In 1998, London Transport (LT) began a trial of a linked taxi service between Totteridge & Whetstone station on the Northern Line and Cockfosters Station on the Piccadilly Line. This Home-Link scheme aims to increase off-peak public transport demand and thus generate more business for LT. It resulted from LT's decision to market-test the linked taxi concept, then use the results to decide whether such schemes would stimulate additional public transport demand. This paper outlines the rationale, development process, and implementation of the trial scheme. It discusses: (1) the background to the scheme; (2) the taxi industry in Greater London; (3) the proposed linked taxi concept; (4) the application of the first phase of the scheme; (5) additional issues in the scheme's development; (6) the selection of pilot stations on the London Underground; (7) initial market research before the scheme was set up; (8) options for subsequent development of the scheme; and (9) experience of the scheme so far. The scheme has been operationally successful, although its direct usage has been quite low. Anyone wishing to use the scheme must pre-register, using a simple procedure. When a user wishes to make a trip, he telephones the designated minicab operator or the LT Travel Information Service; the service operates all day.
Abstract