Deregulation of Taxi's - What A Crap Idea That Was

Kintarō Hattori

It seems almost everytime I hop into a taxi these days the driver doesn't seem to know where he's going. Just last night I hopped into a taxi in Rathmines and asked to go to Bolton Street...... to which he replied, 'Where's That'?'. I told him it was at the top of Capel Street.
Bolton Street is a pretty major street and to not know where it is, is pretty shocking. Now in fairness he was chinese, but still and all.
I remember back in the day when people paid almost the price of a house for their taxi plate because they really wanted to be a taxi driver, but anyone can be a driver these days and the ability of some of them is very questionable.

On monday the missus and myself took a taxi from the Quays out to MountPleasant avenue in Clontarf. Had I not had a map printed out from Daft already it's most definetly doubtful he would have found it as he referred to it constatly.

So what do you folks think. Was deregulation a bad idea? When it was in place you had to really want to be a driver and they seemed to be of a higher quality. You could generally rely on them to bring you where you needed to be with minimal input from you.

talkingclock

Got once a cab from the city centre to the airport and the drivers reply was "at least i know that place"...

MLM

Think that's bad? I was walking on Parnell Street towards Capel Street a few years back, and this Taxi Driver pulls up beside me and asks for directions to Heuston Station! He was Irish. Two passengers in the back, and it was a Dublin Taxi. Still though I think de-regulation was a good idea. I don't like ques myself.

mickoneill30

eo980 wrote:

It seems almost everytime I hop into a taxi these days the driver doesn't seem to know where he's going. Just last night I hopped into a taxi in Rathmines and asked to go to Bolton Street...... to which he replied, 'Where's That'?'.

I think I still prefer that to the bad old days when I'd be standing in the queue for a couple of hours and then a taxi would roll up and tell me where he's going.

Del2005

mickoneill30 wrote:

I think I still prefer that to the bad old days when I'd be standing in the queue for a couple of hours and then a taxi would roll up and tell me where he's going.

I agree, and back in the old days when we only had 2000 taxis you'd hope they knew where they where going! I'd rather get a taxi and have to give directions then stand at the side of the road for hours or have to walk home.

MLM

I get Taxi's home from work at least three times a week and most of the drivers know their way around. Only once did a guy have difficulty finding where I live, but to be fair it was his first night.

seamus

The majority of taxis I get seem to have GPS systems, and do a fairly good job of getting around. I wouldn't expect any taxi driver to know exactly how to get from street A to street B (especially considering that new streets appear in Dublin on a weekly basis), but I would expect them to know where each area is, and the main streets in it - for example, if I hopped in a taxi in Ballymun, and asked him to bring me to Knocklyon, I'd expect him to know that he should probably take the M50, and which exit to take.

stovelid

Might be an idea for all aspiring taxi drivers to do a Dublin version of The Knowledge, like in London?

That said, it must be a nightmare trying to place a lot of new estates especially in the suburbs but the driver should be able to make it to the general area and take directions from there..

mikemac

I know in Galway a lot if not most of the new estates have Irish names.
I think it’s a good idea but it doesn’t help most taxi drivers.
Not sure how a non-Irish taxi drivers copes in these situations.

As long as they know the general area it’s fine. I don’t expect a driver to know every estate and every shortcut.

OTK

Taxis weren't deregulated. In fact a new Commission for Taxi Regulation was created. The artificial cap on their numbers was lifted by a High Court judgement in 2000 because the numeric restriction "not alone affects the rights of citizens to work in an industry for which they may be qualified but it also manifestly affects the rights of the public to the services of taxis, and, indeed, restricts the development of the taxi industry itself"

I don't know if you are proposing that we go back to restricting the number of taxi licences so that they become a tradable commodity again. Maybe you think this would improve the service? If you think there was more regulation under the old system, remember the case where possibly the least suitable peron in the country to drive a taxi was granted a PSV licence?

I have had taxi drivers ask me for directions to Nassau Street and O'Connell Street. This was under the old licence regime. On both occasions my guess was that the taxi driver thought I wasn't Irish from my accent and was planning to drive me the long way round. Taxi drivers try this trick in most countries.

Ham'nd'egger

There is a test for PSV drivers in the Dublin area already, lads.

It is based on major locations, hotels, etc and likely routes, areas of Dublin etc and to be fair, while not Applied Maths, is hard enough to the Joe and Joesphine off the street. The trouble with the test is that there is a few of these swot colleges Eg Kilroys that prep potential candidates on the likely answers and how the test is laid out; they have ran these courses years now, but now they can't but roll in the clover with the easy lucre they are earning. So all they are doing is, akin to our Leaving Cert Irish, is they know what to write and where! Poor Sgt Kelly in the Carriage Office has too much to do than set out multiple tests to try catch these swotted drivers up so they "beat" the system. That is the problem though, drivers who don't know where places are will still not know where places are when they step behind the wheel and a great many of these drivers are found wanting when it comes to.

The fact that there is more cars on the street means it is easier for them to get on the road makes it look as if De-Reg has made this possible (Well pointed, OTK). The lack of a cap or moratorium on the issuing of new plates while new regulations are being imposed by the Reg's office was one of the Taxi's Union's gripes as of late that was by passed over fare rates etc, and while hard to impose due to the High Court's judgement in 2000, the ease of obtaining a PSV licence could (Not should, mind!) have been addressed intially to appease unions and to try level out the market.

LFCFan

Dunno about finding places or how many Taxis there are but for me, the price of taxis is an absolute joke. €4.10 just to get into one now.

Kintarō Hattori

What I'm really giving out about is the quality of their knowledge. I don't expect them to know where every place is to the sheer amount of drivers I've come across who don't know where major area's or developments are is shocking.
As someone stated, perhaps they should need to sit some sort of test to acquire their licences?

bk

Once I got in a taxi:

Me: Take me to Griffith Avenue please.
TD: Don't know where that is.
Me: Do you know Drumcondra Road?
TD: Nope
ME: (Shocked) The big road to the airport.
TD: Ah, right you are, I don't normally drive in the north side!!!

And before anyone makes any smart comments about foreigners, he was Irish!!!

However I have to say that in fairness most Taxi drivers know where they are going and I've seldom had problems and most seem to use GPS nowadays.

However I much prefer the situation now, when you can get a Taxi pretty easily, compared to before de-regulation when you had to wait hours. I'd rather direct the taxi driver then stand for hours in the cold.

aphex™

eo980 wrote:

As someone stated, perhaps they should need to sit some sort of test to acquire their licences?

They do, but God knows what sort of questions are on it.

In my experience hardly any have gps.

OTK

There is already a local geography test to get a licence. Maybe it should be harder or maybe drivers should have satnav. Do you think the drivers may have been cheating you and knew perfectly well where bolton street is?

Kintarō Hattori

OTK wrote:

There is already a local geography test to get a licence. Maybe it should be harder or maybe drivers should have satnav. Do you think the drivers may have been cheating you and knew perfectly well where bolton street is?

No I genuinely think he didn't know where Bolton Street was as he asked me how to get to it and in the end we worked it out. It wasn't like he offered an alternative route.

Trampas

Are taxi driver not suppose to pass a test to know how to get to A to B before they get their licence??

Ham'nd'egger

Trampas wrote:

Are taxi driver not suppose to pass a test to know how to get to A to B before they get their licence??

Trampas, have a peek at my post this morning...

MLM

bk wrote:

Once I got in a taxi:

Me: Take me to Griffith Avenue please.
TD: Don't know where that is.
Me: Do you know Drumcondra Road?
TD: Nope
ME: (Shocked) The big road to the airport.
TD: Ah, right you are, I don't normally drive in the north side!!!

And before anyone makes any smart comments about foreigners, he was Irish!!!

However I have to say that in fairness most Taxi drivers know where they are going and I've seldom had problems and most seem to use GPS nowadays.

However I much prefer the situation now, when you can get a Taxi pretty easily, compared to before de-regulation when you had to wait hours. I'd rather direct the taxi driver then stand for hours in the cold.

I get that sometimes, drivers who usually only work either Northside or Southside and are unfamiliar with the other.