Survey to determine if Edinburgh has too many private hire and rideshare drivers

A survey to determine whether there are too many private hire cars in Edinburgh has been approved by Edinburgh councillors.

It comes after a group of taxi drivers in the capital handed over a petition to city councillors last month, asking for a review to be carried out.

The drivers had also asked for a pause to be placed on issuing new private hire licences while the survey was carried out.

But at Friday’s meeting of the Regulatory Committee, councillors did not back a Green group amendment that would have called for that.

According to council regulatory services head Andrew Mitchell, tendering for a survey would take about 12 weeks, and data collection would take place in the first half of 2026.

In a deputation to the committee, city taxi driver Keith Auld told councillors: “We believe every passenger deserves a professional journey. But we are undergoing unsustainable pressure.

“This is not healthy competition, it is over-saturation. And it is already having real consequences. We need fair, sustainable and regulated competition.”

Mr Auld and other city black cab drivers say that private hire drivers, many of whom carry out work for apps like Uber and Bolt, end up undercutting their trade.

According to them, this comes down to the lower cost to buy and run a hire car, with the vehicles allowed for use as taxis being very expensive and requiring public hire insurance.

In addition, fares for black cabs are set by the council, while Uber, Bolt and other private hire providers have no minimum charge.

They also argued in their petition that due to the low incomes drivers get from those rideshare services, many of them work for dangerously long hours.

Officers said that 2,982 private hire cars were presently operating in the capital, while 1,090 taxis were also running.

Mr Auld said that three new private hire cars were being added in the city every day, and that the number would reach 4,000 “in no time”.

After the survey is returned to councillors next year, they may consider putting a cap on the number of private hire cars allowed in the city.

In the meeting, councillors were supportive of the idea of a survey, but the committee stopped short of supporting the temporary freeze on licence grants.

Green councillor Susan Rae put forward an amendment that would have called for this, but Mr Mitchell said that if the committee voted for it, the law could be broken.

He said: “There is no legal power to issue a moratorium. There would be no basis in law to refuse to consider an application on the basis of overprovision [without evidence].

“In my view, an immediate moratorium is not something that would be competent.”

Liberal Democrat councillor and committee convener Neil Ross endorsed his group’s motion, which called for a survey to be conducted.

He said: “It would be helpful if we had a workshop for committee members to discuss other issues and elements of concern around the current numbers of private hire vehicles.

“I would be grateful if that were factored in. I’m proposing that we proceed with the consultation and overprovision survey.

“I’m also proposing that officers are alert to concerns raised by all members of the trade who have issues around long working hours.

“I think this is a sensible way forward, it follows the guidance that we have been given by the Scottish Government, it is a legally robust way of approaching the question.”

Labour councillor Margaret Graham put forward an amendment for the city’s administration, which asked that any survey look at the number of private hire cars parked in city streets.

Conservative councillor Joanna Mowat said: “I’m probably alone in this committee in having very great nervousness about interfering in the market.

“There is an element with any cap that is introduced with numbers, the danger of creating protected markets.

“I’m uncomfortable with that, from a political point of view, my natural mean is to be uncomfortable with protecting markets.

“I do think the terms of the petition that has been brought here today, about the public safety element, is something that means we should probably consider this.

“I don’t for one minute think this is going to produce the information that everyone else seems to think this is going to produce.

“But we’re not going to know that unless we carry out an overprovision survey.”

The Labour group added the Green amendment to their addendum, and the Liberal Democrat group added a portion of the administration addendum to their amendment.

Both positions were tied, and as convener, Cllr Ross made a tiebreaking vote that saw the Liberal Democrat position win out.