Taxis and Private Hire vehicles are governed by numerous levels of legislation which ensures greater public safety (Government, Town Police Clauses Act, 1847) (Government, 1976).

What is Car Sharing?
Car-sharing is when there is more than one person travelling in a taxi, each sharing the same destination but each paying a separate, discounted fare.

How much does it cost ?
It costs £5 per year to become a member of Poole Radio Cabs Car share scheme. Discounts on journeys work out to around 50% of the regular cost of taxi fares. The membership fee covers our administration costs for the scheme. Generally members recover the cost of their membership with the savings from only 1 or 2 journeys. For members that travel to hospital more regularly, even greater savings are possible.

What are the Benefits of Sharing a Taxi?
There are many benefits to sharing a taxi, including:

• You will save money if you already use a taxi, up to 50% of your current fare
• Save on those parking fees.
• No problem finding a parking space.
• It helps reduce congestion
• It helps reduce air pollution
• If you travel on a road with taxi lanes you can save a lot of time too
• You will be taken to where you want to be - no long walks from car parks!

Are there any limitations to trips that I share?
This scheme has been specifically designed for transportation to and from your local Hospital.
Hospital staff travelling to work and visitors are welcome to join the scheme.
Customers travelling to and from remote villages or rural locations are also welcome.

The idea is to help people to make the most of the convenience of taking a taxi whilst significantly reducing their personal cost.

Why Share a Taxi?
Car sharing has major benefits to customers and provides a viable alternative to a bus.

There are major advantages to sharing a taxi:

• You are not dependent on a single car. With traditional car sharing, if the car or driver isn't available on a particular day, you may have a problem. With a taxi, you will always get one from our pool.
• Taxis are subject to a more stringent MOT (up to 3 per year) (Government, 1976) and mechanical fitness regime and the standard of vehicle used is a high specification saloon.
• Our taxis carry £5million public liability insurance, in the unfortunate event of an incident.
  Our taxis are guaranteed non-smoking; in fact, as of July 1st 2007 it is illegal to smoke in a taxi at ANYTIME, even when it is off duty- no more smelly vehicles- does this apply to a private volunteer?
• Fares are transparent with no hidden costs and no need for meters.
• Each person pays a fixed price REDUCED fare.
• Fares can be pre paid for by a third party e.g. son /daughter, care home manager
• Clients are encouraged to feel more secure and not fret over the cost i.e. meter watching, this removes some of the tension and makes for a more pleasant journey.
• Drivers are not embarrassed about charges and money can be collected in advance

What happens in the case of a disabled person or wheelchair client?
Currently we do not have any SAV’s within the Car Share program due to their specialised nature however we always recommend an alternative. We limit the service to 4 seater saloons and this is the only way you can get the mass flexibility which is required to make the scheme work efficiently. Hopefully over a period as wheelchair accessible vehicles become more common this problem should resolve itself.