The most actionable thing Tfl could do is reduce testing intervals. Towards the end of 28's if you continue with your studying it is just a rinse and repeat process. Shorter intervals, and once more people apply then extend the intervals. You still sit the same number of exams, you are still seen by the same number of examiners. Students can always take longer intervals if required. I mean back in the day they used to do 14 days after 21's. As a cab trade: We need to do as you suggest Dean, sell the benefits more to potential entrants. We also need to kill off the myth that The Knowledge is learning 25,000 streets and 320 runs. I know you have outlined the true number is streets in a previous video, which is of course far less. These figures are damaging as journalistic entities can spout them as archaic in the age of sat nav. We need to educate people that the process is as much as a character building/high quality candidate as it is knowledge. Beyond the testing/The Knowledge itself: The biggest lever TFL could pull is to provide a working guarantee to taxi drivers. Guarantee's; Cap on PH numbers, LTN's and vehicle standards/pricing. Imagine joining a job that has a gurantee of a final salary pension. And as you join, the conditions of that pension change year on year. Confidence has dropped. Also why is there not more benefits for cabbies? We invest heavily in a vehicle for the benefit of tfl. It’s time that benefit should be reciprocated, why should we be lumped into the same bucket as PHV, through the same overly stretched resources? This also gives clear benefits and upgrades of going to taxi from PHV, PHV drivers are who we need to attract. If there's a clear benefit, more people would chase the effort to upgrade. Instead of lowering standards, why not raise expectations?
Making testing intervals shorter is a good idea, and with so few candidates it would be easy to implement. We were much better off before TFL took control. The 14 day appearance was a little odd in its day. I think it served an admin purpose. But 14 day intervals would be good. Change the stage intervals could be something they implement. Thanks Tom for great input
Great video Dean. Highlighting some interesting stats. Word of mouth is good for the trade, so us Cabbies must be proactive and encourage students. Earning your green badge is unique - It’s not who we know, it’s what we know.
I'm a yellow badge driver currently doing the green, i had my 2nd 56 appearance today 1 all now. i convinced my 7 freinds to do the knowledge, im even thinking of given it up my self, i think the candidate should get a chance for making a restriction turn, 1 chance per stage at a least.
The knowledge is not meant to be easy. The standard for the testing is set. You are in competition with the standard of other applicants. The best will pass first. If we do an illegal turn we lose 10 points that is the standard
Currently doing the knowledge now. The fees, amount of work etc has never put me off. The only thing that has ever put me off is black cab drivers them selves. Always moaning, ALWAYS moaning.
Too true, we have known for a long time that we are our own worst enemy. 20000 people from different levels of education and background are never going to be clones. but sadly the bad always make more noise than the good.
I've been on the Knowledge for 9 months now, completed all the runs in 5 and a half months and have collected 1800 Wiz radius points thusfar. I'm supposed to be putting in for my map test in the next 2 weeks but I'm seriously thinking of quitting. I just don't want this anymore. I can only describe the Knowledge in it's current condition as ludicrous! It's such an outdated and archaic system where you're learning so many irrelevant points that have no real justification or use. The Knowledge needs to become a lot more realistic. I'm really starting to believe it's just not worth it anymore... Too hard, too long and too oudated and thats why nobody is doing the Knowledge anymore... I think TFL need to have a sit down with Dean and listen to his advice seriously, If anyone can correct this problem, it's Dean, There's no one better... Thank you for all your help dean.
Hi Andy First of all it sounds like you are in a great position and have done great. You should in no way be thinking of giving up. At your pace you will be out in another year to year and half. I don't fully agree about it being archaic because the system that was in place 20 years ago was better than the current one and the knowledge was just too popular. They also had the largest ever collection of points to find. (And back then they were complaining about it being archaic too) In an effort to modernise they stopped being allowed to ask Blue plaques and statues and many other previously popular categories . To be honest it does not matter what points they ask as long as there is some repetition. The purpose of the points is to get you to explore. This exploring really does do you the world of good with your depth of understanding. Everyone wants to be the best they can but as i mentioned about competition the more people that do it then the harder it gets because they can take only the best and highest standard students. When you finish the knowledge as you will, you will realise much of what you may have thought whilst doing it was just your own frustration at the difficulty. It is always going to be difficult, but to make it fairer they need to be less harsh on the least talented. This is what Hesitation and redlining affects most. by the sounds of your work regime you are in the top percent of students. Best Wishes Dean
If you give up you will always regret it and may well come back to start over again !! Keep going you will be glad you did one day !! I wish you the best of luck
Don’t give up mate. You’ve done great to do as much as you’ve done. The fact that they’ve got rid of red-lining is even better for you. Keep your head down and you could be out in a year or so. Best of luck.
Mate honestly it’s so worth it,I passed out 18 months ago and the knowledge isn’t archaic,once you are working as a taxi driver you will realise there is a reason why they ask you these ‘silly’ points,
Do we know when they are going to be bringing in the reduced list of points? I can imagine ill be finished the bluebooks within the next few months and I'd worry about spending time learning obsolete points that wont be on the new bank of points.
Hi Kane as Dave says it will be the most popular and that is what you will be learning but also it will not happen for another year yet, and generally applies to new students during a crossover period
Go and see dean at wizann mate he will set you on the right path,I only point circa 3000 points you absorb loads from driving round and loads are next to each other so easy to remember
I would guess its around 1 year away. I can not guarantee a reduction in bluebook runs but it is the most likely prospect. They are being re calculated and re written.
Excellent again Mr W..can I please ask, when for example you state 6000 points, are those points mainly the ones they ask ? Surely they ask what the want ? Have a few knowledge quarries from people interested but refuse to commit as they think they just can’t learn every point of interest known.
Having a set list does make the task clearer. It will consist of what should be the most useful and most common points. But 6000 is quite a long list and in general only 3000 are popular. The idea that we learn every point of interest is one of the exaggerations that has helped to put people off the knowledge for years. And is linked to the Intro talk and schools who perpetrate the lie that we need to learn every point of interest. We have known all along that we should learn specific points and never to worry about the outlying points examiners ask. 3000 points will get you through the knowledge if you choose the most popular 3000. We go above and beyond that to 6000 to increase our chances of passing earlier by only a small amount of percentage points. Those that learn more than 6000 are the ones doing the knowledge for a long time as they are always chasing down the yearly rotation of different points introduced.
@@WizAnn320 thank you Sir for reply. As one of those interested voices regarding about starting the K, attended an intro talk and there she was told, once you go out as an example to find a main point, don’t just look at that , take note of what’s next door, across the road and even colour of the door , so after the first nine points stated in a book for just a start of a run, she realised 45 points were gathered once trialled on the road, that’s when realised, this is just too much. But I’ll forward your reply , hopefully she’ll digest your sensible reply.
@@DIOS10 Thank you Diego. Academically the system they suggest has a foundation of nothing. Anyone doing it will take longer, will find the knowledge harder and will subsequently be wasting so much time. It is a completely made up study programme based on zero sense of reality or capability. TFL should say nothing during the initial talk regarding how it should be learnt as they know nothing about how it should be learnt. Best Wishes Dean
I passed out 18 months ago,I only learnt about 5000 points and only went to look at about 2-3000,loads of points are next to each other,and you just absorb them automatically from driving around
Hi Tom, People on the knowledge currently should not be affected at all. Whenever new things are implemented by TFL there is a transition grace period.
Now you wait and see the Uber drivers do the knowledge and standards will drop. I already see ex Uber drivers in cabs making the trade look bad with their bad driving and their bad attitude towards passengers and members of the public.
Do you see a parallel between the way the general public sees Black Taxi Drivers as a group and saying we are all whiny, too expensive, Bad drivers and horrible people? I don't think its possible to count this generalisation as being statistically accurate. I would also only refer to PHV never anything else. Bad drivers and rude people have been in our trade since the beginning. Fares have been being refused out of pure laziness by what should be respectable taxi drivers. We all have a part to play in raising our standards and image.
I agree that black cab have a higher standard all round over PH but this doesn’t mean all PH drivers are rude and bad drivers ! We only need 1% of London’s PH drivers to start the knowledge as this would result in over 1,000 new students bringing the numbers to a healthy 2,000 on the knowledge and of course the examiner’s could check students attitudes over multiple appearances looking out for the rude ones.
PH is our biggest potential market, had it been a few decades earlier, I good amount of them would go for The Knowledge. However with the ease of apps, the benefits of driving a taxi need to be demonstrated more than ever, there should be more visible benefits to make the investment of time worthwhile.
The most actionable thing Tfl could do is reduce testing intervals. Towards the end of 28's if you continue with your studying it is just a rinse and repeat process. Shorter intervals, and once more people apply then extend the intervals. You still sit the same number of exams, you are still seen by the same number of examiners. Students can always take longer intervals if required. I mean back in the day they used to do 14 days after 21's.
As a cab trade:
We need to do as you suggest Dean, sell the benefits more to potential entrants.
We also need to kill off the myth that The Knowledge is learning 25,000 streets and 320 runs. I know you have outlined the true number is streets in a previous video, which is of course far less. These figures are damaging as journalistic entities can spout them as archaic in the age of sat nav. We need to educate people that the process is as much as a character building/high quality candidate as it is knowledge.
Beyond the testing/The Knowledge itself:
The biggest lever TFL could pull is to provide a working guarantee to taxi drivers.
Guarantee's; Cap on PH numbers, LTN's and vehicle standards/pricing.
Imagine joining a job that has a gurantee of a final salary pension. And as you join, the conditions of that pension change year on year. Confidence has dropped.
Also why is there not more benefits for cabbies?
We invest heavily in a vehicle for the benefit of tfl. It’s time that benefit should be reciprocated, why should we be lumped into the same bucket as PHV, through the same overly stretched resources?
This also gives clear benefits and upgrades of going to taxi from PHV, PHV drivers are who we need to attract.
If there's a clear benefit, more people would chase the effort to upgrade.
Instead of lowering standards, why not raise expectations?
Making testing intervals shorter is a good idea, and with so few candidates it would be easy to implement. We were much better off before TFL took control. The 14 day appearance was a little odd in its day. I think it served an admin purpose. But 14 day intervals would be good. Change the stage intervals could be something they implement. Thanks Tom for great input
Would probably help telling the potential earnings too. Who wants to sign up for something that is so secretive and hush hush.
Great video Dean. Highlighting some interesting stats. Word of mouth is good for the trade, so us Cabbies must be proactive and encourage students. Earning your green badge is unique - It’s not who we know, it’s what we know.
Absolutely, Not everyone we tell wants to do this but in the past between us we used to manage to encourage enough people.
Well explained.
Congratulations, gentlemen.
Thank you kindly!
Well done Dean ,absolutely spot on as always.
Thanks Del👍
Great video 👍
@@MichaelCampbell-Webster-im2ob thank you
I'm a yellow badge driver currently doing the green, i had my 2nd 56 appearance today 1 all now. i convinced my 7 freinds to do the knowledge, im even thinking of given it up my self, i think the candidate should get a chance for making a restriction turn, 1 chance per stage at a least.
The knowledge is not meant to be easy. The standard for the testing is set. You are in competition with the standard of other applicants. The best will pass first. If we do an illegal turn we lose 10 points that is the standard
Currently doing the knowledge now. The fees, amount of work etc has never put me off. The only thing that has ever put me off is black cab drivers them selves. Always moaning, ALWAYS moaning.
Too true, we have known for a long time that we are our own worst enemy. 20000 people from different levels of education and background are never going to be clones. but sadly the bad always make more noise than the good.
I've been on the Knowledge for 9 months now, completed all the runs in 5 and a half months and have collected 1800 Wiz radius points thusfar. I'm supposed to be putting in for my map test in the next 2 weeks but I'm seriously thinking of quitting. I just don't want this anymore. I can only describe the Knowledge in it's current condition as ludicrous! It's such an outdated and archaic system where you're learning so many irrelevant points that have no real justification or use. The Knowledge needs to become a lot more realistic. I'm really starting to believe it's just not worth it anymore... Too hard, too long and too oudated and thats why nobody is doing the Knowledge anymore...
I think TFL need to have a sit down with Dean and listen to his advice seriously, If anyone can correct this problem, it's Dean, There's no one better...
Thank you for all your help dean.
Hi Andy First of all it sounds like you are in a great position and have done great. You should in no way be thinking of giving up. At your pace you will be out in another year to year and half.
I don't fully agree about it being archaic because the system that was in place 20 years ago was better than the current one and the knowledge was just too popular. They also had the largest ever collection of points to find. (And back then they were complaining about it being archaic too) In an effort to modernise they stopped being allowed to ask Blue plaques and statues and many other previously popular categories . To be honest it does not matter what points they ask as long as there is some repetition. The purpose of the points is to get you to explore. This exploring really does do you the world of good with your depth of understanding. Everyone wants to be the best they can but as i mentioned about competition the more people that do it then the harder it gets because they can take only the best and highest standard students. When you finish the knowledge as you will, you will realise much of what you may have thought whilst doing it was just your own frustration at the difficulty. It is always going to be difficult, but to make it fairer they need to be less harsh on the least talented. This is what Hesitation and redlining affects most. by the sounds of your work regime you are in the top percent of students. Best Wishes Dean
If you give up you will always regret it and may well come back to start over again !! Keep going you will be glad you did one day !! I wish you the best of luck
Don’t give up mate. You’ve done great to do as much as you’ve done. The fact that they’ve got rid of red-lining is even better for you. Keep your head down and you could be out in a year or so.
Best of luck.
Mate honestly it’s so worth it,I passed out 18 months ago and the knowledge isn’t archaic,once you are working as a taxi driver you will realise there is a reason why they ask you these ‘silly’ points,
Do we know when they are going to be bringing in the reduced list of points? I can imagine ill be finished the bluebooks within the next few months and I'd worry about spending time learning obsolete points that wont be on the new bank of points.
Learn the most commonly asked points these will be in any future list.
Hi Kane as Dave says it will be the most popular and that is what you will be learning but also it will not happen for another year yet, and generally applies to new students during a crossover period
Go and see dean at wizann mate he will set you on the right path,I only point circa 3000 points you absorb loads from driving round and loads are next to each other so easy to remember
Great video Dean thank you for the information. Do you know when the 6000 points will come in and reduction in blue book runs. Cheers
I would guess its around 1 year away. I can not guarantee a reduction in bluebook runs but it is the most likely prospect. They are being re calculated and re written.
Excellent again Mr W..can I please ask, when for example you state 6000 points, are those points mainly the ones they ask ? Surely they ask what the want ? Have a few knowledge quarries from people interested but refuse to commit as they think they just can’t learn every point of interest known.
Having a set list does make the task clearer. It will consist of what should be the most useful and most common points. But 6000 is quite a long list and in general only 3000 are popular. The idea that we learn every point of interest is one of the exaggerations that has helped to put people off the knowledge for years. And is linked to the Intro talk and schools who perpetrate the lie that we need to learn every point of interest. We have known all along that we should learn specific points and never to worry about the outlying points examiners ask. 3000 points will get you through the knowledge if you choose the most popular 3000. We go above and beyond that to 6000 to increase our chances of passing earlier by only a small amount of percentage points. Those that learn more than 6000 are the ones doing the knowledge for a long time as they are always chasing down the yearly rotation of different points introduced.
@@WizAnn320 thank you Sir for reply. As one of those interested voices regarding about starting the K, attended an intro talk and there she was told, once you go out as an example to find a main point, don’t just look at that , take note of what’s next door, across the road and even colour of the door , so after the first nine points stated in a book for just a start of a run, she realised 45 points were gathered once trialled on the road, that’s when realised, this is just too much. But I’ll forward your reply , hopefully she’ll digest your sensible reply.
A great reply Dean
@@DIOS10 Thank you Diego. Academically the system they suggest has a foundation of nothing. Anyone doing it will take longer, will find the knowledge harder and will subsequently be wasting so much time. It is a completely made up study programme based on zero sense of reality or capability. TFL should say nothing during the initial talk regarding how it should be learnt as they know nothing about how it should be learnt. Best Wishes Dean
I passed out 18 months ago,I only learnt about 5000 points and only went to look at about 2-3000,loads of points are next to each other,and you just absorb them automatically from driving around
We all have to adapt to change . How greatly will this affect people doing the bluebook at this current time, Dean?
Hi Tom, People on the knowledge currently should not be affected at all. Whenever new things are implemented by TFL there is a transition grace period.
Now you wait and see the Uber drivers do the knowledge and standards will drop. I already see ex Uber drivers in cabs making the trade look bad with their bad driving and their bad attitude towards passengers and members of the public.
Do you see a parallel between the way the general public sees Black Taxi Drivers as a group and saying we are all whiny, too expensive, Bad drivers and horrible people? I don't think its possible to count this generalisation as being statistically accurate. I would also only refer to PHV never anything else. Bad drivers and rude people have been in our trade since the beginning. Fares have been being refused out of pure laziness by what should be respectable taxi drivers. We all have a part to play in raising our standards and image.
I agree that black cab have a higher standard all round over PH but this doesn’t mean all PH drivers are rude and bad drivers ! We only need 1% of London’s PH drivers to start the knowledge as this would result in over 1,000 new students bringing the numbers to a healthy 2,000 on the knowledge and of course the examiner’s could check students attitudes over multiple appearances looking out for the rude ones.
PH is our biggest potential market, had it been a few decades earlier, I good amount of them would go for The Knowledge. However with the ease of apps, the benefits of driving a taxi need to be demonstrated more than ever, there should be more visible benefits to make the investment of time worthwhile.