Taxi Drivers who don't know Dublin ....

Mully

What can we do about them & is there not some test they have to do as part of qualifying ?

Twice last week, I had 2 seperate drivers who didn't how to get from the City Centre to Dun Laoghaire .... I couldn't believe this at time, its not like DL is some new estate that has just sprung up !

The excuses I got were 'I only really know the Northside', & 'Im only after starting last week' ...

Aard

Test? No.


GPS? Yes.

murphaph

Mully wrote: »

What can we do about them & is there not some test they have to do as part of qualifying ?

Twice last week, I had 2 seperate drivers who didn't how to get from the City Centre to Dun Laoghaire .... I couldn't believe this at time, its not like DL is some new estate that has just sprung up !

The excuses I got were 'I only really know the Northside', & 'Im only after starting last week' ...

What do you expect? You live in a mickey mouse sham of a country where everything is as half assed as this.

homerjk

Aard wrote: »

GPS? Yes.

Dont get me started on this! Got into a taxi before christmas with a Dublin driver. He said he knew where he was going when I told him.

We were traveling for about 10 minutes in silence by which stage we were on Dorset street. All of a sudden about half ways down Dorset st his GPS starts shouting, "Turn left then turn left", I was a little drunk and so my brain was slow to react to where he turned, up some fecking alley type thing. Then it said it again, "Turn left then turn left". He took the first left of this and I said "Here, what are you doing?" and he said "Aw I'm just following the GPS" as he took the second left which took us the wrong way up a one way street. I said "You're going the total wrong way, you said you knew where you were going" and then the GPS said it again, "Turn left then turn left" and he was about to do it and all and I said "Dont ****ing turn left here ill tell ya where to go" and we went on the proper way. I said "How come that GPS didnt say anything for the first 10 mintues of the trip?" and he was all like "Aw i dunno, these gadgets, sure you know yourself" and I said "Well i dont and you had already said you knew where you going".

We got home eventually and the fare was 12 quid, I threw him a tenner and said "I'm not ****ing paying the extra two for you and that dodgy GPS" and he never said a word (which was a first for a taxi driver) so I can only assume he knew what he was and thought I was a lot drunker that I was.

I was steaming next morning when I woke that I wasnt more sober so that could have argued with him more.

L1011

if a taxi driver tries to use GPS to get me home they always, always, always turn off a road too early. GPS maps of this city are atrocious.

Noelie

I don't think i've ever gotten a taxi from town and didn't have to give some kind of directions too.

I got into a Taxi two weeks ago and he had gotten a GPS for christmas, he asked me to type in the address.

Spook_ie

There are times and reasons when a GPS system is useful as an extra tool, but that is all they are ( or should be ), the standards of drivers ( Not talking about the actual Taxis, thats a different story ) has sadly declined drasticly in the last 1 or 2 years. You should all be protesting to the Carriage Office and Taxi Regulator about the standards of drivers knowledge and how are they actualy getting ( If they are legit ) SPSV drivers licenses?

bk

Once got in a taxi and asked to head to Griffith Avenue.
Driver said that he didn't know that, so I said just head for the Drumcondra Road.

Didn't know where that was either!!!!

So finally I said the Swords Road, you know the one that heads to the airport!!

Right you are and off we go :eek:

And before anyone asks he was Irish.

Random

Drivers should have to have some basic test to become a taxi man anyway. They must have some sort of indication of where they are going !

ergo

Got in a taxi with a Polish driver at Stephen's Green last week


he was fairly up front about being new in the job, it was getting him off the building sites

I had to tell him where Rathmines was, he started keying it into the GPS but it was getting messy...!It was quite amusing really.ie. this is camden St, you will know all about this place! etc etc

Unless I had been a tourist :eek:

In London doesn't it take 2 years to do "the knowledge" or something?

MOH

Mully wrote: »

The excuses I got were 'I only really know the Northside', & 'Im only after starting last week' ...

Yeah, got that a few years ago. Got in a taxi at Fairview:
"O'Dwyer's on Mount St" - fairly well known pub
- "Where's that?"
"It's ... on .. Mount St."
- "Where's that?"
"Um, off Fitzwilliam square? Parallel to Baggot St?"
- "Uh right, how exactly do you get there? I only really know the Northside"

mickoneill30

It's not just Ireland. I've had it in Australia two. I hopped in to a taxi in the CBD and said Airport please. He asked me how to get to it. I hadn't a clue so I chose option 2 below.

There are two real options.
Tell the driver how to get where you want to go.
Or
Hop out and get another taxi.
Or
Grumble and moan about how terrible everything is in Ireland.

Spook_ie

mickoneill30 wrote: »

It's not just Ireland. I've had it in Australia two. I hopped in to a taxi in the CBD and said Airport please. He asked me how to get to it. I hadn't a clue so I chose option 2 below.

There are two real options.
Tell the driver how to get where you want to go.
Or
Hop out and get another taxi.
Or
Grumble and moan about how terrible everything is in Ireland.

Or option 4 email the Taxi Regulator and ask her what she's going to do about it, Taxi Drivers in general are fed up of her not listening to us, so maybe you ( the customer ) should be telling her

Mully

Spook_ie wrote: »

Or option 4 email the Taxi Regulator and ask her what she's going to do about it, Taxi Drivers in general are fed up of her not listening to us, so maybe you ( the customer ) should be telling her

Noted.

Mully

Spook_ie wrote: »

Or option 4 email the Taxi Regulator and ask her what she's going to do about it, Taxi Drivers in general are fed up of her not listening to us, so maybe you ( the customer ) should be telling her

By the by, do reciepts have the plate number on them ?

Alun

As a matter of interest, before we get carried away here, is there actually anywhere else that has the equivalent of London's "Knowledge" or something similar?

I only ask, because, as someone else pointed out, Dublin isn't unique in this regard. I've been in taxis in many other European countries that have had similar problems.

Spook_ie

Mully wrote: »

By the by, do reciepts have the plate number on them ?

The printed receipts do, but it's not strictly required as what needs highlighting is the general status of "taxi drivers" who don't know where they are going.

Also the plate number need not correspond to one driver though in the event of a complaint the owner of the plate would be required to fess up the driver

Wishbone Ash

Alun wrote: »

Dublin isn't unique in this regard. I've been in taxis in many other European countries that have had similar problems.

Totally agree. Even in New York they all seem to be from Pakistan or Bangladesh, have very poor English and ask you to show them they way.

I don't ever recall being in a Dublin taxi that didn't know the way except perhaps at the end of a journey when looking for a particular premises or a road within a large residential area.



Re Sat Nav - is the meter running while the driver tries to submit the address?

Spook_ie

Alun wrote: »

As a matter of interest, before we get carried away here, is there actually anywhere else that has the equivalent of London's "Knowledge" or something similar?

I only ask, because, as someone else pointed out, Dublin isn't unique in this regard. I've been in taxis in many other European countries that have had similar problems.

There is a test for the Dublin area which consists of about 4 pages of questions,

e.g

Where is the Dental Hospital?, Where is the Childrens Hospital?, What area is Oscar Traynor Road in?, Give a route from Dublin Airport to The Burlington etc.


[/rant mode on]
The problem is that there are a couple of companies over the years that have noted down the questions in the pool ( of questions ) and run courses giving parrot fashion answers. So in theory you could take and pass the taxi test for Dublin without ever having driven in Dublin.....Fun eh!!

Add to that the different tests for different SPSV areas,

Mayo....No Test, Just make sure the SPSV superintendant likes you
Louth... AFAIK No Test, just a short chat with an SPSV Garda
etc. Then listen to the "anecdotal" evidence of the drivers licensed for Louth/Meath/Wicklow coming into Dublin to work the weekends...


The whole thing is a Fookin Shambles, At least when we had the old plate numbers you could tell if a driver was outside of his licensed area!!

[/rant mode off]


So as you can see the area is not without its problems and the only people the Taxi Regulator isn't listening to is the Taxi Drivers

Spook_ie

Mully wrote: »

What can we do about them & is there not some test they have to do as part of qualifying ?

Twice last week, I had 2 seperate drivers who didn't how to get from the City Centre to Dun Laoghaire .... I couldn't believe this at time, its not like DL is some new estate that has just sprung up !

The excuses I got were 'I only really know the Northside', & 'Im only after starting last week' ...

I myself only realy know the northside but its a shambles that someone can't even get in the general direction of Dun Laoghaire or Blackrock etc.

Mind you with the English qualities of some drivers now its no surprise that they can't find DunLeary on their GPS's

voxpop

I believe that when you are paying for a service like a taxi that you shouldnt have to help him/her get to the destination. Its fair enough if its something obscure but this thing of " i only do the north side" is rubbish. Its not like Dublin is massive. Ive only lived in Dublin for about 10 year and generally have to tell born and bread dubs where the KCR is! If there job is being a Taxi, would they not get a map out and do a bit of driving on the weekends,etc.
Anyway there should be some (decent) test for the streets before licences are issued.

Spook_ie

You think it's bad now?, wait until the taxi regulators department takes over the issue of Taxi Driver Licenses from the carriage offices around the country, the intention AFAIK is to standardise the test across Ireland so it will probably come down to...

How Much Change do you need to give from a €50 note for a €10.20 fare?

How do you input an address into your choice of Sat Nav System?

How big a Sticky Plaster will you need if your passenger gets a paper cut from a crisp note out of the ATM?

Can you say in English " Sir,Can you write your name and address down on this piece of paper, so that I may input it into my Sat Nav? "

I kid you not......

Rowley Birkin QC

Had a taxi home from coppers to marino last year, she got lost twice between Harcourt St. and O'Connell st. Then she started lecturing me about Jeebus and the Devil......unbelievable.

Fare came to €14, so I gave her a €5 and went into the apt. to "get some change".

Our man in Havana

I got into a taxi one night in Dublin and asked for an address in Foxrock. He told me to f*** off and get another taxi as he did not want to go south of the river.

Aard

Bond-007 wrote: »

I got into a taxi one night in Dublin and asked for an address in Foxrock. He told me to f*** off and get another taxi as he did not want to go south of the river.

Isn't that illegal? Or there's some prohibition against it, that once the customer is in the taxi, the driver can't refuse them? Maybe it's just hearsay.