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19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 4WE
The Chairman
Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Committee Scrutiny Office
States Greffe
Morier House
St Helier
JE1 1DD
22 October 2020
Dear Chairman,
Response in respect of questions relating to Jersey Lifts and the regulated Taxi industry
In response to your letter dated 25th September 2020 in respect of questions relating to Jersey Lifts and the regulated Taxi industry, the following address the specific points raised:
- The JTDA has been informed on several occasions that Jersey Lifts does not come under my remit as it is an unregulated activity, and as such is illegal. My remit under the Motor Traffic (Jersey) 1935 Law, is to regulate the licenced taxi industry locally.
- To my knowledge no direct complaints have been received from the public to any of my officers involved in regulating the licenced taxi industry, however if they were submitted to the SoJP as a policing matter I would not normally be made aware of this due to SoJP data protection policies.
- As Jersey Lifts remains an illegal activity, any monitoring remains a policing matter.
- The Motor Traffic (Jersey) 1935 Law provides sufficiently tight regulation for licenced drivers and vehicles by way of entry requirements, DBS checks on drivers, annual vehicle inspections, meter requirements, affiliation to recognised companies, code of conduct to behave appropriately. Any unregulated operation such as Jersey Lifts remains a matter for the SoJP and the enforcement powers that they work under.
- Clearly, any such illegal activity could well have insurance and passenger and community wellbeing issues, however that would be a matter better addressed directly with the insurance companies.
- My Department, through DVS, do hold discussions with SoJP as part of regular meetings at senior level to discuss current and ongoing issues, with Jersey Lifts having been discussed at these meetings. However, no specific incidents have been reported to me in relation to Jersey Lifts.
- My officers are busy progressing the final stages of the Taxi Service Reform programme which will see a single tier system in place in March 2021. This is a major step forward in modernising the Taxi provision within the Island by encouraging the use of technology whilst offering the range of service required of Public Service Vehicles. This work will be continued as the Strategic Transport Policy gains momentum and we can realise the integration of the component parts of all modes of transport. In respect of platforms such as UBER and LYFT I have met with a "representative" who was considering bringing the UBER platform over to the Island, and were advised of the requirements incumbent upon
any operation of this nature. I received correspondence from them following this meeting to advise me that their business model did not fit with our current requirements, and that they would not be pursuing this matter any further at present.
Yours Sincerely,
Deputy Kevin Lewis Minister for Infrastructure
D +44 (0)1534 448394 E k.lewis@gov.je