Only 18.5% of taxi street knowledge tests have been passed since Aberdeen City Council brought them back in 2021 after lockdown.
Taxi and private hire drivers must pass the street knowledge test before they can pick up fares in the Granite City.
The test made headlines in 2022 with concerns the strict requirements were making it too difficult for would-be drivers to join the trade, exasperating the taxi shortage.
Councillors agreed to keep the exam but made resits “easier” to tackle the staffing crisis.
Almost 18 months on from this decision the problem clearly still persists.
Long queues of people standing at taxi ranks are still very common in the evening, and angry locals often take their frustrations online to rant about the lack of drivers.
The Press & Journal can reveal since the tests restarted after lockdown, only 65 wannabe cab drivers have been successful.
Despite this modest number, taxi bosses urged the council not to “dilute” the test.
Read on to find out:
- How many would-be Aberdeen cabbies sat the street knowledge test in 2023, and how many actually passed
- What the pass rates are like in Dundee, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow in comparison
- And, what is the council doing about it?
How many Aberdeen street knowledge tests were sat in 2023?
Aberdeen City Council restarted the taxi street knowledge tests on February 28, 2021, after they were paused during the pandemic.
Since then, 351 tests have been sat by hopeful taxi drivers — but only 65 people have been successful so far.
That means a meagre 18.5% of street knowledge tests have been passed since they restarted in 2021.
However, some aspiring drivers have sat the test multiple times attempting to pass, and a spokesman for the council argued that is why the pass rate shown in the chart is so low.
With that in mind, we were provided with the number of people who sat the test each year, and how many ended up passing:
- 2021 — 22 people sat the test, and 11 passed
- 2022 — 50 people sat the test, and 20 passed
- 2023 — 64 people sat the test, and 34 passed
This means almost 48% of people who sat one or more street knowledge tests since lockdown passed.
And how does Aberdeen compare to other cities?
We wanted to find out how Aberdeen’s pass rates compare with other cities and reached out to local authorities across Scotland.
Dundee City Council restarted street knowledge tests in May 2021, and 84.5% of people passed the exam since:
- 2021 — 30 people sat the test, and 27 passed
- 2022 — 67 people sat the test, and 61 passed
- 2023 — 64 people sat the test, and 48 passed
Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council did not restart the street knowledge tests until May 2022. Since then, 69% of wannabe cabbies have passed the test:
- 2022 — 67 people sat the test, and 44 passed
- 2023 — 104 people sat the test, and 74 passed
Highland Council could not provide the numbers for 2021 and 2022. However, in 2023 15 people sat the test in Inverness and 13 passed, which equates to 86.6%.
And finally, Glasgow City Council did not provide the numbers for 2021 and 2022 but said in 2023 202 tests were sat, and only 89 were passed, or 44%.
Have you sat the Aberdeen street knowledge test? Let us know in the comments section below
Do Uber drivers in other cities need to sit the street knowledge test?
With recent talk of Uber’s plans to bring the hail-riding service to the Granite City, we asked people what they thought about it.
The Press & Journal recently spoke to people waiting at ranks along Union Street — at one point, a queue of 40-odd people let out a cheer when a taxi finally pulled up to the rank.
Everyone we spoke to said Uber would make a difference to the shortage of drivers across the city.
However, Aberdeen City Council is resolute that if Uber is granted a licence to operate in the city then drivers must first pass the street knowledge test.
Uber also recently confirmed plans to apply for a licence in Dundee.
Like in Aberdeen, Uber drivers (and private hire drivers) would need to pass the street knowledge test before they could get their licence.
Uber has been operating in both Edinburgh and Glasgow for years now, and drivers do not need to pass the test.
A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council explained only taxis that can be “hailed freely” without a prior booking need to pass the test to prove they know the streets.
And in Inverness private hire car drivers do not need to sit the knowledge test.
What is Aberdeen City Council going to do about the low pass rates?
Members of the taxi trade expressed a feeling that the exam should be reviewed to bring it up to date, but not to “dilute” it.
Bosses also asked for a working group to look into the test, which would be made up of councillors, licensing officers, taxi trade members and police representatives.
A spokesman for the council said: “The licensing committee has agreed to a request from the trade to form a working group to look at the test.
“That is in the very early stages at the moment and would be premature to comment at the moment.”
Could YOU pass the Aberdeen taxi driver’s knowledge test? Take our quiz to find out
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