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

Victor

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. 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.

Arabic: تاكْسي، سَيّارَة أجْرَه
Chinese (Simplified): 出租车
Chinese (Traditional): 出租車
Czech: taxi
Danish: taxi
Dutch: taxi
Estonian: takso
Finnish: taksi
French: taxi
German: das Taxi
Greek: ταξί
Hungarian: taxi
Icelandic: leigubíll
Indonesian: taksi
Italian: taxi, tassì
Japanese: タクシー
Latvian: taksometrs
Lithuanian: taksi
Norwegian: drosje, taxi
Polish: taksówka
Portuguese (Brazil): táxi
Portuguese (Portugal): táxi
Romanian: taxi
Russian: такси
Slovak: taxík
Slovenian: taksi
Spanish: taxi
Swedish: taxi
Turkish: taksi

Victor

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.

I've had Dublin Drivers confuse Bonnybrook and Donnybrook, Elgin Road and Eglinton Road and the infamous "I don't do the southside".

Spook_ie

Victor wrote: »

I've had Dublin Drivers confuse Bonnybrook and Donnybrook, Elgin Road and Eglinton Road and the infamous "I don't do the southside".

Yeah but is that more likely to be your pronounciation or their ears :rolleyes:

Seriously though I've had people ask me for Donaghmede and it sounded more like Donabate, maybe they should drink a little less before getting in...

lost marbles

Spook_ie wrote: »

Yeah but is that more likely to be your pronounciation or their ears :rolleyes:

Seriously though I've had people ask me for Donaghmede and it sounded more like Donabate, maybe they should drink a little less before getting in...

i had a girl one night got in the car on aston quay she spoke very little english and all she could say was "lurcan"i took this to mean lucan so off we trot she then starts to direct me over the bridge at the four courts wood quay i began to wonder and thought that she must have some weird way of going to lucan .it turned out she lived in lurgan st just off nt king st .another was a english guy very drunk over for a rugby match and all he had was that his hotel was jurys which one ? he couldnt tell so we start off at christ church no not there then the ifsc and when we were going by the custom house he then reconised the area lucky for him i turned right at christ church instead of left . now im not blowing my own trumpet here and i will still have to get a few pointers on some areas but stuff like this is essential imo to being a good taxi driver

ThatBloke

I've gotten a lot of taxis over the past couple of years because of work and I've had about 15-20 bad cases, either drivers getting lost or trying to rip me off or whatever. Every single one of them have been Irish.

I got a clown last week into town (called to the house, booked the night before) who turned up ten minutes late then proceeded to get lost (I was texting on my phone and didn't notice where he'd gone) he ended up driving into a housing estate and I had to guide him out of it. When we got to the exit, he tried to turn in opposite direction to town and before he did I told him he was going wrong, he still insisted on turning that way and I nearly had to take the wheel off him. If it hadn't been so early in the morning I'd have gotten out and walked to a rank. The f*cker charged me full price for the little detour too.

On other occasions I've had lads whacking unnecessary extras on, arriving early to the house and starting the meter before I got in the car, chain smoke for the entire journey, break lights repeatedly, add extras for luggage when all I had was a normal schoolbag and the old favourite taking a longer route on purpose.

I prefer the foreign drivers because they shut the f*ck up and don't spout racist sh*te at me. Some of them might not know where they're going, but in my experience it's no higher percentage than the Irish drivers. They all tend to have sat navs too.

Don't get me wrong, I've had loads of great Irish drivers, I'm just sick of hearing sh*t from the small percentage of idiots who think a taxi plate is a soap box and that while they "don't mind the coloureds, they shouldn't be working over here. What would happen to us if we tried to drive a cab in Nigeria? Probably get our heads cut off" (A guy actually said that to me on Monday)

If I was a taxi driver, I'd be more worried about the Irish scumbags driving around espousing their pseudo-political beliefs and ripping people off than the foreign national drivers. There are far more of the former in my experience.

corrydorigan

Dub13 wrote: »

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.

I am Dublin born and moved to foreign shores at the age of 24. Recentlsuooliy returned to Ireland for good this year after 15 yrs away. I came back 3-4 times a year on hols so the change in Ireland over that period was very gradual for me, not a shock. But in recent years on flying into Dublin airport I was increasingly asked where Clontarf was, as that was my destination, and being the person I am I supplied the info, It got me home. This was from some Irish and most foreign nationals. From my experiences in Paris, Lyon, Marsailles, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Munich, Frankfurt, Stutgart, London (All). The drivers knew where to go when I, as a forigner, asked them to take me to a place that only existed on paper for me. Under the Irish System how lucky was I.
Stay with me on this. Arrive Frankfurt flughafen, I want Paul Hessemer strasse, Russelsheim, the driver, in English, asks me which number when we get to the street. How good is that, no sat nav.
Barclona airpuerto- Sastelldefells, Avenida Diagonal, again when we got to the avenue in Castelldefells, Iwas asked which No.
I could repeat the same for Munich, Marsailles, London but please stay with me.
I applied for the PSV licence for Dublin. I got the tax clearence cert, was cleared by the Gardai so sat the Exam.............Failed. I could take a passenger to anywhere in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. What I did not know was the exact questions that would be asked. I have since found out that I can buy this info for 300euro. I know how to get a punter from Bray to Dun Laoighre, from sutton to Rathmines, From RTE to the airport ( Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Knock, Shannon), Stephens Green to Stoneybatter, Ballyfermot to Swords, SCR to Drumcondra etc. I failed because I didnt memorise relevent info, available for 300euro?????????????. I will sit it again , armed with relevent info. Whe I am asked the route from A to B, I will simply supply the p[aid for info. I could be from Mars, all I need to do now is memorise and memorise I will.
Regards, corrydorigan

tinofapples

I have since found out that I can buy this info for 300euro.

More of the bullsh!te sure. Who's providing this info ? Someone who has sat the test or someone with access to the test ? Either way it shouldn't really be happening. Doesn't this explain how non-nationals and Irish people with no knowledge of the areas are getting the PSV.

The regulator wants to create a better service for the customer but is he doing that when the punter is constantly complaining about drivers not having a clue where the destination is ?

lost marbles

tinofapples wrote: »

More of the bullsh!te sure. Who's providing this info ? Someone who has sat the test or someone with access to the test ? Either way it shouldn't really be happening. Doesn't this explain how non-nationals and Irish people with no knowledge of the areas are getting the PSV.

The regulator wants to create a better service for the customer but is he doing that when the punter is constantly complaining about drivers not having a clue where the destination is ?

bullsh#te not theres a place on mount st called taxi training that for 280e will let you see the two sets of questions [yes two standard sets which consists of four a4 pages ]and all is needed is to parrot these off and you are a taxi driver not urban myth FACT

Ham'nd'egger

lost marbles wrote: »

bullsh#te not theres a place on mount st called taxi training that for 280e will let you see the two sets of questions [yes two standard sets which consists of four a4 pages ]and all is needed is to parrot these off and you are a taxi driver not urban myth FACT

This place does indeed exist; also Kilroy's of Donnybrook offer a similar service. While many will (rightly) accuse taxi drivers of a lot of bitter moaning towards much change in the industry, the ease of the PSV test and courses like this are merely creating the low standards of some of the drivers in Dublin who don't know Batchelors Walk from Batchelors beans.

lost marbles

and may i add to my last post that there have been cases where people sitting the test have been caught sitting the test by impersonating for another person and these were the ones that got caught FACT hav,nt got the story to hand but it was in the courts .also the regs office is taking over the test from the carriage office which imo will lead to a even bigger fu#k up if the stuff done already is anything to go by .i am not a whinging driver but see whats going on and am fed up hearing stories from passengers who had to direct out of the cc

tinofapples

bullsh#te not theres a place on mount st called taxi training that for 280e will let you see the two sets of questions [yes two standard sets which consists of four a4 pages ]and all is needed is to parrot these off and you are a taxi driver not urban myth FACT

Dude, i wasn't implying that this was bullsh1te i was merely stating that it is more of the comical goings on in the industry. I thought that was obvious from the post.

lost marbles

tinofapples wrote: »

Dude, i wasn't implying that this was bullsh1te i was merely stating that it is more of the comical goings on in the industry. I thought that was obvious from the post.

point taken:p

uma

there are way too many taxis in Dublin from my experience,its got to the stage where you have to avoid eye contact with taxi drivers around Town as they are all desperatly looking for a fare.

I agree with the traffic jams in town on weekend nights.This is due to the huge amount of Taxis ( mostly empty) and the fact that parking on street is allowed on the likes of Dame st,anguier st,wexford st etc after 7pm thus reducing the traffic to one lane.

I always laugh when i see Drivers beeping a Taxi for pulling in for somebody.This normally takes abouty 5 seconds and the funny thing is its perfectly legal if its not in a dangerous place.The same beepers wouldnt dream of beeping bus taking five minutes to load customers.Taxis are allowed to pick up a fare on street and drop off a fare.

overall I htink the taxi drivers who are with companies are far nicer than the blanks though thats just my own view.

Finally i suggest that there is a cap put on the amount of Drivers,which can be looked at on a yearly basis and regular enforcement to catch the bogus Drivers.

lost marbles

have you the public noticed the new thing with taxis the way you might be just after coming out of a club or pub and having that fag or saying goodnight to friends or trying to score that guy or gal and you have this taxi hovering waiting and kerb crawling beside you .drivers that do this are an embarrassment to the profession they are only short of dragging punters into the car . jeesus ive seen couples just standing having a chat and some gobsh#te sitting on their lip waiting for them to look for a taxi the couple might walk three steps and the taxi will move up with them .just tell them to sling their hook :mad:

PRND

Well there is obviously good money at it or else there would not be so many. I say keep them coming. More and more taxis. Once people start to drop out as it is no longer worth the money earned them that is when we have enough.

mickoneill30

lost marbles wrote: »

jeesus ive seen couples just standing having a chat and some gobsh#te sitting on their lip waiting for them to look for a taxi the couple might walk three steps and the taxi will move up with them .just tell them to sling their hook :mad:

It doesn't bother me. As a customer.I much prefer having too many taxis around than not enough. So what if a taxi is sitting a few metres from you to see if you want to hop in. If you don't hop in you don't pay anything. If you do want a taxi he's a couple of metres away. What's the big issue?

I remember regularly queuing for taxis for 1 - 2 hours before they were deregulated. And then they'd drive up and tell you where they were going. If you weren't going in that direction they took the next person who was. If the price I have to pay now is too many taxis and having to give him directions I'll pay it. As to the posters above I've been in taxis in many countries. I've often been asked for directions (once from Sydney CBD to the airport). The trick there is to either give directions or hop out and grab another one. Or complain See which one gets you to your destination quicker.

lost marbles

mickoneill30 wrote: »

It doesn't bother me. As a customer.I much prefer having too many taxis around than not enough. So what if a taxi is sitting a few metres from you to see if you want to hop in. If you don't hop in you don't pay anything. If you do want a taxi he's a couple of metres away. What's the big issue?

I remember regularly queuing for taxis for 1 - 2 hours before they were deregulated. And then they'd drive up and tell you where they were going. If you weren't going in that direction they took the next person who was. If the price I have to pay now is too many taxis and having to give him directions I'll pay it. As to the posters above I've been in taxis in many countries. I've often been asked for directions (once from Sydney CBD to the airport). The trick there is to either give directions or hop out and grab another one. Or complain See which one gets you to your destination quicker.[/quote
would you go to a pub or restaurant pay good money and then go to the kitchen or bar and cook the food yourself or pull your own drinks .because the barman ,chef dosnt know how .how hassled would you get if you went into a shop and had to go to the stock room to get that item because the staff dont know where it is .
"ah we got this nice table in such a place but had to cook our own food "
what if you were followed around by a guy from lets say a coffee shop two steps behind waiting till you needed to buy that cup of coffee .its in you face hassle maybe you like it that way ? imo its not the way a decent taxi service should be .as i said in an earlier post the full time professional taxi drivers are on YOUR SIDE forget about that new years eve in 2000 when some grumpy old sh#te refused to take you home .theres loads of guys out there who just want to provide a decent service but cant .another thing would you be one of those people who complain because the meter is running up when your caught in a traffic jam on georges st caused by the amount of taxis in the city but are glad when you can gety one easily after the club

lost marbles

PRND wrote: »

Well there is obviously good money at it or else there would not be so many. I say keep them coming. More and more taxis. Once people start to drop out as it is no longer worth the money earned them that is when we have enough.

take it from me theres LOADS AND LOADS OF MONEY sure why dont you do it yourself ah yes keep them coming and then when theres not a wage to be earned we,ll have people coming into the likes of boards .ie saying how the taxis are heaps of junk and that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel .mark my words standards are dropping already .if you over satturate any business corners start to be cut [pardon the pun] in order to get the trade .drivers doing longer hours ,putting off getting required maintaince done to cars .this is in the publics interest on saftey gounds alone, and im not being alarmest either stuff like this is happening now .but who gives a sh#t joey or jane can fall out of the pub or club and get into a taxi no waiting ,sure the sat nav will take us home .happy days :mad:

mickoneill30

lost marbles wrote: »

would you go to a pub or restaurant pay good money and then go to the kitchen or bar and cook the food yourself or pull your own drinks

To use the analogy properly. If the taxi driver said to me drive yourself home that would probably be equal (professionally) to cooking my own meal in a restaurant.

If I tell a taxi driver to take a left here or to use X street instead of Y street is that not similar to me saying to a chef, "cook my steak medium please, I don't care how you like it".

lost marbles wrote: »

forget about that new years eve in 2000 when some grumpy old sh#te refused to take you home .

Do you forget what it was like? It's not that long ago. I wasn't talking about no taxis available on New Years Eve. I was talking about queues of about 20 - 30 people at each rank every weekend night.
Or having to book taxis the night before a meeting and then ringing again and again and again the next day when they didn't turn up and suddenly there was no taxi available this side of Athlone. This was regular. Not just on holidays.

lost marbles wrote: »

theres loads of guys out there who just want to provide a decent service but cant .

Why can't they? When I get a good taxi driver that gets me home quick and easily he gets a tip. When I get one that needs help or is an idiot he gets what's on the meter (unless he's gone off on a tangent to try and take me on a tour, in which case I let him know when he's gone off the wrong way that I'll deduct the extra bit from the final bill).

lost marbles wrote: »

another thing would you be one of those people who complain because the meter is running up when your caught in a traffic jam on georges st caused by the amount of taxis in the city but are glad when you can gety one easily after the club

Is it that bad? I work in the city centre and come home at various times during the evenings. I must have missed those traffic jams caused by kerb crawling taxis. I can see the queues of taxis at ranks all right but I haven't seen traffic jams of taxis. Actually I have but that was a year or so ago and I think it was strike action.
Are you asking if I'd prefer less taxis and have the queues like pre deregulation, but have taxi drivers that are great and know their citys like the back of their hands and have no traffic jams in the evenings (like we don't have now). In that case I'll take the current situation thanks. I've fond memorys of Irish winters standing in a queue half cut watching in excitement at every approaching taxi to see if they were going to swing in and take one or two customers from our queue. It was even more exciting in the rain. Hours of fun. I ended up just not bothering to stay out in the city any more. I started using taxis again when I went abroad for a few years and kept using them here when I came back because deregulation came in and suddenly taxis were available.

lost marbles

mickoneill30 wrote: »

To use the analogy properly. If the taxi driver said to me drive yourself home that would probably be equal (professionally) to cooking my own meal in a restaurant.

If I tell a taxi driver to take a left here or to use X street instead of Y street is that not similar to me saying to a chef, "cook my steak medium please, I don't care how you like it".


Do you forget what it was like? It's not that long ago. I wasn't talking about no taxis available on New Years Eve. I was talking about queues of about 20 - 30 people at each rank every weekend night.
Or having to book taxis the night before a meeting and then ringing again and again and again the next day when they didn't turn up and suddenly there was no taxi available this side of Athlone. This was regular. Not just on holidays.
new years eve was only used as an example of when there was only two thou odd cars on the road .theres sixteen thou now in dublin but quantity dos,nt always bring quality and with so many the quality will soon drop but if your happy with the taxi service then who am i to be trying to show that if the situtation stays the way it is the quality will drop right down



Why can't they? When I get a good taxi driver that gets me home quick and easily he gets a tip. When I get one that needs help or is an idiot he gets what's on the meter (unless he's gone off on a tangent to try and take me on a tour, in which case I let him know when he's gone off the wrong way that I'll deduct the extra bit from the final bill).
there you go you answered what ive been saying [a driver that needs help or an idiot ] and id like to see you try and deduct any money off whats on the meter from most drivers some of the yokes driving taxis out there would take your head off


Is it that bad? I work in the city centre and come home at various times during the evenings. I must have missed those traffic jams caused by kerb crawling taxis. I can see the queues of taxis at ranks all right but I haven't seen traffic jams of taxis. Actually I have but that was a year or so ago and I think it was strike action.
Are you asking if I'd prefer less taxis and have the queues like pre deregulation, but have taxi drivers that are great and know their citys like the back of their hands and have no traffic jams in the evenings (like we don't have now). In that case I'll take the current situation thanks. I've fond memorys of Irish winters standing in a queue half cut watching in excitement at every approaching taxi to see if they were going to swing in and take one or two customers from our queue. It was even more exciting in the rain. Hours of fun. I ended up just not bothering to stay out in the city any more. I started using taxis again when I went abroad for a few years and kept using them here when I came back because deregulation came in and suddenly taxis were available.

so you might have your own route to where you are going and a good taxi driver should be able to take you without you having to tell him from the minute you sit in the car.to put it in the analogy used its like showing the chef how to turn on the cooker

new years eve was only used as an example of when there was only two thou odd cars on the road .theres sixteen thou now in dublin but quantity dos,nt always bring quality and with so many the quality will soon drop but if your happy with the taxi service then who am i to be trying to show that if the situtation stays the way it is the quality will drop right down

there you go you answered what ive been saying [a driver that needs help or an idiot ] and id like to see you try and deduct any money off whats on the meter from most drivers some of the yokes driving taxis out there would take your head off


then i take it you walk around this fair city of ours with your eyes closed .may i suggest you just look at dame st ,georges st cuff st junction at 8pm any night and count the roof signs as compared to other cars and you will see that its the amount of taxis that cause the congestion an example ,taxi from dame st to harcourt st 10pm friday night if you could get a clear run costs 8 maybe 9 euro sitting in taxi jam 15 euro do you also deduct from that final bill .well as i said if your happy with a third rate service for first rate money then so be it because thats the way its going

PRND

lost marbles wrote: »

take it from me theres LOADS AND LOADS OF MONEY sure why dont you do it yourself ah yes keep them coming and then when theres not a wage to be earned we,ll have people coming into the likes of boards .ie saying how the taxis are heaps of junk and that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel .mark my words standards are dropping already .if you over satturate any business corners start to be cut [pardon the pun] in order to get the trade .drivers doing longer hours ,putting off getting required maintaince done to cars .this is in the publics interest on saftey gounds alone, and im not being alarmest either stuff like this is happening now .but who gives a sh#t joey or jane can fall out of the pub or club and get into a taxi no waiting ,sure the sat nav will take us home .happy days :mad:

I just don't get the idea that there are too many taxis so no more licenses should be issued and that there is very little money to be made.

I can understand one of those in isolation but not the two. If there was no money to be made then why do people keep signing up?

jdivision

It's not the taxis causing traffic jams around Aungier Street/Wexford St, it's the fact that the light sequence doesn't change to take account of the fact there's sfa east-west traffic at night going via Cuffe Street and Kevin Street but the lights still don't give north south route preference even though there's way more cars going that way.

Victor

jdivision wrote: »

It's not the taxis causing traffic jams around Aungier Street/Wexford St, it's the fact that the light sequence doesn't change to take account of the fact there's sfa east-west traffic at night going via Cuffe Street and Kevin Street but the lights still don't give north south route preference even though there's way more cars going that way.

Its more than that. A Lot of taxis and other cars stop haphazardly on the stretch from Dame Street to Camden Street blocking traffic behind them.

Terrontress

jdivision wrote: »

It's not the taxis causing traffic jams around Aungier Street/Wexford St, it's the fact that the light sequence doesn't change to take account of the fact there's sfa east-west traffic at night going via Cuffe Street and Kevin Street but the lights still don't give north south route preference even though there's way more cars going that way.

So the best thing to do, if you are heading northbound, is to walk past those lights if you are coming from Whelans / The Village and try to hail something down near DIT? Alternativley ask your driver to avoid it if you are already in a cab?

Nobody likes to see the meter ticking up as the cab sits still.

Ham'nd'egger

Terrontress wrote: »

So the best thing to do, if you are heading northbound, is to walk past those lights if you are coming from Whelans / The Village and try to hail something down near DIT? Alternativley ask your driver to avoid it if you are already in a cab?

Nobody likes to see the meter ticking up as the cab sits still.

In that area of town, I would suggest to you to ask the driver NOT to go down Aungier Street/Camden Street if possible. From the Village area, you generally need only use that route if you are headed to Dublin 1/3/5; with a driver who knows his way around the town, it can be easy avoided

Ham'nd'egger

PRND wrote: »

I just don't get the idea that there are too many taxis so no more licenses should be issued and that there is very little money to be made.

I can understand one of those in isolation but not the two. If there was no money to be made then why do people keep signing up?

I think you are missing two fundaments of the current problem here.

1) As it is too easy to enter the market, there is a wealth of new applicants, hearing of the shores of gold. Less than €10,000 and a tax clearance cert has you on the road; redundancy cash is oft spent on new entrants. A lot of these guys don't last 2 years when it is crystal clear it ain't so.
2) There is no tight standards for taxi drivers, viz a vis the minimum skill and knowledge of drivers required is rock bottom. Personally, I feel the trade needs a year of a cap, to allow for all vendors in it to tighten up and to let the market settle naturally.

PRND

But why not allow someone to go and make that mistake with his redundancy money? He might use it for an investment property, burger van or on art and could lose out on any of those. Should we stop him doing all of them for his own good?

My original point is that the numbers are going up and not down. As you mention it is an easy job to get into and I'd say as easy to get out.

If the money was that bad the numbers would surely go down instead of up.

Ham'nd'egger

PRND wrote: »

But why not allow someone to go and make that mistake with his redundancy money? He might use it for an investment property, burger van or on art and could lose out on any of those. Should we stop him doing all of them for his own good?

My original point is that the numbers are going up and not down. As you mention it is an easy job to get into and I'd say as easy to get out.

If the money was that bad the numbers would surely go down instead of up.

If there is a large body of drivers now with insufficient knowledge, stopping new drivers will not solve that. Maybe tighten up on the regulations and encourage more new drivers and hope attrition takes care of the bad ones.

The thing here is, people join as it's so ABC easy and they think it's an easy touch. They don't last the pace and away they go. I dare say with a burger van, it would probably cost more, be harder and would be more difficult to get your health cert; at least some other markets have a standard to play to. If you made manky half cooked burgers, you would know about it and you would go out of business quick smart; get lost dropping off a fare and you get rid of them and you probably won't see them ever again. Only now has the market a Regulator, and it's office seems content not to deal with issues on the ground; after 4 years they are only now beginning to impose a minimum car standard!

Other than knowing a taxi driver to talk it out with, there is literally nowhere to advise somebody of what it is really like. This is giving the market a lot of (often hopelessly) inexperienced drivers; as these guys drop out, they are replaced by yet more inexperienced drivers thinking it's a gift job and a vicious circle has begun, cars full fresh drivers who may not be there for the long haul. Given that Taxis are part of our public transport, the public deserves a better level of service than this and the service providers will be ever poor.

Hotblack Desiato

lost marbles wrote: »

as i said in an earlier post the full time professional taxi drivers are on YOUR SIDE

:mad: No they are not, never were and never will be. The blockades of the city drove that point home. Their only interest is self-interest.

in order to get the trade .drivers doing longer hours

And they didn't have to do that when they had a six-figure loan for the plate to pay off?

putting off getting required maintaince done to cars .this is in the publics interest on saftey gounds alone

This is a matter for the Gardai and the regulator and has got nothing at all to do with deregulation of the number of taxi licences. A red herring, in other words. I've been in s**t taxis before deregulation.

PRND

I think the majority of taxi drivers are on the side of the public. Full time and part time. Only a few bad apples let the rest down.

But it seems that drivers are calling for a cap on licenses to protect their own income. The reasons are being put forward are things like keeping standards high, saving poor people from squandering their redundancy money and not casuing traffic jams.

Why should someone who retires as a lorry job in six months from now not become a taxi driver when he knows all the roads in Dublin, is of good character and has a good car to turn into a taxi?