Taxi Driving

gary the great

My Da is thinking of giving up his current work and putting a taxi on the road. I’ve talked to a couple of taxi men, some say there is money to be made (up to 1000quid a week if you put the hours in)/others say there’s not money left in it anymore. Anyone able to give some more insight.

He is a hard worker and prepared to put the unsociable hours in (she he does it now in his current job anyway!).

He reckons that 20k will buy him all his equipment, plate, decent car etc any comments?

Also, if I were to pass my taxi exams, would we be able to share a taxi? Would I have to get a second plate or whatever? Would be good if my dad was off work and I could do a few hours if I needed cash?

AARRRGH

Would he try working as a taximan for a bit to see if he likes it?

http://www.staff.ie/jobseekers_search_results.php?stype=m&kw=taxi

gary the great

You have to be over 25 to get a taxi licence? Thats strange and rules my idea out!

I think he'd rather just start up on his own and be his own boss rather than work for anyone so i think thats a no-go

Sonnenblumen

gary the great wrote:

You have to be over 25 to get a taxi licence? Thats strange and rules my idea out!

I think he'd rather just start up on his own and be his own boss rather than work for anyone so i think thats a no-go

Once you are 18+, have a full DL you can apply for a PSV license. A great way to fund yourself through college. Yeah, the hours are longer, but the money is still there to be earned and you decide start/finish times.

Taxi guys will always say the business is going down the toilet, well great times are over, and new guys are better equipped etc.

gary the great

Ye but if there wasnt money to be made in it they wouldnt be doing it!

Dub13

You can rent out a car with a plate and insurance,it could be a good idea for him to do that for a few weeks and see if the money is there to be made before he spends 20k and leaves his job.

tinofapples

Taxi guys will always say the business is going down the toilet

I've been mulling over buying a plate for a couple of months now and have always enquired with drivers how the business was, surprisingly enough 90% of them said it was fcuked as far as making a living outta it. One said "you'd be better off stocking shelves in lidl or aldi".

I've just agreed a price with a fella tonight for, basically everything except the actual car.

Buy a new plate from the NCT centre for €6,300 then get your printer,meter and roof sign.

I've been quoted less than €1000 for insurance.

I'm hoping there's a living to be made from it, idealy I'd love if days was enough but it isn't, I'll have to do a few nights.

mikemac

www.taxi.ie

Some good articles here although the forum is a bit mad. Be warned

Yeah, I'd go with the others and advise your Dad to try it out for a few weeks before spending 20k

Alkers

How did this work out for you?

aidan24326

gary the great wrote: »

Ye but if there wasnt money to be made in it they wouldnt be doing it!

Before deregulation there was undoubtedly money to be made. Since then it's not so easy I'd imagine. The number of taxis in Dublin has quadrupled, and the ones making decent money at it are probably putting in fairly long and unsociable hours.

I know a couple of lads doing taxiing who only do a regular day shift and don't break their balls, but they're older guys, kids grown up, mortgage paid etc Don't need to earn big bucks and like the freedom. Depends on your circumstances really.

tinofapples

I started in October and I'm doing alright.

Re the drivers mouthing about the business being dead, I met a driver on the rank. He drove a 99 4 door saloon, nothing fancy. Used to have the chat with him when the rank was slow. He'd always be complaining about how it was fcuked.

I met him one night in Supermacs, "Wait till ya see what I order" "What?" I said. He then proceeded to tell me how he had just ordered a brand new VW Caravelle/Transporter. Go figure.

bustertypsy

I did it for a year.Dealing with drunken scum and lunatics is not pleasant.Unless you are prepared to put in big hours it won't pay.Driving for 50 plus hours around gridlocked Dublin?.......I'd rather clean the public toilets in O'Connell St. Am now doing tiling....now that's a different story!

BostonB

In fairness taxi's can use buslanes so they are not as grid locked as other drivers. Also theres a lot of very fancy taxi's out there. Big huge luxury cars with big engines, petrol and diesel. So some are still making money if they can afford to run them.

Its not easy work, but theres still money to be made apparently.

estebancambias

My dad is a taxi man, and is proof there is money to be made. His is way too lazy, but when he goes out he makes very good money, and he does not work nights.

AARRRGH

estebancambias wrote: »

My dad is a taxi man, and is proof there is money to be made. His is way too lazy, but when he goes out he makes very good money, and he does not work nights.

Is taxi man just a euphemism for rent boy? Just kidding

There are a lot of taxi drivers cruising around in fancy Mercs. They gotta be making good money to afford them...

estebancambias

What..what...I never thought about that but come to think about it....

Dub13

dublindude wrote: »

There are a lot of taxi drivers cruising around in fancy Mercs. They gotta be making good money to afford them...

Not necessarily,you can pick up a good 5/6 year old Merc for around the 20k mark this is the same range as a good family salon.I find most taxi drivers driving older Mercs,in saying that you will see the odd one in a new one these tend to be guys who double up on 'executive hire' contracts.

BostonB

Its not buying them. But you'd need your own oil rig to run some of the big engined petrol barges they are using.

samsham

gary the great wrote: »

My Da is thinking of giving up his current work and putting a taxi on the road. I’ve talked to a couple of taxi men, some say there is money to be made (up to 1000quid a week if you put the hours in)/others say there’s not money left in it anymore. Anyone able to give some more insight.

He is a hard worker and prepared to put the unsociable hours in (she he does it now in his current job anyway!).

He reckons that 20k will buy him all his equipment, plate, decent car etc any comments?

Also, if I were to pass my taxi exams, would we be able to share a taxi? Would I have to get a second plate or whatever? Would be good if my dad was off work and I could do a few hours if I needed cash?

Ill tell you what i will give you more than advice, i will sell you one. Have a great 02 primera complete with meter, roof sign and printer. Yeh there loads of money to be made, shur you might even find the cock of Gold under the old rainbow. Why did you look at the evening Herold, take your pick minibuses cars. I do you a great deal €13.500 and Ill set you up in business, sure €1000 a week , who told you that, I would say €3000 just for the week end. €13.500 and your in the game. I just getting out of the buz to go live in "never never" land with the seven dwarfs and that other bitch.

gary the great

samsham wrote: »

Ill tell you what i will give you more than advice, i will sell you one. Have a great 02 primera complete with meter, roof sign and printer. Yeh there loads of money to be made, shur you might even find the cock of Gold under the old rainbow. Why did you look at the evening Herold, take your pick minibuses cars. I do you a great deal €13.500 and Ill set you up in business, sure €1000 a week , who told you that, I would say €3000 just for the week end. €13.500 and your in the game. I just getting out of the buz to go live in "never never" land with the seven dwarfs and that other bitch.

You'll see i posted that question a long time ago before the situation got so bad. I hear of lads struggling to make 30quid a night nowadays, luckily my dad didnt go into the business.

Dub13

gary the great wrote: »

. I hear of lads struggling to make 30quid a night nowadays, luckily my dada didnt go into the business.

Is it that bad...?

gary the great

Dub13 wrote: »

Is it that bad...?

Aparently so.

The amount of taxis in town these days is shocking

Oshare Bones

Obviously taxi drivers are gonna tell people there's no money in the business, they want to turn potential new people away from the business.

tinofapples

Obviously taxi drivers are gonna tell people there's no money in the business, they want to turn potential new people away from the business.

People ask for opinions of those already in the business. People in the business reply and then the likes of yourself don't believe what they're been told. Such is life innit ? I guess you believe what you want to believe, some people need to learn for themselves.

It's not the business it was 5-10 years ago, FACT. I think there were 130 taxis in Galway 10 years ago now there's probably 1500. Business has certainly not increased 10 fold so do the maths yourself.

Spook_ie

Oshare Bones wrote: »

Obviously taxi drivers are gonna tell people there's no money in the business, they want to turn potential new people away from the business.

Ah sure come on in we need some new blood in the industry...

craichoe

Right .. Guess how many Taxis Dublin has .. its around 14,000

Guess how many New York has ... 10,000 ... .

New York has a few more people living in it than Dublin.

Terrontress

Guess how many private hire cars and limos there are in New York. Guess how many 24-hour train, subway and bus services operate in New York. Guess how many taxis are on the road non stop in New York with different drivers instead of one car, one driver in Dublin. Guess how many people live in one square mile in the centre of Manhattan as opposed to the centre of Dublin.

Even if your figures are correct they do not compare like with like.

Terrontress

According to

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/about.shtml

There are 50,000 vehicles which are regulated by NYC Taxi and Limo Commission.

Interestingly, using the same website, a 5 mile journey home from the pub for two people in a yellow cab in New York would cost $13. $2.50 to get in, $10 for the mileage and $.050 for a night time fee. About €10.50

The same 5 mile journey (8km) home from the pub in Dublin would cost €14.90. Over 40% more.

Might give a reason why taxiing is a preferred profession here.

Spook_ie

Terrontress wrote: »

According to

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/about.shtml

There are 50,000 vehicles which are regulated by NYC Taxi and Limo Commission.

Interestingly, using the same website, a 5 mile journey home from the pub for two people in a yellow cab in New York would cost $13. $2.50 to get in, $10 for the mileage and $.050 for a night time fee. About €10.50

The same 5 mile journey (8km) home from the pub in Dublin would cost €14.90. Over 40% more.

Might give a reason why taxiing is a preferred profession here.

You do seem to forget though that you are expected to tip.

Taxi Fares
Cabs are cash only and it's a good idea to have small bills because the cabbies can't usually break anything higher than $20. While cabs are relatively expensive for a single person, they can actually be a bargain with 3 or more riders. The rates for taxicabs are as follows (last updated 2007-07):


Initial fare.............$2.50
Each 1/5 mile (4 blocks).$0.40
Each 1 minute idle.......$0.40
Peak surcharge...........$1.00 (after 4pm until 8pm Mon-Fri)
Night surcharge..........$0.50 (after 8pm until 6am)
Tolls....................$extra
Additional riders........FREE

Pay only what's on the meter, plus a 15-20 percent gratuity. There are additional charges for crossings outside the metropolitan area and New Jersey. Passengers are required to pay one way. If you are going to airports, there are set fees plus toll and tip. See our airport pages for more specific information on how to get to and from the airports.

at 15% brings your calculations to $12.07 and at 20% to $12.60

Interestingly though if you use this site
http://nyc.taxiwiz.com/
and do East 125th Street to East 30th Street ( distance is 5.1 miles with no tolls ) the fare is calculated at approx $14.10 + tip of $2 (€11.10 + tip of €1.57 ) nowhere near your calculated 40% difference.... go figure!

Terrontress

And Dublin passengers aren't expected to tip?

Spook_ie

Terrontress wrote: »

And Dublin passengers aren't expected to tip?

You don't tip a driver in Dublin, your not likely to get your legs broken, maybe a sarky comment if you take the 10c change from a €10 for a €9.90 fare, but the Merikins, well they have a madness about tipping and would as likely shoot you if you didn't :rolleyes:

Gordon

I've seen someone not tip a NYC cab and he didn't get shot.

Spook_ie

Gordon wrote: »

I've seen someone not tip a NYC cab and he didn't get shot.

Must have been someone who likes living on the edge

the_syco

Terrontress wrote: »

Might give a reason why taxiing is a preferred profession here.

How much of a difference is there in insurance?

Gordon

Spook_ie wrote: »

Must have been someone who likes living on the edge

It was a not so legal Mexican, not so legal Mexicans tend not to tip

AARRRGH

Certainly taxi drivers used to make a lot of money. My father used to give out mortgages and I remember him telling me they'd declare £35k in earnings but have another £65k undeclared.

I am sure it is a lot more difficult now, but if you did it part-time, for example only Friday and Saturday night, it'd be a nice bit of extra income.

samsham

AARRRGH wrote: »

Certainly taxi drivers used to make a lot of money. My father used to give out mortgages and I remember him telling me they'd declare £35k in earnings but have another £65k undeclared.

I am sure it is a lot more difficult now, but if you did it part-time, for example only Friday and Saturday night, it'd be a nice bit of extra income.

If its so good why am I getting no offeres on my 02 primera complete with meter printer and roof sign, just renewed the licence. come on your chance to earn what was it 65k , you have a sterling symbol 85k, what are you waiting for.

AARRRGH

samsham wrote: »

If its so good why am I getting no offeres on my 02 primera complete with meter printer and roof sign, just renewed the licence. come on your chance to earn what was it 65k , you have a sterling symbol 85k, what are you waiting for.

I think you need to re-read my post.

Spook_ie

If its so good why am I getting no offeres on my 02 primera complete with meter printer and roof sign, just renewed the licence. come on your chance to earn what was it 65k , you have a sterling symbol 85k, what are you waiting for.

It's probably bollixed .... but I do think it's time people set aside this misnomer of taxi drivers earning a fortune, in the past it might well have been better and they may well have under declared their earnings, but that isn't the situation now, nor has it been since deregulation and the requirement to have a tax clearence certificate.. yeah, you can ( if you want ) under declare on your tax forms ( the same as Doctors, Dentists, Builders, Solicitors etc. can do ) but it would be a foolish thing to do, seeing as the revenue can audit you for any of the (AFAIK ) previous 7 years.

Still reckon if they were to audit ALL the part time PAYE drivers ( the ones who work Friday and Saturday Nights ) they'd turn up a surprising amount of undeclared income

craichoe

Terrontress wrote: »

Guess how many private hire cars and limos there are in New York. Guess how many 24-hour train, subway and bus services operate in New York. Guess how many taxis are on the road non stop in New York with different drivers instead of one car, one driver in Dublin. Guess how many people live in one square mile in the centre of Manhattan as opposed to the centre of Dublin.

Even if your figures are correct they do not compare like with like.

Guess how many people use train, bus, subway after 9 pm, very few. Its not safe.

Any Taxi driver i've talked to in Dublin says its not worth it and its usually their second job

Spook_ie

craichoe wrote: »

Guess how many people use train, bus, subway after 9 pm, very few. Its not safe.

Any Taxi driver i've talked to in Dublin says its not worth it and its usually their second job

Well do us all a favour, next time you get a taxi driver who says it's not worth it AND it's their second job.....Tell them to get the **** out of it, damn cherry pickers

Dub13

Spook_ie wrote: »

Well do us all a favour, next time you get a taxi driver who says it's not worth it AND it's their second job.....Tell them to get the **** out of it, damn cherry pickers

Nothing wrong with part time taxi driver's IMO.

daithi666

What do yas make of these companys that rent out taxis for the week? If so much can be made through taxing say on Friday and Saturday nights, do you think it's worth my while going that route? Has anybody ever done it?