Taxi needed with childseat for 2yr old

Mocrie14

Anyone recommend and good taxi firm who can supply a child seat for a two year old? Will be travelling from Cabinteely in south county Dublin to airport


Thanks

Nevyn

Aren't taxis exempt ?

Wishbone Ash

Bazbu wrote:

Anyone recommend and good taxi firm who can supply a child seat for a two year old?

The onus is on you to provide the child seat - taxis are exempt from the legal requirement to provide them. I have never heard of a taxi company who provide child seats.

loyatemu

Wishbone Ash wrote:

The onus is on you to provide the child seat - taxis are exempt from the legal requirement to provide them. I have never heard of a taxi company who provide child seats.

and what are you supposed to do with the seat when you get to the airport?

what is the law here? - presumably the driver is not held responsible for passengers not wearing seatbelts, but can the passengers be fined? Is it legal to carry a 1 year old on your lap in a taxi, but illegal in all other cars?

Ham'nd'egger

loyatemu wrote:

and what are you supposed to do with the seat when you get to the airport?

And what is the taxi driver supposed to do with the seat when s/he gets to the airport? It is a considerable amount of bulk to carry around in the car on the rare off chance that a driver picks up a fare with a child who requires same (Not to mention the expense, and all for a passenger who is carrried for free). Indeed one can say the same for anybody who may offer a mum and baby a lift, they are under the same boat here.

Victor

Consider getting the Aircoach from Sandyford. www.aircoach.ie

As an alternative, try to get a wheelchair accessible taxi that has rearward facing seats.

crosstownk

It is not a legal requirement for children to be in child seats while travelling in taxis. http://www.drivingschoolireland.com/safety-belts.html#6

If you do want the added safety of a child seat, you will have to provide it - which may not be pratical as pointed out in previous posts.

Alun

Maybe you could get someone, a friend or relative you trust, to drive you to the airport in your own car plus childseat, and pick you up as well?

loyatemu

I realise its impractical but its a bit daft that taxis are exempt - its incredibly unsafe for children to travel unrestrained, taxis do crash sometimes.

Wishbone Ash

loyatemu wrote:

I realise its impractical but its a bit daft that taxis are exempt - its incredibly unsafe for children to travel unrestrained, taxis do crash sometimes.

While your concern for safety is understandable, the safety issues have to be balanced against reasonable practical requirements.

What if an adult with 3 young children hails a taxi? Is it practical for the driver to have child seats on board? What if the children were older and required booster seats? Should the taxi would be required to carry child seats and booster seats in case they were required.

Thousands of children travel by Dublin Bus without mechanical restraint each day. Even if the buses had seatbelts, would it be realistic to expect the driver to have a few dozen childseats if case children boarded?

Bazbu - I don't know if you are a car owner/driver but it would probably be more practical and safer to utilise the Long term Parking (€59.50 per week) than pay for a taxi (without childseats) from Cabinteely and back.

Victor

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Thousands of children travel by Dublin Bus without mechanical restraint each day. Even if the buses had seatbelts, would it be realistic to expect the driver to have a few dozen childseats if case children boarded?

In fairness, the profile of a bus accident and a car accident are quite different.

Del2005

Victor wrote:

In fairness, the profile of a bus accident and a car accident are quite different.

Yes, there are a lot more people to be injured in a bus crash so they should have better safety devices then cars.

lostexpectation

would it be such bad idea for the larger taxi companies to buy a few child seats,(particularily now with the incresed regs on these) and if you do _book_ you might be able to get one?

Wishbone Ash

lostexpectation wrote:

would it be such bad idea for the larger taxi companies to buy a few child seats,(particularily now with the incresed regs on these) and if you do _book_ you might be able to get one?

I can't see it being accepted unless the the customer was willing to pay an extra fee as the taxi would be at a disadvantage when seeking a return fare especially if they were required by a few adults with luggage. The taxi would have to return to base to offload the seats after each trip.

Del2005

lostexpectation wrote:

would it be such bad idea for the larger taxi companies to buy a few child seats,(particularily now with the incresed regs on these) and if you do _book_ you might be able to get one?

You'd also run the risk of being sued. If the seat wasn't in correctly and the taxi was in an accident then the taxi person/firm is responsible. Also they would have to spend money maintaining them and I don't think too many child seats developed for regular removal and fitting into different cars. Also they would have to buy several types to ensure that they will fit all cars. I'd say it'd be a huge logistical nightmare to have the seats for the cars at base then a driver takes one and doesn't return to base for a couple of days.

And the biggest reason why they won't do it is cause it'll cost money and if some of the taxi people won't even buy a car half suitable for taxi'ing then they won't buy a seat they don't need and will reduce their earning potential.

loyatemu

Wishbone Ash wrote:

While your concern for safety is understandable, the safety issues have to be balanced against reasonable practical requirements.

What if an adult with 3 young children hails a taxi? Is it practical for the driver to have child seats on board? What if the children were older and required booster seats? Should the taxi would be required to carry child seats and booster seats in case they were required.

clearly not, but if the cab is booked in advance it wouldn't be that difficult for the driver to pick up the seats on the way (I'm assuming here the cab company would have a supply of seats, not the individual driver). naturally there would be an additional charge for this.]

Thousands of children travel by Dublin Bus without mechanical restraint each day. Even if the buses had seatbelts, would it be realistic to expect the driver to have a few dozen childseats if case children boarded?

I'm no road safety expert but I would imagine a bus crashing into a car is not going to generate anything like the same forces on passengers - they might get thrown around, but they're not going to hurtle through the windscreen like a missile. Opinion seems divided on the merits of putting seatbelts into buses, there's no such debate about seatbelts in cars.

Ham'nd'egger

loyatemu wrote:

clearly not, but if the cab is booked in advance it wouldn't be that difficult for the driver to pick up the seats on the way (I'm assuming here the cab company would have a supply of seats, not the individual driver). naturally there would be an additional charge for this.]
QUOTE]

It wouldn't be difficult if the cab was close to it's despatch base at the time a driver takes on the job. This, however, is very unlikely to happen. In effect to pick up such a passenger on time...

• A driver will need to get the job up to 90 minutes before the pick up time to get the chair, fit it and procede to the pick up (Allow for distance or traffic to and from base, some bases are in the city centre and harder to get to at rush hour)
• He will then run them at the destination, say 60 minutes for a trip
• He then has to return the chair to a base, in bad traffic, again another possible 90 minutes.

Not difficult in theory, just incredibly time consuming and lots of non earning time for a driver to deal with. Not many fares would cover all this run arounds; especially if it is a shorter fare.

lostexpectation

Hamndegger wrote:

loyatemu wrote:

clearly not, but if the cab is booked in advance it wouldn't be that difficult for the driver to pick up the seats on the way (I'm assuming here the cab company would have a supply of seats, not the individual driver). naturally there would be an additional charge for this.]
QUOTE]

It wouldn't be difficult if the cab was close to it's despatch base at the time a driver takes on the job. This, however, is very unlikely to happen. In effect to pick up such a passenger on time...

• A driver will need to get the job up to 90 minutes before the pick up time to get the chair, fit it and procede to the pick up (Allow for distance or traffic to and from base, some bases are in the city centre and harder to get to at rush hour)
• He will then run them at the destination, say 60 minutes for a trip
• He then has to return the chair to a base, in bad traffic, again another possible 90 minutes.

Not difficult in theory, just incredibly time consuming and lots of non earning time for a driver to deal with. Not many fares would cover all this run arounds; especially if it is a shorter fare.

I did say booking in advance.

well if the op was that concerned to post and to call a cab it seems that s/he was planning in advance of atleast a day and had long journey or out of hours journey and how many cars do some of the larger taxi control have they would be plenty to choose from. and if somone is going to sue after a crash their going to sue after a crash child car seat or no.

Del2005

lostexpectation wrote:

Hamndegger wrote:

I did say booking in advance.

well if the op was that concerned to post and to call a cab it seems that s/he was planning in advance of atleast a day and had long journey or out of hours journey and how many cars do some of the larger taxi control have they would be plenty to choose from. and if somone is going to sue after a crash their going to sue after a crash child car seat or no.

The taxi companies don't dispatch the cars from their base and even if you book well in advance they only put the call out for a driver when the time of the booking comes up. They don't send a car to you, they call for the nearest car to go to you.

As for the claiming after a crash, if the insurance company found the seat was incorrectly fitted they could dump the resposibility onto the taxi driver and make them pay.

ballooba

Thaedydal wrote:

Aren't taxis exempt ?

That won't save the child in an accident.

9th

I don't think this has been posted yet. Why not try ringing your local hackney companies and explaining the situation to them. I am sure some of their drivers are parent. Just maybe one of them has a babyseat at home. All you can do is enquire. Hackneys are not allowed to pick up at the airport unless they have a booking. Therefore the driver would have to return to base or within radio distance before he could do another pickup. The operator in the office would be able to slect a job for him that would not be inconvience by the baby seat if it were in the boot.

Ham'nd'egger

9th wrote:

I don't think this has been posted yet. Why not try ringing your local hackney companies and explaining the situation to them. I am sure some of their drivers are parent. Just maybe one of them has a babyseat at home. All you can do is enquire. Hackneys are not allowed to pick up at the airport unless they have a booking. Therefore the driver would have to return to base or within radio distance before he could do another pickup. The operator in the office would be able to slect a job for him that would not be inconvience by the baby seat if it were in the boot.

In fairness, no matter what sort of a vehicle is despatched to pick up, the issue of what to do with a baby seat before and afterwards in the cab is going to be the problem; be it a taxi, hackney or limo that comes to pick up.