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

DMC2005

Spook_ie wrote: »

As to the new law that prohibits people with serious criminal convictions from having a PSV license, you are refering to Section 36 of the 2003 Taxi Act, only problem is its not been enacted as yet....So thats on the long finger then"

Thats because the NTDU are campaigning against it! Why don't taxi drivers want to clean up their own industry?

Spook_ie wrote: »

the weekend customer will get his taxi and then end up paying more for the fare because of the gridlock caused by so many taxis looking for fares

Your telling me there will be so many taxis at night on the weekends,that traffic will be worse than during the day? Yeah. Right.

Spook_ie wrote: »

and the midweek customer or early morning taxi user won't get a taxi because all the drivers are working elsewhere.

Wasn't this the original arguement against deregulation? How come it hasn't happened yet?

Spook_ie wrote: »

Removal of VRT on cars purchased for Taxis

Why??? There are plenty of nice, new taxis around the place. Can't see the problem with just raising the standards needed for taxis. Oh yes i can , the drivers unions objected.

Spook_ie wrote: »

Removal of the hold ups to actioning Section 36 of the 2003 Taxi Act

These holds ups stem from the taxi drivers unions, common theme here ....

sickpuppy

I will only geta taxi if the driver is pasty white and has freckles.
I have got fooked around by foreign driver sthree times.
Absolutely cluesless each time.
Once from the navan road down to heuston station guy insisted that was fater to go through phibsborough and up through o connell street instead of through stoneybatter.
Secondly while in ballinteer one night nursing a broken hand and watching the ireland georgia shambles in rugby world cup guy didnt know where the navan road was?
Ffs one of the longest roads in dublin he was painter who taxied at weekends.
I was so bolloxed i stayed in cab and read the map for the fuker so next taxi i pick up if driver is foreign he can kiss me hole dont care how stuck for time i am.

havana

In relation to the OP I might be inclined to pull in a taxi on the other side of the street if I was heading the opposite direction and didn't want the taxi driver to have to go halfway round the world to get on the right track. But I would certainly cross the road if that was the case.

I'm not a taxi - basher and I would say 99.9% of my experiences have been positive, but one thing that happened the other night really ticked me off. I joined the rank at Stephens Green, there were a few people in fromt of me. There were no taxis at the rank but the seemed to be coming regularily enough. The next thing people walked past the queue, went on abouut 20 feet and started hailing taxis. This happened a few times. As annoyed as I was with the people doing this I was really p*ssed off with the drivers who stopped and picked them up. When I did get into a taxi I asked the (very nice) driver about it and he said that it shouldn't happen that they should go to the rank if people are there.

But hey, that was one bad experience. I have to say I would rather get a taxi in Dublin that most other cities I have got one in.

Ham'nd'egger

DMC2005 wrote: »

Thats because the NTDU are campaigning against it! Why don't taxi drivers want to clean up their own industry?

Your telling me there will be so many taxis at night on the weekends,that traffic will be worse than during the day? Yeah. Right.

Wasn't this the original arguement against deregulation? How come it hasn't happened yet?

Why??? There are plenty of nice, new taxis around the place. Can't see the problem with just raising the standards needed for taxis. Oh yes i can , the drivers unions objected.

These holds ups stem from the taxi drivers unions, common theme here ....

DMC, as powerful as the NTDU make themselves out to be, they don't have the power to enact Laws of Dail Eireann; that explains point one.

On point two, try driving from Rathmines to Parnell Square from about 9PM till about 2-4AM 7 nights a week and tell anybody that there isn't congestion at night. Ditto for Dawson Street, Dame Street, Batchelor's Walk, Parliament Street, the Green. The amount of lit yellow lights on these stretches will show you just how many of the cars are Taxi's.

Point three and four, the simple fact that it is as easy to obtain a PSV and to put a cab on the road makes it easy for part timers to get on the road. Realistically, you can get on the road, buy a plate, insurance and a half decent car for less that €10k and with some luck, a matter of weeks. (Indeed, Mr. Part Time may be using the family car as his cab and ending up writing it's running costs off as a working expense incurred as well as his additional income, thus winning on the double.) Some guys will put a better car on the road; these guys may take pride in a good motor; others may have simply had a good car to begin with; others may use it for limo work/exec hire but the simple fact is; Mr. SKL300 can only charge what Mr. 88 Datsun Sunny or Mr. 89 Sierra (Yes, they do exist on Dublin's roads). If anything, they may earn more in the long run as their car is long paid for and expenses lower! As it stands, the system works better to have an older car given the fiscals of it.

Most of us will know people who are either working daytime and cabbing weekends or have retired or have cashed in the redundancy cheque, all in the lure of the €400 a night we hear of; try getting €400 on a Monday and the reality kicks in; it just isn't there all the time. At this stage in Dublin, we are looking at about 1% of the city population owning or driving a taxi; it is hard to argue that the market can carry the industry on these figures, especially with any minor downturn in the economy.

denashpot

i dont think the 4 lads in question put in as much thought as all the people on this are doing. they were more than likely twisted.

Dub13

Hamndegger wrote: »

DMC, as powerful as the NTDU make themselves out to be, they don't have the power to enact Laws of Dail Eireann; that explains point one.

I don't think any of the Taxi unions have much power these days,I would say there are thousands of taxi drivers in Dublin alone who are no in any union.Sure I remember the last taxi stoppage there was loads of Taxis around.

denashpot wrote: »

i dont think the 4 lads in question put in as much thought as all the people on this are doing. they were more than likely twisted.

Thats what I said right at the start of this thread.

meanmachine3

Thats because the NTDU are campaigning against it! Why don't taxi drivers want to clean up their own industry?

Your telling me there will be so many taxis at night on the weekends,that traffic will be worse than during the day? Yeah. Right.



as much as i hate it, i have to agree with spook_ie. he is right traffic in the city centre on a fri /sat night is far worse than during the day.
but then in saying that most taxi drivers are complaining there are to many of them out there and they want a cap on licenses being issued. like all jobs nobody is forcing anyone to drive a taxi,it's their choice and their choice alone. if they dont like it get another job like most people would.

_Kaiser_

Interesting topic, however I'm forced to point out that Taxi drivers themselves regularly "pick and choose" their customers (particularly at night), yet nothing is said about this?

As also noted, the cars themselves should be standardised. I've seen several of those SUV/Jeep things (no rear windows) with Taxi plates, as well as small hatchbacks that would be totally unsuitable - imo the standard should be something like an Octavia/Passat (which many drivers already have), and no older than 6/7 years.

DMC2005

Hamndegger wrote: »

DMC, as powerful as the NTDU make themselves out to be, they don't have the power to enact Laws of Dail Eireann; that explains point one.

No, but they do have the power to tie the process up in the courts for years - just like they did with deregulation.

Hamndegger wrote: »

On point two, try driving from Rathmines to Parnell Square from about 9PM till about 2-4AM 7 nights a week and tell anybody that there isn't congestion at night. Ditto for Dawson Street, Dame Street, Batchelor's Walk, Parliament Street, the Green. The amount of lit yellow lights on these stretches will show you just how many of the cars are Taxi's.

Firstly I never said there was no congestion at night. That journey at 6 o'clock takes much longer than at 3am.

Secondly your suggesting that its empty taxis causing congestion between 2 and four am? Your having a laugh. Its occupied taxis that cause the congestion - taxis stopping randomly for fares, doing u turns etc but mostly its sheer volume. Granted your suggestion to reduce the number of taxis operating would reduce the volume, but people would just end up standing in the cold at ranks for hours just like they used to. Oh hold on - they were the good old days for the taxi drivers, I can see why you'd like a return to that.

The best solution to a problem of too many people wanting taxis at the same time is more Nitelinks. One Nitelink bus could replace 30 taxi journeys, every single trip it does out of town.

Hamndegger wrote: »

Indeed, Mr. Part Time may be using the family car as his cab and ending up writing it's running costs off as a working expense incurred as well as his additional income, thus winning on the double.

So only the part timers cheat the tax man? Taxi drivers are notorious for not declaring their full income.

Hamndegger wrote: »

Mr. SKL300 can only charge what Mr. 88 Datsun Sunny or Mr. 89 Sierra

And that, is a very good reason why drivers should not be allowed use 88 Datsun Sunnys or 89 Sierras. How they have gotten away with it this long, I'll never know.

Spook_ie

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Interesting topic, however I'm forced to point out that Taxi drivers themselves regularly "pick and choose" their customers (particularly at night), yet nothing is said about this?

As also noted, the cars themselves should be standardised. I've seen several of those SUV/Jeep things (no rear windows) with Taxi plates, as well as small hatchbacks that would be totally unsuitable - imo the standard should be something like an Octavia/Passat (which many drivers already have), and no older than 6/7 years.

At a rank a taxi driver doesn't pick and choose the customer, if a person was refused access to a taxi based on color/race/religon etc. the driver of the taxi would be open to prosecution, the ONLY
time I have refused to take a fare from a rank was a drunk who had pissed himself..

The Taxi regulator has issued regulations for the "standardisation" of taxis and is available here so I'm sorry but you're a bit behind the times there, however, just as a point of interest, did you know that despite the safety aspect of it, it will still be legal to use a LHD vehicle as a taxi

Spook_ie

DMC2005 wrote: »

No, but they do have the power to tie the process up in the courts for years - just like they did with deregulation.



Firstly I never said there was no congestion at night. That journey at 6 o'clock takes much longer than at 3am.

Secondly your suggesting that its empty taxis causing congestion between 2 and four am? Your having a laugh. Its occupied taxis that cause the congestion - taxis stopping randomly for fares, doing u turns etc but mostly its sheer volume. Granted your suggestion to reduce the number of taxis operating would reduce the volume, but people would just end up standing in the cold at ranks for hours just like they used to. Oh hold on - they were the good old days for the taxi drivers, I can see why you'd like a return to that.

The best solution to a problem of too many people wanting taxis at the same time is more Nitelinks. One Nitelink bus could replace 30 taxi journeys, every single trip it does out of town.



So only the part timers cheat the tax man? Taxi drivers are notorious for not declaring their full income.



And that, is a very good reason why drivers should not be allowed use 88 Datsun Sunnys or 89 Sierras. How they have gotten away with it this long, I'll never know.

No they don't have the power to tie it up for years because it hasn't even been introduced, the fact is that the Transport Department are sitting on it, ring up the TR or Transport Department and ask them.

As for the congestion I suggest you try it and see, I drive ( make that crawl ) in the damned thing 6 nights a week, and believe me if a punter wants to go there on a Friday or Saturday night I hate them for it!
Feel free to write to Dublin Bus and get them to put on more Nitelinks I would much rather pick the punter up at the bus stop in Swords/Malahide or wherever and take them the last mile than crawl round Dublin.

Taxi Drivers are notorius for for cheating the taxman are they, and the evidence that supports this is what? All taxi plate owners (including PAYE Part Timers) are required to produce a TC1 tax complience cert. ( You know the sort of thing that Bertie is supposed have ) before they can buy or renew their plate. Now if the Revenue Commisioners think that the taxi drivers are underdeclaring income they can a.Refuse to issue a TC1 b. Audit the Driver ( we have to keep accounts).

Now the odd thing about it is that if you rent a car you can get away with underdeclaring because the car can be rented out to multiple drivers and the owner of the car only has to declare the rental income AFAIK He doesn't even have to supply the names of who he rented it to. Yet another thing the Taxi Regulator was asked to look into but ignored so far..

As for the PAYE driver all he has to do is say "Oh I didn't work for those 2 weekends of the month, so I only made X amount when he realy made double that, and don't even get me started on the PAYE drivers who will throw the sign onto the roof each morning and evening so they can drive in the bus lanes to their full time jobs..

Nobody has ever realy denied that there are some crocks of sh1t out there and I welcome the decision to update the fleet but I still maintain that without somekind of guarantee that I and others aren't going to be competing at a disadvantage to certain elements then we are loathe to invest yet more of our hard earned money in newer vehicles when a good proportion of them are still perfectly servicable as taxis

Spook_ie

Dub13 wrote: »

It was a joke.....you need to relax a bit.

Me I'm quite relaxed, it should have been this clip showing the blonde bimbo at the end rather than the gang of lads having the craic, she gives the impression of being a serious taxi user.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cUosET-5kvs&feature=related

But more to the point is, if people will get into a "taxi" with a cardboard sign just how many people get into taxis with forged/stolen roofsigns, and the question "How much does it normaly cost you?, as my meters broken"

Tha Gopher

Hamndegger wrote: »

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 would reckon I have had to direct more foreign drivers in the centre to locations around the centre to where I am going. Namely, on 3 recent occasions, to South Circular, Bolton Street and Porterhouse pub. If I hail one in my local area on the street Ive often had to do the same to places within the area.

Hwever Ive only ever had maybe 4 female drivers in the last two years. 2 of them were con artists.

They are the biggest threat.

dRNk SAnTA

Spook_ie wrote: »

Whatever you might like to think that the taxi industry is there to serve the customers, it is also there as a way to feed, clothe and house my family

ba! this is exactly wrong. Taxi's are supposed to be public transport, not some cushy job. Have you guys ever heard of the free market? It balances itself out! If he wages aren't good enough for you then I think you should look for a new job just as everyone in any other private industry would do.

Could someone clear up this taxi rank issue please? It was my understanding that it is legal to pick any car in the queue at a taxi rank - but taxi drivers insist that the first come first service method is used. This creates a fair system for the drivers - and it means they don't have to compete on quality! If we had the choice of the car at the queue - then they wouldnt be able to get away with the sh*t cars that some of them have.

P.S. I have to say that 95% of taxi drivers are great - they're usually friendly and helpful and professional (all nationalities included). I don't think theres anything wrong with the industry - apart from the way they moan about everything!

Spook_ie

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

ba! this is exactly wrong. Taxi's are supposed to be public transport, not some cushy job. Have you guys ever heard of the free market? It balances itself out! If he wages aren't good enough for you then I think you should look for a new job just as everyone in any other private industry would do.

Could someone clear up this taxi rank issue please? It was my understanding that it is legal to pick any car in the queue at a taxi rank - but taxi drivers insist that the first come first service method is used. This creates a fair system for the drivers - and it means they don't have to compete on quality! If we had the choice of the car at the queue - then they wouldnt be able to get away with the sh*t cars that some of them have.

P.S. I have to say that 95% of taxi drivers are great - they're usually friendly and helpful and professional (all nationalities included). I don't think theres anything wrong with the industry - apart from the way they moan about everything!

If it was a free market then you would be right, but it's not a free market it's a regulated market, thats why meters are fitted. Wouldn't it be a lovely day to go to pure unregulated/negotiated fares, at busy times you ( the punter ) pay a minimum fare of €25, at quiet times you could get the same journey for less than a €5 but at all times you could pick n choose your taxi...:rolleyes:

bcmf

And the arguments go on and on.......................
Before I have my input let me say that I am a Taxi Driver but I will try and be unbiases as possible.
From a drivers perspective:
I started Full time taxi-ing 6 years ago.At that stage you could get onto a rank and not be long before you get a fare.As the weeks progress it is getting near on impossible to get onto any rank in Dublin.As regards to dodgy drivers there as many from Ireland than there are from foreign lands.It is becoming more and more diffucult to earn a full-time wage from this DESPITE THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION.This begins the circle.If the regulator wants to bring a new fleet and operate a professional service but not give assitance to do this then they are wasting my time,your time and taxpayers money.taxi-ng is very rapidly become a part-time job.This IS leading to a drop in standards.I would like a nice 08 E-class to bring you around in but the reality is i would not be able to pay for it.
As for dodgy drivers........I tend to not take serious or with a pinch of salt when drivers complain about them.But when you hear customers complain then we have a problem.When the Garda supervising the psv exam arrests an individual because the details the the Garda has in front of him on paper are different to the person sitting the test* then all our fears are confrimed and urban myth become fact.
*he is doing the test for someone else who cannot for whatever reason sit it.


Spook.ie is disagree with you when you say that soon it will be in freefall.IT IS ALREADY IN FREEFALL.

As with most things in this country it is done arsebackways and only when it is too late will something be done about it.
I believe the TR was setup to serve both Taxi and public but is doing neither and therefore we have the mess that we are in
(this is not a rant)

Ham'nd'egger

Tha Gopher wrote: »

I would reckon I have had to direct more foreign drivers in the centre to locations around the centre to where I am going. Namely, on 3 recent occasions, to South Circular, Bolton Street and Porterhouse pub. If I hail one in my local area on the street Ive often had to do the same to places within the area.

This is something that the public ought to report to the Regulator on a regular; drivers who blatantly do not know where the major roads are in Dublin. But so long as Kilroy's and the like are selling swot courses to the PSv tests for Dublin, this is and will continue to happen. These drivers have only themselves to blame, and customers suffer as a result.

MrPudding

Bond-007 wrote: »

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.

Actually physically pulled out? I have to say, I would have a problem with that...

MrP

Ham'nd'egger

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

ba! this is exactly wrong. Taxi's are supposed to be public transport, not some cushy job. Have you guys ever heard of the free market? It balances itself out! If he wages aren't good enough for you then I think you should look for a new job just as everyone in any other private industry would do.

Could someone clear up this taxi rank issue please? It was my understanding that it is legal to pick any car in the queue at a taxi rank - but taxi drivers insist that the first come first service method is used. This creates a fair system for the drivers - and it means they don't have to compete on quality! If we had the choice of the car at the queue - then they wouldnt be able to get away with the sh*t cars that some of them have.

P.S. I have to say that 95% of taxi drivers are great - they're usually friendly and helpful and professional (all nationalities included). I don't think theres anything wrong with the industry - apart from the way they moan about everything!

Dark Santa, you have hit the nail on the head, taxi's are PUBLIC TRANSPORT. You the customer are entitled to a good level of service and the driver should be skilled enough to be able to offer it and do it well. The problems in the industry are so easily fixable by the powers that be that is is infuriating at driver level so see them go unchanged as the public suffers and ends up thinking the industry is full of chancers and blaggards. Thus far, the Reg's office has offered drivers little to improve their lot while standing still as the industry has stood still or even stepped backwards in some respects.

In relation to Rank's, some time ago, I heard that the Reg's Office intimated that one could pick whatever car at a rank that they wished regardless of where in the queue it was. I will try find out the exact situation re same and post it here. Personally if this is the case, the concept of a rank will cease to be a queue and become something of a Donnybrook.

Wishbone Ash

DMC2005 wrote: »

One Nitelink bus could replace 30 taxi journeys, every single trip it does out of town

Hardly a fair comparison. I've never travelled in the Nitelink but I presume they utilise major arterial routes and don't drop passengers at their door.

Spook_ie wrote: »

just as a point of interest, did you know that despite the safety aspect of it, it will still be legal to use a LHD vehicle as a taxi

Absolute madness!

Here's an example of a LHD taxi. :eek:




Apologies for going a bit off topic but weren't these TACSAI roof signs deemed to be illegal? I've seen quite a few of them lately.

steo123

COULD BEN FOOL ARSIN ABOUT nothing major

Ham'nd'egger

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Hardly a fair comparison. I've never travelled in the Nitelink but I presume they utilise major arterial routes and don't drop passengers at their door.

Absolute madness!

Here's an example of a LHD taxi. :eek:




Apologies for going a bit off topic but weren't these TACSAI roof signs deemed to be illegal? I've seen quite a few of them lately.

Strange as it sounds Wishers, but the vehicular regulations for taxis, hackneys and limos do not specify that a vehicle has to be driven from a driver's seat on the right. As such, it is indeed legal. Roofsigns are allowed to display the word "Tascai", it supposedly being the As Gailege work of "Taxi". Personally, as Taxi is such a universal word and almost an icon or symbol, I think "Tascai" should not be allowed; if any of the drivers who profess a love of Ireland to display it, I doubt if they have any conversational Irish in the first instance.

lost marbles

can you the travelling public on here not realise that the drivers posting here are on your side and want a service where as you the public get a fair deal where the driver taking your son ,daughter, mother ,father home is a professional full time taxi driver and may i add to this safe look people im a taxi driver and the way things are going standards are dropping fast you might see more taxis but are you safe are you going to have to direct the driver every inch of the way home let me give an example
1 the london black cab well trained in [the knowlege] you would be sure that guy knows
2 that dodgy taxi you get when away that you know will end in a rip off
the way things are panning out in ireland option 2 will come to the fore
we are in the game .we see whats happening we want to provide a decent service but are finding it very hard in the present situtation

Spook_ie

Unhappily the majority of people are just too shortsighted to see.

Sure we have lots of taxis now and we don't have to wait too long to get one, ah 'tis only a minor point that the taxi has a chance of being bogey and that I have to direct him where I want to go, and feck if he crashes we're covered by the non insured drivers scheme........

The stuff of dreams or the stuff of nightmares..........Your choice as consumers

grahamo

Not being racist but I'd prefer taxi driver who was from Dublin driving a taxi I get. The reason is they are from Dublin, know their way around and more importantly, they know the short cuts.

MrPudding

grahamo wrote: »

Not being racist but I'd prefer taxi driver who was from Dublin driving a taxi I get. The reason is they are from Dublin, know their way around and more importantly, they know the short cuts.

Not always, in my experience.

MrP

lost marbles

right lets drop the race issue right now it dos,ent matter what colour a guys skin is or where he orginated from that fact of the whole issue is that in the taxi industry there are drivers who havent had no proper background checks ,bad driving skills ,havnt a clue on the city they are working ,and little or no people skills .it dosnt matter if he was born in the back end of kabul or rathmines he should have to meet much higher standards than are in place at the moment .we have a regulater who for the last two years has done sweet fa in tackling the problem .deregulation might have put more cars on the road but at the time the government had in their hands a way to make the taxi service the best in europe with fully trained full time drivers with decent cars but they opened the flood gates for every drug dealer ,scam artist and other low lifes to use the industry to hide in .look so ill ask the question do yous the public want a taxi service where the driver knows your destination is trained in looking after the passenger and will not be eyeing you up for a rip off
or do you want a driver whos as tired as yourself after that hard week in the paye sector who hasnt a clue where your address is and could,nt give a f##k
the choice is yours

bcmf

lost marbles wrote: »

right lets drop the race issue right now it dos,ent matter what colour a guys skin is or where he orginated from that fact of the whole issue is that in the taxi industry there are drivers who havent had no proper background checks ,bad driving skills ,havnt a clue on the city they are working ,and little or no people skills .it dosnt matter if he was born in the back end of kabul or rathmines he should have to meet much higher standards than are in place at the moment .we have a regulater who for the last two years has done sweet fa in tackling the problem .deregulation might have put more cars on the road but at the time the government had in their hands a way to make the taxi service the best in europe with fully trained full time drivers with decent cars but they opened the flood gates for every drug dealer ,scam artist and other low lifes to use the industry to hide in .look so ill ask the question do yous the public want a taxi service where the driver knows your destination is trained in looking after the passenger and will not be eyeing you up for a rip off
or do you want a driver whos as tired as yourself after that hard week in the paye sector who hasnt a clue where your address is and could,nt give a f##k
the choice is yours

Head.Nail.Hammer.

Wishbone Ash

Hamndegger wrote: »

Strange as it sounds Wishers, but the vehicular regulations for taxis, hackneys and limos do not specify that a vehicle has to be driven from a driver's seat on the right. As such, it is indeed legal

I know it's legal - I just find it astounding that it is!

Dubit10

tinofapples wrote: »

So bloody true.

+1