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Slow Going In Limerick this Afternoon

  • 25-04-2008 8:52am
    #1
    Spook_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,896 ✭✭✭✭


    Limerick Taxi drivers to stage go-slow protest through the city

    Hundreds of Limerick Taxi drivers will show their frustration with the taxi regulator by staging a Go-Slow through the city later today.


    Motorists are warned to expect delays as the drivers make their way from Coonagh Cross to Limerick City Hall via the Ennis road from 3pm.

    They`ve called for a complete work stoppage by all taxi`s during the protest.

    Full time drivers claim their livelihoods are in jeopardy because of the number of licences that have been issued to part-time workers.

    There are currently close to 950 licenced operators in Limerick which they say is 450 more than required.


Comments

  • #2
    paulm17781
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,858 ✭✭✭paulm17781


    There was me thinking Taxis were supposed to serve the public not the drivers.

    The fact is, people want high availability of taxis. Not a limited number of drivers on high incomes.


  • #3
    Melion
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,259 ✭✭✭✭Melion


    Of all the fúcking roads to pick and just when the school there is finishing. Traffic will be absolute chaos all the way back to Ivans.


  • #4
    Spook_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,896 ✭✭✭✭Spook_ie


    paulm17781 wrote: »
    There was me thinking Taxis were supposed to serve the public not the drivers.

    The fact is, people want high availability of taxis. Not a limited number of drivers on high incomes.

    And there was me thinking that I should be able to make a living driving a taxi, damn maybe thats where I'm going wrong in life..


  • #5
    PRND
    Closed Accounts Posts: 146 ✭✭PRND


    Look, everyone wants the same thing. Taxi drivers want to work and be productive. Passengers want available, good value taxis. Both things can exist side by side but messing up the traffic for the afternoon will get no sympathy.


  • #6
    HydeRoad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 495 ✭✭HydeRoad


    paulm17781 wrote: »
    There was me thinking Taxis were supposed to serve the public not the drivers.

    The fact is, people want high availability of taxis. Not a limited number of drivers on high incomes.

    You've got your high availability of taxis. Where would you find the right balance though? Remember taxi drivers are expected to pay for a suitable vehicle.

    8,000 Dublin taxis, with drivers earning up to €1,000 a week?

    12,000 Dublin taxis, with drivers earning up to €750 a week?

    16,000 Dublin taxis, with drivers earning up to €500 a week?

    32,000 Dublin taxis, with drivers earning up to €250 a week?

    Very round figures, of course, but deduct fuel, deduct cost of car loan, deduct maintenance, deduct insurance. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, I earned a total of €166.00 combined, for three days' work. Short of kidnapping people, I cannot make that figure go any higher.

    Do tell us how much you think is a fair wage for a taxi driver. Put figures on it. Tell us how many fares you need to earn that fair wage. Tell us how many taxis you think would deliver the right balance.


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  • #7
    markf909
    Closed Accounts Posts: 461 ✭✭markf909


    Isn't the whole point of a deregulated market that any amount of taxi plates can be issued and it then becomes a survival of the fittest?

    Now I can see why an unlimited amount of plates would obviously cause a problem but limiting the number of plates to a low number seems retrograde.

    How do we compare to other cities population size/number taxis?

    How do other cities manage this issue?


  • #8
    invincibleirish
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,219 ✭✭✭invincibleirish


    HydeRoad wrote: »
    On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, I earned a total of €166.00 combined, for three days' work. .

    what hours on these days? will you work weekends and how much do you roughly earn per week? how much do you think you should earn?


  • #9
    Spook_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,896 ✭✭✭✭Spook_ie


    markf909 wrote: »
    Isn't the whole point of a deregulated market that any amount of taxi plates can be issued and it then becomes a survival of the fittest?

    Now I can see why an unlimited amount of plates would obviously cause a problem but limiting the number of plates to a low number seems retrograde.

    How do we compare to other cities population size/number taxis?

    How do other cities manage this issue?

    http://www.cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-R-0380.htm

    Make your own mind up, we say de-regulation didn't work properly, you say it did. Independant research says that sometimes it works/sometimes it doesn't.

    Besides which where is anyone asking for a low limit on plate numbers, most people are saying Stop!,We have enough....


  • #10
    PRND
    Closed Accounts Posts: 146 ✭✭PRND


    The way I see it is if there are too many taxis, the taxis sit idle waiting for a fare which means when you hire one, not only are you paying for the hire of the car, you are paying for all the time the car sat unused.

    If they were to have fewer, but more productive, taxis then they could bring the fares down.


  • #11
    Ham'nd'egger
    Registered Users Posts: 3,025 ✭✭✭Ham'nd'egger


    PRND wrote: »
    The way I see it is if there are too many taxis, the taxis sit idle waiting for a fare which means when you hire one, not only are you paying for the hire of the car, you are paying for all the time the car sat unused.

    If they were to have fewer, but more productive, taxis then they could bring the fares down.

    PRND, you had want to get this idea out of your head that taxi's are too expensive and that fares are the main barrier to use. Fares are not coming down; they don't need to be cheaper; this is a misnomer and it is a broken record with you. People don't even know how much fares are for the most part; they use taxis because they need/want to use them; ie getting to and from airports, carrying loads, home from nights out/hospitals. Were it not for public transport slowing up at night or finishing for some hours, there would be far less use of taxi's. It is no co-incidence that peak hours for cabs are when public transport is less likely or unable to get you from A to B.

    It's a service and it's a need to use, not just a want to use.


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  • #12
    PRND
    Closed Accounts Posts: 146 ✭✭PRND


    But what I'm saying is that if a driver is unproductive for 50% of his shift, the fares are designed to reflect this. We're paying for him to wait for half an hour and then drive us for half an hour.

    If drivers were to be more productive, the fares could be lower and the driver would be earning more too.

    Anyone who has gone elsewhere in Europe or into Northern Ireland always comes back saying the taxis are less expensive. "We just took taxis everywhere we went because they were so cheap...." etc.


  • #13
    invincibleirish
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,219 ✭✭✭invincibleirish


    Taxis are cheap on the continent because they are in competition with decent public transport.

    When the day comes that Cork City has late night buses & nitelinks then having to pay 10 euro fares to get from Patrick St. to Bishopstown and elsewhere will be a thing of the past. I only use taxis as a last resort, when i cant drive or it takes too much time on Public Transport Taxis are used and god do i pay for it!


  • #14
    PRND
    Closed Accounts Posts: 146 ✭✭PRND


    Exactly! You avoid taxis like the plague because you, like many others, find them too expensive. Taxi drivers want more work. Bring down the fares, more people will use them. Lower rate per kilometre, higher income per driver.


  • #15
    penexpers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,038 ✭✭✭penexpers


    markf909 wrote: »
    How do other cities manage this issue?

    I've only ever taken a taxi in Amsterdam (outside of Dublin) and over there the fares are approx. 100% higher than Dublin (based on rough distance estimates). The result of this is lots of taxis and lots of well-kept, comfortable taxis.


  • #16
    El Stuntman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,720 ✭✭✭El Stuntman


    The laws of supply and demand will sort this situation out quickly enough imo, there is no call for any sort of protectionism. As long as propective taxi drivers can pass all tests/garda checks etc, I see no reason why they should not get the same treatment as existiung licence holders.

    More taxis = good for the consumer. If some taxi drivers have to retire from the industry so be it, we wouldn't stop new airlines/banks/insurance companies etc from opening up on the grounds that 'we have enough already'

    my 2c


  • #17
    Ham'nd'egger
    Registered Users Posts: 3,025 ✭✭✭Ham'nd'egger


    PRND wrote: »
    Exactly! You avoid taxis like the plague because you, like many others, find them too expensive. Taxi drivers want more work. Bring down the fares, more people will use them. Lower rate per kilometre, higher income per driver.

    Fares dropped markedly in Cork in 2006 as well as other areas of the country and they didn't see the increase in business; can you explain that anomaly?

    Fares on the continent may appear cheaper but bear in mind that the wages and cost of living tend be far lower than here in most of Europe so it is not essentially like for like.


  • #18
    Zoney
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭Zoney


    El Stuntman wrote: »
    The laws of supply and demand will sort this situation out quickly enough imo, there is no call for any sort of protectionism. As long as propective taxi drivers can pass all tests/garda checks etc, I see no reason why they should not get the same treatment as existiung licence holders.

    More taxis = good for the consumer. If some taxi drivers have to retire from the industry so be it, we wouldn't stop new airlines/banks/insurance companies etc from opening up on the grounds that 'we have enough already'

    my 2c

    Laws of supply and demand do not always work. They are affected by what *people* do; people are not always going to act even in their own best interest long-term despite their best attempts, nevermind being interested in anyone else. Even if supply and demand sorted out the situation eventually, a lot of people get screwed over in the meantime.

    It's just another example of how a hands-off approach to regulatory involvement doesn't work. They should have fixed regulation to work better instead of scrapping it. In the long term we'll probably end up with the replacement regulatory system they should have switched to in the first place.

    Why do we have to go the American route the whole time? It's the reason Dublin has no more buses, the reason our health system isn't being fixed, the reason you can't get broadband in half the country (even a lot of phone lines in cities!) and where you can get it it's about the most expensive (including the line rental you mostly have to pay) and slowest in Europe.

    Ultimately the government and civil service would just like to be paid to do nothing! And those who use that as a reason to take things out of their hands aren't exactly helping matters. Just because the govt. and civil service do less doesn't mean they cost less, and it's not like businesses have our best interests at heart either, they are a lot less accountable, and aren't necessarily going to be cheaper. Consumers do not have power in practice.

    By all means try not to hinder private enterprise, but leaving things solely to the market doesn't work. Businesspeople for all their desire to make money halftimes can't even get it right in terms of supplying what people will pay for. Anytime a business goes under, screws up royally, blows billions, that is ultimately going to cost the consumer.


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