Letting black cabs use bus lanes but excluding private minicabs does not confer a “selective economic advantage”, the European Court of Justice has said (Case C-518/13).
Private hire company Eventech, a subsidiary of Addison Lee, complained that Transport for London (TfL) gave London’s 23,000 distinctive black Hackney cabs an unfair advantage by allowing them to use bus lanes. However, the ECJ ruling marks black cabs out as distinctive for more than their ability to beat traffic jams.
In its judgment, the ECJ recognised that taxis are distinct from minicabs noting the former’s “legal status, are in a factual and legal situation which is distinct from that of minicabs, and consequently those two categories of vehicles are not comparable”.
The ECJ notes that drivers of taxis are subject to strict standards in relation to their vehicles, their fares and their knowledge of the Capital’s streets, whereas those standards do not apply to minicabs.
The ECJ goes on to recognise that only taxis can ply for hire, they are subject to the rule of "compellability", they must be recognisable and capable of conveying persons in wheelchairs, and their drivers must set the fares for their services by means of a taxi meter and have a particularly thorough knowledge of London. Concluding that in that context, the bus lane policy does not confer a selective economic advantage on taxis.
Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, says: “Our policy on bus lanes was upheld by the High Court. We welcome the opinion from the Advocate General and now the European Court of Justice, but ultimately await the decision of the Court of Appeal. As this process continues we are maintaining our well-understood and effective policy that helps to keep London moving in the interest of everyone.” TfL had argued also that letting all the minicabs into the bus lane would delay buses and that it would be difficult for customers to hail a taxi if it were not near the kerb.
Mr Justice Burton agreed, noting in his High Court judgment: “There is to my mind a clear distinction between the need of black cabs (and their passengers and the public) for them to be in the bus lanes, by way of visibility and availability of, and access to, black cabs for those hailing a cruising taxi.”
The case now reverts to the Court of Appeal for a final decision, in R (on the application of Eventech Ltd) v The Parking Adjudicator, in which TfL and Camden Borough were named as interested parties. The High Court upheld TfL’s bus lane policy in 2012.
