Hi-tech measures driving people back to Inverness taxi ranks
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CENTRAL to the night-time economy in Inverness are the city’s taxi drivers who help to get visitors and residents to where they want to be and safely back home at the end of the evening.
Inverness Taxis (IT) is one of the city’s major operators and, during the coronavirus lockdown, managed to expand its IT Drinks and IT Taxis services to help customers get essential supplies delivered.
It also offered travel discounts for customers aged 70 and over as well as for NHS staff.
Managing director Gavin Johnston said that things had picked up in recent weeks, with more people visiting the city centre now that the bars and restaurants were up and running once more.
He said that, as well as local residents, they were seeing more visitors in the area and, as the business got busier, he had managed to take more staff back on – the firm now has 80 drivers operating compared with 140 before lockdown.
“It’s great because it shows there is more business and more people moving around,” he said. “This is what we want.”
Mr Johnston said flights to Inverness Airport were also getting busier and bringing in more passengers and tourists to the city.
He said: “People are coming in wanting tours from the shop. What we are getting asked a lot is what is open? We are having to point them in the right direction.”
He said it was good to see more people in the city centre and added: “It was like a ghost town for long enough but now the streets are busier.”
He was pleased to see people were taking precautions, such as wearing face masks, and added: “Some people are forgetting, so we have to remind them.”
To help protect staff, passengers and drivers, the firm has introduced a range of safety measures including fitting all of its vehicles with plastic shielding between the customer and driver to create ‘driver bubbles’.
All passengers are offered hand sanitiser on entry to the vehicle and all cars have been fitted with contactless payment methods.
All cars are sanitised after every journey and a new “non-contact kiosk” has been set up in the company’s Church Street office which automatically reads the body temperature of drivers and customers within seconds of entering the premises.
More Inverness news here.
