Looking at the Numbers Behind London’s Private Hire Growth

London’s private hire sector is on the rise again after a brief dip caused by the pandemic. The data collected in 2024/2025 shows that there are currently 106,468 licensed private hire drivers and 97,154 private hire vehicles in the capital.

That’s an increase of around 5,000 drivers from the previous year and about 20,000 vehicles from the post-pandemic low of 77,726 in 2020/21.

The number of drivers peaked at 117,712 in 2016/17 before declining for several years until after the pandemic.

The current growth trend suggests the demand for private hire services is on the rise again. However, it’s slower than it was between 2013 and 2017. These were Uber’s initial years in the capital, causing a sharp increase in the number of private hire drivers and vehicles.

Since then, regulatory changes and increasing competition among drivers have slowed down the growth. Despite this, the number of private hire drivers is likely to reach 115,000 and the vehicles 105,000 by 2029/2030.

With that said, there are now calls to cap the annual number of new PCO licences. If approved, growth may slow down even more.

Source: https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/trade-trends-london-private-hire-driver-and-vehicle-numbers-boom-over-15-year-period-but-what-next