The prospect of Brighton Station’s taxi rank being moved to the back of the station is worrying drivers who say access issues could see journeys lengthen and fares rise.
The location of the rank has been hotly debated since the council proposed an 18-month trial to relocate it to Terminus Road – plans which were put on hold after residents complained.
But since the narrowing of Surrey Street meant queues of taxis waiting to get into the front of the station have been causing traffic jams, relocating the rank from the front has become more of a priority.
Now, meetings between the council, Network Rail, Southern and taxi trade representatives to improve the station layout have begun, and the GMB says a draft proposal to put the rank at the back has been put forward.
But the union says its members would only support the plan if better access could be thrashed out, as the journey from the back to popular locations such as the seafront would be significantly longer than from the front.
GMB section secretary Andy Peters said: “There has been a draft proposal to move the rank to the back of the station on the grounds of overcrowding at the front.
“The reason for overcrowding is due to over 300 station permits being issued for the space of 17 taxis, but at £800 per permit it is not difficult to see why so many permits have been issued.
“The permit holders have concerns about the extra journey time and extras costs to the customers trying to exit the rear of the station.
“There are also concerns about access to the rear of the station for the drivers as this would also mean delays in getting to the rank.”
However, it seems likely that if the plans do proceed, it will still be some time before the rank is moved.
A council spokeswoman said: “The council is in discussions with Southern about potential improvements to taxi ranking in and around the station, but nothing has been finalised.”
And a spokesman for Southern said: “As far as we are aware, there are no plans to move the taxi rank now or in the near future.
“We are looking at various ways to improve the station boundaries which includes the area in front of the station (but not the taxi rank) and the area at the rear of the station – and are due to meet with Network Rail shortly to discuss this.”
What about the drop off point at the back of the station for private cars, where would that go?
This urgently needs to be done.
The front of the station is terrible – the taxis cause massive disruption, noise and air pollution, and often don’t honour the pedestrian crossings.
It should have been built into the original improvement plan, but the hopeless Green minority council backed down when met with similar taxi driver “complaints”.
In the terms and conditions of the taxi rank permit, it states taxis should not que in the road if there is no spaces left on the rank. So if taxis went elsewhere when the rank is full, there would no longer be a problem outside the station with the traffic.
The taxi rank needs to be taken away from the front. It becomes gridlocked around there thanks to the taxis queueing in Surrey St and/or Terminus Road. They sit there with their engines running which is not good for residents environmentally. Also when they leave it is dangerous the way the taxis drive with two wheels on the pavement in front of Budgens. By getting rid of them the station might be able to turn the current area inside the station into a nice waiting area.
As most fares will, not be to the sea front, fares will be cheaper for passengers (another reason taxis do not want to go to the back. There is plenty of room for buses to do rail replacement services at the weekends so there is plenty of room for taxis there.
The station and the area should be resident, pedestrian and traffic friendly. It is not at the moment
One other bottleneck is that the rank is very badly organised. The line could be moved forward so that 3 taxis could be boarded at once, speeding up the service at peak times. And how about a marshal? Making sure there’s less dilly dallying waiting for vehicles to move forward.
if the cabs went and ranked elsewhere when it was full when a train came in it would clear all the cabs and you’d have huge surplus of customers over-flowing into the station, drivers already ranked some where else are not going to come back to the station until they’ve done a job from the rank they’re currently on. As for the bus replacements what happens to the rank when there is need for bus replacements there’s not enough space for both at the same time do cabs get kicked out of the rank to make way for the buses. You know little of where the majority of tourist go in cabs mainly to town centre hotel and the roads leading in and out of the rear of the station which has a car park I hasten is already grid locked at peak times adding cabs to the mix isn’t going to makes it any better. what about the elderly and disabled they’d struggle with the back entrance.
So, things have got worse?
“But since the narrowing of Surrey Street meant queues of taxis waiting to get into the front of the station have been causing traffic jams, relocating the rank from the front has become more of a priority.”
*So would the answer be to ‘unnarrow’ Surrey Street? The traffic has been chaotic in that area ever since that ‘improvement’ work finished and it isn’t helped by having 2 or 3 buses having to use that small bus stop northbound and blocking the road now that it is so narrow!
How about:
Surrey Street being widened so that it is two way traffic without buses using it and only taxis already on a journey using that road; no taxi ranking in Surrey Street and the flow of traffic improves.
Queens Road would change back to two way traffic but only for buses and taxis. Taxis can feeder rank in the northbound lane only and buses can continue to use the bus stop/bus stand further south (as now) down Queens Road southbound lane only.
Taxis could then continue to use the traditional taxi rank in the station (being fed from Queens Road – northbound).
The area in front of the station would accommodate southbound buses, as now, in their bus stands.
BUT there would be no need for a road in the front of the station and all northbound buses could use the existing station front road as a bus stop/bus stand (having travelled up Queens Road instead of Surrey Street), eliminating the need for a traffic restricting bus stop in Surrey Street.
@Terry Wing Excellent suggestions! As a almost daily user of taxis to and from the station, it is Surrey Road being narrowed which causes the largest part of the problem–put it back to two lanes.
Also, no one–not Southern, National Rail, Taxis, or B&H Council takes any consideration for those of us who are DISABLED!! Even now it is very difficult for a taxi carrying me or any disabled person to gain access to DROP OFF at the front of the station. Moving the taxi rank to the back of the station would make my life TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE. The walk into the station from the back is TOO LONG and too badly paved for easy access for the disabled–even dangerous for those who are sight challenged! Tourists with baggage or persons with baby carriages will also be greatly inconvenienced by this longer walk through wind, rain and Brighton weather.
REMEMBER ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL!
In the olden days the road inside the station used to be open to taxis to pull in. With a bit of work this could again be an option but should be limited to hybrid electric taxis only.
London is going eco from 2018, Brighton needs to follow the lead, more so if the rank remains at the front of the station, which is more than likely going to be the outcome.
Let’s leave the back of the station as it is for drop off/pick ups and those much cheaper Uber drivers!
As a almost daily user of taxis to and from the station, it is Surrey Road being narrowed which causes the largest part of the problem–put it back to two lanes.
Also, no one–not Southern, National Rail, Taxis, or B&H Council takes any consideration for those of us who are DISABLED!! Even now it is very difficult for a taxi carrying me or any disabled person to gain access to DROP OFF at the front of the station. Moving the taxi rank to the back of the station would make my life TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE. The walk into the station from the back is TOO LONG and too badly paved for easy access for the disabled–even dangerous for those who are sight challenged! Tourists with baggage or persons with baby carriages will also be greatly inconvenienced by this longer walk through wind, rain and Brighton weather.
REMEMBER ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL! Every change to the station has caused nightmares during the construction and more problems after the badly planned changes!!
Taxi’s parking on double yellows around the station, blocking the road, parking in areas that are dangerous and becoming aggressive when challenged. Pulling out from the station in front of other vehicles including buses and almost being t-boned. Castle square is just as bad, this council needs to have tighter controls over the taxi drivers. Even have marshals/officials in these 2 areas, to fine the drivers who park like twats or cause issues.