair accessible as required by Transport for London’s ‘Conditions for Fitness’ taxi licensing policy. In the rest of England outside London, only 40% of taxis were wheelchair accessible.

LICENSING AUTHORITIES

There were 276 taxi and PHV licensing authorities in England as at March 31, 2022. However, for the 2022 survey, responses were received separately from the seven non-Metropolitan districts that make up the two unitary authorities of West Northamptonshire and North Northamptonshire, which were formed on April 1, 2021. This was because these districts still had different licensing policies in place as at March 31, 2022 due to transitional arrangements following the creation of the new unitary authorities.

There were also three authorities that did not have any taxis licensed as at March 31, 2022, and therefore did not provide responses to the questions about safeguarding policies for taxi drivers.

IN-CAB CCTV

Similar to the previous year, 15 authorities (5%) had a requirement for all licensed taxis to have CCTV fitted and 14 (5%) had a requirement for all licensed PHVs to have CCTV fitted. Of the authorities with the CCTV requirement, 11 had a requirement for the CCTV to have the facility to record audio in taxis, and 12 had this requirement for PHVs.

Almost all of the authorities without the CCTV requirement did allow licensed vehicles to have CCTV fitted. Only three authorities did not allow licensed taxis or PHVs to have CCTV fitted.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF REVOCATIONS AND REFUSALS (NR3)

As at March 31, 2022, 67% of authorities had submitted data to NR3, and 69% used NR3 when making licensing decisions. These both represented a large increase from 31 March 2021, when the equivalent figures were 48% and 50%.

DRIVER DEMOGRAPHICS

The majority of drivers were male (97%) in 2022. This proportion has been higher than 90% for all of the last 10 years.

Similar to last year, the average age of a driver was 48 years old, with 17% of drivers being aged under 40. Those aged 60 or over made up 16% of drivers. There has been a change in the age profile of drivers over the past 10 years, with a slightly smaller proportion of younger drivers and a larger proportion of drivers over the age of 40.

The two main ethnic groups of drivers were White and Asian or Asian British in 2022, making up 41% and 42% of drivers respectively. This compares to 63% and 29% respectively in 2010. There was an increase in the proportion of non-UK nationals working as drivers in England, rising from 13% in 2010 to 23% in 2022.

The proportion of self-employed drivers (90%) increased in 2022 to its highest level in the last ten years. In 2010 this figure was 76%.

FUEL TYPE AND AGE OF TAXIS AND PHVS, BY REGION

In 2022, the survey attempts to match the taxi and PHV centralised database with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) vehicle database. This allows the taxi or PHV licensing status of vehicles to be matched with vehicle characteristics (such as date of first registration and fuel type). The data is not 100% reliable due to the likelihood of administrative errors, and it claims to represent 90% of the vehicle fleet.

As of March 31, 2022, for the taxi fleet, the most common fuel types were diesel (79%), rangeextender electric (10%) and hybrid electric (6%). 0.7% of the fleet were battery electric vehicles. Outside London, 86% of taxis ran on diesel. In London the equivalent figure was lower at 62%. This is mainly because London has a relatively large proportion of range-extender electric taxis (36%), whereas these are not common outside London.

For the PHV fleet, the most common fuel types were diesel (51%), hybrid electric (35%) and petrol (5%), with 5% of the fleet also being battery electric. The proportion of PHVs that were diesel was lower in London (32%) than England outside London (65%). London had a correspondingly higher proportion of hybrid electric PHVs (47% vs 26% in the rest of England).

The taxi and PHV fleet has a different mix of fuel types compared with the overall car fleet. DfT vehicle licensing statistics show that as at December 31, 2021, 59% of licensed cars in Great Britain were petrol, 36% were diesel and 3% were hybrid electric. In other words, among taxis and PHVs, diesel and hybrid electric vehicles were more common than for the car fleet as a whole, while petrol vehicles were less common. A higher proportion of taxis (11%) and PHVs (5%) were either battery electric or range-extender electric than for cars as a whole (1%). The most common PHV models were: n Toyota Prius (21%) n Toyota Auris (7%) n Mercedes E class (6%) n Skoda Octavia (6%)

VEHICLE AGE

For the taxi fleet, 39% of taxis were between 6 and 10 years old, with 18% aged 10 to 13 years old and 11% aged 13 years and over. The PHV fleet was generally slightly younger, with 37% of vehicles under 6 years old (compared with 31% for taxis), and a smaller proportion of vehicles aged 10 years and over.

The average age of a taxi in England as at 31 March 2022 was 7.4 years, whereas the average age of a PHV was 6.2 years. These figures were both lower than for cars, with DfT vehicle licensing statistics showing that as at December 31, 2021, the average age of car in Great Britain was 8.8 years. Around 36% of cars were 10 or more years old, compared with 29% of taxis and 15% of PHVs. This appears consistent with the higher mileage that most taxis and PHVs are likely to do.

There were some noticeable differences in the age of the taxi and PHV fleet by region. While the average age of a taxi was 6.0 years in London, it was 9.0 years in the North-West and the West Midlands. In those regions nearly half of the taxi fleet was over 10 years old. Similar regional variations existed for the PHV fleet.