The Taxi Industry and how ridiculous it has gotten, a drivers view..

Ham'nd'egger

Tuesday evening, I was coming home from town with a friend and walking down Dame Street about 12:30AM, I saw about the darndest sight ever in my 3 years of taxi driving.

There was 4 punters at a taxi rank in Dame Street (The rank outside of Citibar) and they were waving down a taxi which was the opposite side of the road (Outside Mercantile Bar). No bother, you say, they want to get home and into bed so away they go. Thing was, they were at a taxi rank when they did this AND THERE WAS TAXI'S AT THE RANK! Now, before anybody asks anything, yes it was 4 of them so it wasn't a case of get a 6 seater car. I did notice that the 3 cars at the top of the rank were driven by "non Irish" drivers.

Now the reason I wish to bring this up are as follows....

1) Has it come to the stage where passengers are feeling that they need to pick the car they travel in, based on the skin of a driver?
2) Has it come to it that the relevance of a Taxi Rank is watered down that bad that punters can not only pick and choose their car that they can disregard the rank if they wish to?
3) Are taxi drivers in Dublin that bad that passengers have to resort to this, and if so, how often is it happening?

I don't wish for this thread to become a stick to beat taxi drivers, nor do I want it to become a race issue. However, is the public's perception and expectations that bad that people avoid taxi's by merely looking at the driver's skin or has the trade become that bad a joke that it is the norm to do as such, and if so why?

Dub13

You could be jumping to conclusions,maybe they were very drunk and did not realize they were standing beside a rank.

maxheadroom

Isn't it cheaper to hail on the street than to get a taxi from the rank?

Wishbone Ash

maxheadroom wrote: »

Isn't it cheaper to hail on the street than to get a taxi from the rank?

No.


OP - there was a long thread about this very topic a few months ago.

paulm17781

I do the opposite and hope for a taxi with a non-Irish driver. They are far less likely to insist on talking and boring you to death with "facts" than the Irish ones are.

Ste.phen

Really? I thought there was a 1 or 1.50 extra for picking up at a rank?

Wishbone Ash

Igy wrote: »

Really? I thought there was a 1 or 1.50 extra for picking up at a rank?

Booking charge

When a taxi is booked by telephone, email, fax, text, (or any method other than by hailing in the street or engaging at a taxi rank), taxi drivers will be permitted to charge a maximum of €2.00 for such journeys. This charge will not apply to taxis hailed on the street or engaged at taxi ranks or at transport terminals.

Mylow

paulm17781 wrote: »

I do the opposite and hope for a taxi with a non-Irish driver. They are far less likely to insist on talking and boring you to death with "facts" than the Irish ones are.

Also find the non-national taxi drivers keep their cars much better. Would you pick an wrinkly bit of fruit over fresh piece in Supermarket? Same price different quality. I tend to use 2 same taxi's locally, one is Irish other is Romanian, both very reliable cars are always clean.

I really think they should standardise taxi's like they do in Germany, lose the VRT for registered taxi's.

paulm17781

Mylow wrote: »

Also find the non-national taxi drivers keep their cars much better. Would you pick an wrinkly bit of fruit over fresh piece in Supermarket? Same price different quality. I tend to use 2 same taxi's locally, one is Irish other is Romanian, both very reliable cars are always clean.

I really think they should standardise taxi's like they do in Germany, lose the VRT for registered taxi's.

Couldn't agree more. Some standards need to be introduced, standardized cars for one, minimum of football stickers, radio speakers in the front (there is nothing worse than a driver turning up the radio as his passengers are talking over it) and a cleanliness standard.

Cookie_Monster

What were the cars in the rank? Were they all 10 year old clapped out improted rubbish?

Just a possability as to why they chose to get another car, I know there are some taxi's I wouldn't go near. If there are 3 taxi's parked up and the first two are 96 corollas and the third a 07 e-class (or any similar combination)which would you go for?

2qk4u

There are standards there allready.The taxi should be clean when you get in.If is not there is a complaints procedure.A lot of the things that people moan about in Taxis can be adressed by contacting the Taxi Regulators office.How many of you have noticed problems or see something that needs inproving ? Well its you that can change them.Some Taxi drivers will do what they like because nobody does anything about it,if you dont like it do something about it..

I have noticed many taxi customers being choosy,Its happened to me plenty of times.People refusing to get in the first car on a rank because the driver looks foreign.Or waiting to see a driver that looks Irish before sticking their hand out. There is nothing that suprises me any more with the taxi industry.

Mylow

2qk4u wrote: »

There are standards there allready.The taxi should be clean when you get in.If is not there is a complaints procedure.A lot of the things that people moan about in Taxis can be adressed by contacting the Taxi Regulators office.How many of you have noticed problems or see something that needs inproving ? Well its you that can change them.Some Taxi drivers will do what they like because nobody does anything about it,if you dont like it do something about it..

I have noticed many taxi customers being choosy,Its happened to me plenty of times.People refusing to get in the first car on a rank because the driver looks foreign.Or waiting to see a driver that looks Irish before sticking their hand out. There is nothing that suprises me any more with the taxi industry.

Why bother contacting regulator, as a consumer I make the choice. If the taxi is dirty or clapped out piece of rubbish I wont use it, If everyone else adopted same attitude we wouldn't have these crap taxi's. You don't honestly expect taxi regulator to follow up calls for dirty taxi's, they would never get anything else done.

I really hate when people use the race card, I have never opted out of using a non-national driver. I don't know anyone who has, what p*sses me off is when Irish taxi drivers moan about non-national taxi drivers. The only people I hear complaining about non-national drivers are Irish taxi drivers.

bill_ashmount

This was done before in another thread a while back, but I know a lot of people who want an Irish taxi driver. As long as they are not skipping the queue they are perfectly entitled to wave one down. People have the right to choose. And yes a lot of it is down to skin colour.

I couldn't care less, i just want to get home, in fact i'd rather have a non Irish driver a lot of the time because they tend to talk less

MrPudding

+1

MrP

Gavin

I was getting a taxi home from the airport, coming in from the middle east. I was describing the place/customs to the taxi driver and he told me a story from when he was waiting at the airport once.

Three middle eastern people (identified by Abayas and Thobes) emerged from the airport, looking for a taxi. The taxi at the top of the queue was driven by a female. The middle eastern people refused to get into a taxi with a female driver. In response, non of the other taxi drivers in the rank would take them. They left, without getting a taxi.

It's a shame such solidarity is not offered to non-national drivers.

Zynks

Mylow wrote: »

...If the taxi is dirty or clapped out piece of rubbish I wont use it, If everyone else adopted same attitude we wouldn't have these crap taxi's.

Absolutely! I choose "my" taxi also. Some taxis out there wouldn't sell for the price of the fare. I make an effort to congratulate drivers who obviously take pride of driving a clean and comfortable car. There are a couple of drivers in town that even put mints and newspapers in the pocket at the back of the front seats. But these are as rare as it gets. I would bet these guys make more money than the average driver out of tips and they arrive home after a day's work in much better form.

Mylow wrote: »

I really hate when people use the race card...

When race comes into the argumentation it is plain ignorance, full stop.

Ham'nd'egger

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

No.


OP - there was a long thread about this very topic a few months ago.

Wishers, I'm commenting on an incident that I saw last night. It just struck me as a specific incident that merited debate

seanabc

In my own experience you can't tell much about whether you're going to get a good or a bad taxi driver based on his colour. I have walked up to a rank on a couple of occasions though and then kept walking when I saw the state of the car or just got a bad impression of the driver. My worst experience ever was with an Irish driver who was just obnoxious, but he was a real one off.

Did the taxi they were trying to hail down pick them up? If he did I think he'd be the real villian of the story.

Ham'nd'egger

seanabc wrote: »

Did the taxi they were trying to hail down pick them up? If he did I think he'd be the real villian of the story.

It surely did.

Dub13

I got out of a taxi a few weeks ago about a mile into my journey as the driver was so bad,I just told him to pull in and I was not paying.He was not a happy camper,I told him if he had an issue with it to take me to the closest Police station and I will inform them of his reckless driving.It was very bad.

tinofapples

1) Has it come to the stage where passengers are feeling that they need to pick the car they travel in, based on the skin of a driver?

This is now common practice in Galway City. Some people say "I was overcharged by one them before and I'm fcuked if there gonna catch me again". Others have other issues such as the vetting of non-national drivers (Which i happen to agree with, how much vetting can be done on someone who has spent majority of their life in another country). Then of course you have people saying that not alone do they not know where they are going but there driving skills ain't up to much.

There's gonna be big changes in Galway, just too many taxis most of the time and not enough rank space for them. The Galway Advertiser has an article on it's front page here :

http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/content/index.php?aid=10246&PHPSESSID=3232f4570fe03250637bd3d3d28d83dc

murphaph

paulm17781 wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. Some standards need to be introduced, standardized cars for one, minimum of football stickers, radio speakers in the front (there is nothing worse than a driver turning up the radio as his passengers are talking over it) and a cleanliness standard.

Indeed. The personal hygiene of some drivers leaves a lot to be desired. The cars too.

dodgyme

i love the hypocrisy on this one where after the OP there is the usual comment that someone actually prefers the non national taxi drivers because they are cleaner or quieter. However if someone had posted and said that they rathered irish drivers because the non nationals were flithy or loud they would be called racist.

My own opinion is that you are as likely to be screwed by an irish driver as a non national. Any driver should know where they are going and have basic route info on the city and enough english to get by. This is down to regulation and not nationality.

Zynks

Last month at the airport I wanted to take a taxi into town via the port tunnel. The first car was 13 years old and it looked like chickens had been living in it. I said I wouldn't take it. The next one was "just" 10 years old, but looked clean. But the driver refused to go via the tunnel because he was "claustrophobic". So, I finally got into the third taxi and it took me less than 5 minutes to find out the gentleman had 11 points in his drivers license. The three were Irish.
With those standards, nationality and race are irrelevant issues in my view.

tinofapples

However if someone had posted and said that they rathered irish drivers because the non nationals were flithy or loud they would be called racist.

So bloody true.

Spook_ie

As for the driver over the other side of the road taking the fare, this is happening more and more often, I was parked about 4 cars behind the start of a rank when a punter opened door and asked "Was I free?" so I sent him uptowards the front of the rank ( as I would normaly ) and the very next taxi took them instead, I won't be passing punters up to the front of the queue again if that carries on....

mikedragon32

Surely, OP, as customers we have the right to chose to whom we give our custom?

Everyone has their own priority for choosing a taxi. Some aren't fussy and just happy to be on their way in the first car in the rank and that's fine, but you can't deny the right of the consumer to chose according to their wish/taste, a car of a decent standard, a driver who they perceive to be trustworthy or any other standard they wish to apply.

seanabc

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Surely, OP, as customers we have the right to chose to whom we give our custom?

Everyone has their own priority for choosing a taxi. Some aren't fussy and just happy to be on their way in the first car in the rank and that's fine, but you can't deny the right of the consumer to chose according to their wish/taste, a car of a decent standard, a driver who they perceive to be trustworthy or any other standard they wish to apply.

Obviously customers have the right to decide if they want to travel in a particular car with a particular driver for whatever reason. But if that driver is in first position at a taxi rank and is willing to take them I don't think they have a right to just ignore the taxi rank and hail one on the street. While standing at or just beside the rank. They should at least have to move away from the rank. Equally the taxi driver doesn't have the right to refuse a fare from the first person in a queue at a rank provided it's within a reasonable distance.

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

OP - there was a long thread about this very topic a few months ago.

Hamndegger wrote: »

Wishers, I'm commenting on an incident that I saw last night. It just struck me as a specific incident that merited debate

Ham'nd'egger - I think you took me up wrongly. I wasn't backseat modding but merely informing you that there was a long thread on this subject which may have been of interest to you.

mikemac

Just scanned through this thread so maybe it has been answered.

I must be blind or lucky as I take taxi's 4-5 times a week and can't remember the last time I've noticed anything worth complaining about.

If you go to a rank and you decide to skip the first car, will the next driver refuse to take you and tell you to take the first taxi in the rank?
A bit of an unwritten code of honour between drivers?

Just wondering.......

Our man in Havana

I have been told to take the first car before. I was even pulled out of the second car by the first driver on the rank.

Ham'nd'egger

micmclo wrote: »

Just scanned through this thread so maybe it has been answered.

I must be blind or lucky as I take taxi's 4-5 times a week and can't remember the last time I've noticed anything worth complaining about.

If you go to a rank and you decide to skip the first car, will the next driver refuse to take you and tell you to take the first taxi in the rank?
A bit of an unwritten code of honour between drivers?

Just wondering.......

To be honest, that is the whole point of the idea of a rank; first come first served, be it car or punter. There will be exceptions that are reasonable; more than 4 people, a load of bags or weird parcel (May need an estate car), extra drunk punter, a trip over the 30KM limit or some people disliking van taxis all spring to mind. It is getting farcical if the ideal of queuing in a rank is abolished in lieu of pick and choose. Personally, I'd rather they take the first cab but if they insist, that seems to be it.

Small tale relating to that, Mic...

One evening I was sitting second on the rank at the Westbury Hotel and a girl gets into the back of my car. Before she said anything, I said to her that there was a car ahead of me, she asked was I not taking her and I said merely that there was a car ahead and that he would take her. She effed and blinded at me, got out, slammed the door and walked away, not even attempting to get into the other cabs. The first driver got out to see what happened and he seemed kind of glad she didn't get into the car with him

MOH

Did the taxi that took them do a u-turn or did they cross and get in the direction it was already heading? I could understand that, if the guys at the rank were facing the wrong way and they would have had to go down the road and turn.

kittensoft1984

taxi drviers do have to pass some type of test but im not sure what it is.....

and with regards to the first taxi in the rank....yes it is an unwritten rule me thinks....ive had it before!

jdivision

I prefer non-national drivers, but first choice is based on cars. I thought there was a charge at rank as well but Mairt set me straight yesterday

DMC2005

Hamndegger wrote: »

the 3 cars at the top of the rank were driven by "non Irish" drivers.

So ? The paying customer, or punter as you refer to them, has every right to choose who they give their custom to. Are you really suggesting that someone who hails a taxi when they are near a rank is a racist ? Maybe it was only you who noticed the skin colour of the driver at the rank.

Hamndegger wrote: »

1) Has it come to the stage where passengers are feeling that they need to pick the car they travel in, based on the skin of a driver?

They can pick the car on whatever grounds they wish. Its a service industry don't forget.

Hamndegger wrote: »

2) Has it come to it that the relevance of a Taxi Rank is watered down that bad that punters can not only pick and choose their car that they can disregard the rank if they wish to?

Of course the customer can disregard the rank if they wish. For long enough taxi drivers picked and chose their fares. Welcome to the free market. Drivers offer a service - if some drivers offer a better service than others its only reasonable that they get more business

Hamndegger wrote: »

3) Are taxi drivers in Dublin that bad that passengers have to resort to this, and if so, how often is it happening?

Its got nothing to do with the standard of taxi driver - its to do with the number of taxis. Now people can get a taxi on whatever side of the road they wish. The customer is now in a position to demand higher standards from taxis.

Victor

In a queue, a passenger can pick any car they want. AFAIK, a driver is obliged to accept the passenger (within reason). It is usual to pick from the front, but not obligatory.

Many drivers won't pick up within a certain distance of a rank, encouraging people to use the rank.

It would be sensible for streets to have ranks on both sides to prevent the typical "taxi turning and blocking the whole street"-type affair. I think in the OP, if the guys went out of their way to get the other taxi it was probably wrong, I suspect blocking traffic wasn't on their minds.

Out last week, a friend said his likes to take taxis from ranks to encourage the use of ranks.

Some ranks are being reworked, The centre one on O'Connell Street is being made 2 separate ransk to facilitate people going south.

On my bike the other evening, I pulled up next to an 8-seater taxi at traffic lights. I somehow scared the life out of one of the passengers, her thinking I was the bogey-man looking in the window.

Spook_ie

DMC2005 wrote: »

So ? The paying customer, or punter as you refer to them, has every right to choose who they give their custom to. Are you really suggesting that someone who hails a taxi when they are near a rank is a racist ? Maybe it was only you who noticed the skin colour of the driver at the rank.



They can pick the car on whatever grounds they wish. Its a service industry don't forget.

See Answer A

Of course the customer can disregard the rank if they wish. For long enough taxi drivers picked and chose their fares. Welcome to the free market. Drivers offer a service - if some drivers offer a better service than others its only reasonable that they get more business

See Answer B



Its got nothing to do with the standard of taxi driver - its to do with the number of taxis. Now people can get a taxi on whatever side of the road they wish. The customer is now in a position to demand higher standards from taxis.

See Answer C

A It is a service industry, however, the customer is not allowed ( by law ) to pick whichever taxi they want if it is being based on Color, Race, Sex, Ageism etc. The Taxi Regulator needs to step in quickly and allow the drivers to legaly tell customers to use the car at the head of the Queue

B Yes at the moment you can ignore the rank if you so wish, however in defference to those people that would use it as an excuse to differentiate against whatever type of taxi driver they want, it is time the law was changed to a similar Parisian Law where it's not allowed for a taxi to be hailed within 100m of a rank that is occupied by either vacant taxis or customers Queuing

C They may well be in that position at the moment but when you know see Plate Number 40000+ on the streets, ask yourself the following question " How many more taxis can the customer base support? Something will give under the strain before too long and my fear is that it will be of customer and driver safety as the drivers try to make up the money needed to give you your "Higher Standards"

Our man in Havana

In a queue, a passenger can pick any car they want. AFAIK, a driver is obliged to accept the passenger (within reason). It is usual to pick from the front, but not obligatory.

I know of several occasions where the passenger choose a car other than the front car and then being pulled of out of the car by the driver of the head car on the rank.

tinofapples

The Taxi Regulator needs to step in quickly and allow the drivers to legaly tell customers to use the car at the head of the Queue

Taxi Regulator needs to be doing alot of things. Doesn't mean that's gonna happen.

dam099

tinofapples wrote: »

Others have other issues such as the vetting of non-national drivers (Which i happen to agree with, how much vetting can be done on someone who has spent majority of their life in another country).

Vetting isn't just an issue with non-national drivers, a well known Dublin criminal got a taxi licence as well as the man who was convicted of the sexual assault of the child in the X case.

tinofapples

Vetting isn't just an issue with non-national drivers, a well known Dublin criminal got a taxi licence as well as the man who was convicted of the sexual assault of the child in the X case.

Agreed to a certain degree but it should be possible (Easy) for Guards to identify those applying for a PSV with a criminal record and therefore refuse the license. In the cases mentioned above shouldn't the Guard who signed off their application for the license be questioned/disciplined ? Accountability ??

Likewise it should be possible for the Guards to vet/check whether non-national drivers have a criminal record for the time they have lived here. How in Gods name to they know how clean their records are in their home countries ???

They can't.

Ham'nd'egger

tinofapples wrote: »

Agreed to a certain degree but it should be possible (Easy) for Guards to identify those applying for a PSV with a criminal record and therefore refuse the license. In the cases mentioned above shouldn't the Guard who signed off their application for the license be questioned/disciplined ? Accountability ??

It is easy for the Gardai to spot them. The problem here is when convicted criminals are refused by the Carriage Office, their decision is being appealed to the courts on the basis that the applicant is entitled to make a living and would be able to if allowed to hold a PSV badge. By and large, the appellants are being granted a PSV, with the proviso of the applicant being subject to a probationary period being conviction free. This farcical by pass of the Garda check is making the criminal check all but redundant.

DMC2005

Spook_ie wrote: »

the customer is not allowed ( by law ) to pick whichever taxi they want if it is being based on Color, Race, Sex, Ageism etc.

Total Rubbish. What law says this? People can choose whatever supplier they wish, on whatever grounds they wish. By law the taxi must accept a passanger - the passenger is not obliged to accept any old taxi. I often choose services based on the ethnicity of the supplier - for example if I go for a Chinese meal, I prefer the staff in the restaraunt to be chinese than Irish. Are you saying I'm breaking the law ?

Spook_ie wrote: »

it is time the law was changed to a similar Parisian Law where it's not allowed for a taxi to be hailed within 100m of a rank that is occupied by either vacant taxis or customers Queuing

It would be much more beneficial to customers if your suggestion was reversed - if it was prohibited for a driver to pickup a passanger when they are near a rank with people queueing at it. It would also be much easier to enforce - just take the licence off them - plenty other drivers on the road that will follow the rules as you rightly point out.

Spook_ie wrote: »

How many more taxis can the customer base support? Something will give under the strain before too long and my fear is that it will be of customer and driver safety as the drivers try to make up the money needed to give you your "Higher Standards"

This is the same scaremongering arguement put up against deregulation years ago - back when people couldn't get a taxi for love nor money at night, and a cartel tied up the licenses. Tighter regulation of vehicles and drivers will sort out any safety issues. Just take the licence off any driver with say 9 penelty points, and prohibit cars with low ncap ratings serving as taxis. As you say there are lots of drivers at the moment - it presents a great opportunity for a cull which would really benefit the industry.

Spook_ie

Point A ---You can not select a car based on the color/race/religion/sex or age of the driver, this would cross so many discriminatory laws that I realy wonder if you just said that to wind up the NCCR etc. If you are serious I suggest that the next time you decide you don't want a taxi because the driver is Black, Pakisatani, Hindu, Female or over 65 that you tell them that to their face and see how many Gards they can get to arrest you.

Point B The last two words " Customers Queing" covers that.

Point C You can't stop people with 9 penalty points driving a taxi in the same way as you can't limit the number of plates being issued. Tighter regulation isn't going to sort that out. The only thing tighter regulation would sort out is the surmising by many drivers, myself included, that there are a lot of unlicensed drivers sharing cabs.

Point D I wouldn't say it's scaremongering to point out that with the latest plate numbers being issued exceeding the number 40000 that there is a limit to the number of taxis that a customerbase can support and allow the drivers to attain a reasonable wage as well as provide the extra costs to give the customers their higher standards, to me that is simple economics.

However it is a fact of life that many drivers will have to take out loans to cover vehicle replacement and then have to work longer hours to make up the loan repayments, this coupled with the ever growing dog eat dog mentality of drivers trying to earn the same wage as last year is a sure recipe for disaster at some stage, you have no need to argue against this view as all I will say is " wait and see" and " I told you so! "

ardmacha

You can not select a car based on the color/race/religion/sex or age of the driver

Are there not some taxi companies that allow you ask for a female driver?

You can't stop people with 9 penalty points driving a taxi in the same way as you can't limit the number of plates being issued.

Why not. You could have a restriction on driving a public service vehicle which is different from the points needed to lose your licence.

Ham'nd'egger

ardmacha wrote: »

Why not. You could have a restriction on driving a public service vehicle which is different from the points needed to lose your licence.

Penalty Point's are not a criminal conviction so they wouldn't be allowable to be used as assessment into suitability; as it is, criminals with far more serious convictions are allowed entry into the industry. This issue about the right to earn a living is covered in the Constitution so I can't see it being changed as a law anytime soon. That said, the idea is very good.

Wishbone Ash

Spook_ie wrote: »

You can not select a car based on the color/race/religion/sex or age of the driver, this would cross so many discriminatory laws

But couldn't customer could get around that by using the type of vehicle as a reason for their refusal. Is it legal to refuse to take a van type, estate car, MPV or a Punto etc.? Some people queuing at the airport rank offer the taxi to the next customer while they wait for the S class to make its way to the top of the queue.

DMC2005

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

But couldn't customer could get around that by using the type of vehicle as a reason for their refusal

Well they could, if they needed to - but seeing as this law doesn't exist there is no need to "get around it". A customer can select a service on any grounds they choose - the previous poster seems to be under the impression that hailing a taxi is covered by the Employment Equality Act - this is not the case.

Spook_ie wrote: »

allow the drivers to attain a reasonable wage ...... drivers trying to earn the same wage as last year

The days of the taxi industry existing to line the pockets of the lucky few who held licenses is over. From here on in the Taxi industry exists to serve their customers. Get used to it.

Hamndegger wrote: »

Penalty Point's are not a criminal conviction so they wouldn't be allowable to be used as assessment into suitability....the right to earn a living is covered in the Constitution so I can't see it being changed as a law anytime soon.

Rubbish. The taxi regulator is taking over responsibility for licensing from the carriage office this year, and totally reforming the process. New drivers will have to pass a driving asessment and sit a computer based exam. They are also introducing new smartcard licenses to help with enforcement. Standards are rising for the drivers, the idea that people somehow have a right to a PSV licence is over.

As Bob Dylan said - "The times, the are a changin"

Capt'n Midnight

Spook_ie wrote:

]there is a limit to the number of taxis that a customerbase can support and allow the drivers to attain a reasonable wage as well as provide the extra costs to give the customers their higher standards, to me that is simple economics.

However it is a fact of life that many drivers will have to take out loans to cover vehicle replacement and then have to work longer hours to make up the loan repayments, this coupled with the ever growing dog eat dog mentality of drivers trying to earn the same wage as last year is a sure recipe for disaster at some stage, you have no need to argue against this view as all I will say is " wait and see" and " I told you so! "

In the past plates went for house prices and taxi drivers used to make 4 times the average wage. Those days are gone.
The regulator sets the fares so there can't be a race to the bottom like in the UK haulage industry where they cut their own throats to get business off each and got hammered when fuel costs went up. Taxi drivers can do other jobs part time.

For the consumer certain minimum standards need to be met. These would restrict entry to the profession by people who should not be there. Already we have directives than mean that ancient cars will be phased out in the next decade or so. But not old or unsuitable vehicles though. Seriously you don't need a new or even second hand car in this country - it's a completely unnecessary expense if you just look at the regulations alone. Perhaps a test on fluency of either of the national languages of the state. Something like "the knowledge" would be nice but here the problem is not the old unchanging streets but the new estates that change by next year.

Wishbone Ash

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

here the problem is not the old unchanging streets but the new estates that change by next year.

There is a problem with old streets also. Many of the new developments in the city centre do not have the nameplate of the street. In other streets the nameplates seem to have disappeared or have been replaced incorrectly. Joyce Street still appears in some maps as Corporation Street even though it was rebadged several years ago. Try to find Great Longford Street - you'll see it in the maps alright but try actually finding it in person!