Taxi Rank Management - A solution on the Horizon?

AlekSmart

Interesting development in Taxi Resource management out at Collinstown Aerodrome.........

http://www.easytrip.ie/2011-news/dublin-airport-authority-award-dispatch-contract-to-easytrip-services-ireland

The interesting bit for me is this....

The Easytrip solution will be used by the DAA to maintain visibility on taxi usage and ensure compliance of authorised users while streamlining the flow process through the Dublin Airport concourse. The system will service the taxi holding and taxi rank areas for Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

Now,given the absolute failure of the Gardai,Dublin City Council and the entity formerly known as the Taxi Regulator to enforce even the basic elements of the Road Traffic Acts at most Dublin City Centre Taxi Ranks,this new system might just render all of these worthy,but effectively useless bodies surplus to requirements.

From what I can see the Easytrip system offers a heck of a lot of surveilance and tracking power which could easily be implimented at currently chaotically dangerous locations as O Connell St,Grafton Street Lwr/Suffolk St,Stephens Green,Dawson St,Georges St.

If Easytrip,DCC and the NTA`s Taxi Directorate manage to link up we just might see the beginnings of order being imposed upon chaos.

If this does occur,and I have little doubt that it will in some form,it will involve yet more expense for the individual Taxi driver.

However,the dangerous anti-social actions of a substantial number of these people at such high-profile locations has now ensured that whatever action results will be far more punitive than if the Taxidrivers merely followed the law in the first place.

Any thoughts on the Automation of Taxi Ranks ?

lost marbles

the taxi situtation ,[the complete mess that is ]is the elephant in the room for DCC , and the guards . now im only speaking for dublin but the city is full of traffic and survaillance cameras .so a blind man on a galloping horse can see the mess .
when it suits the guards they allow illegal parking and ranks to form [harcourt st ] to get rid of the clubs crowd .
i dont see how a tracking tag would help the situtation .

AlekSmart

Lost Marbles - i dont see how a tracking tag would help the situtation .

I think the Easytaxi system may be a wee bit more than a mere "Tag" and this is why it might appeal to a regulatory body which has it`s face rubbed in it on a daily basis now.

I can just imagine the amount of Taxi Drivers marbles which will be lost if they suddenly get €80 automatically generated bills droppin through the oul letterbox,for sitting eatin yer 12" sub whilst parked across the end of Grafton Street

lost marbles

AlekSmart wrote: »

I think the Easytaxi system may be a wee bit more than a mere "Tag" and this is why it might appeal to a regulatory body which has it`s face rubbed in it on a daily basis now.

I can just imagine the amount of Taxi Drivers marbles which will be lost if they suddenly get €80 automatically generated bills droppin through the oul letterbox,for sitting eatin yer 12" sub whilst parked across the end of Grafton Street

all that would take is the human touch from any one of the "could,nt be arsed "guards that patrol the grafton st area .
where you going with your 12" sub .those cost over a fiver . us drivers have resorted to the easy singles on lidl bread at this stage

liger

AlekSmart wrote: »

From what I can see the Easytrip system offers a heck of a lot of surveilance and tracking power which could easily be implimented at currently chaotically dangerous locations as O Connell St,Grafton Street Lwr/Suffolk St,Stephens Green,Dawson St,Georges St.

Sounds Fantastic. If it gets implimented. Although i'd say there would be many a slow moving protest/blockade of ports and stations if they tried to force this in.

While i can understand that there are way too many taxi's in dublin compared to the amount of rank space what happens on the streets of dublin city is crazy/dangerous and ignorant.

antoinolachtnai

The airport waiting areas are a much different situation from the city centre. The airport is much less volatile and more predictable in terms of demand. The waiting areas aren't thoroughfares in their own rights,and the authorities have full control over the demand too - the taxi can only pick up in a very small number of places.

I agree that there is a need to manage the taxis in the city centre, but I don't think a tag would provide much of an answer.

I think an approach that provided for licensing of taxis to operate on a particular night would be a big help. The number of taxis allowed ply for hire at a particular time would be capped in relation to the amount of demand that was expected.

lost marbles

liger wrote: »

Sounds Fantastic. If it gets implimented. Although i'd say there would be many a slow moving protest/blockade of ports and stations if they tried to force this in.

can people not have a discussion here on anything taxi related .without throwing in their snide little remarks .

liger

lost marbles wrote: »

can people not have a discussion here on anything taxi related .without throwing in their snide little remarks .

Snide??? Honestly when was the last time a new regulation or change came into effect in the taxi industry without there being some form of protest that doesnt just mean a strike but a complete distruption of the streets of dublin??????

Go on strike if you want but i remember dublin airport being blocked off by the taxi's and from parnell sq down to college green blocked by go slow protests. That aint cool and the truth aint snide either!!!

Capt'n Midnight

Just stick GPS's in all taxi's.

Would sort out all the claims about overcharging, about the distances driven crusing for a pickup , remove incentive to do stuff off the meter, would help in traffic management, would reduce taxi hi-jackings , enable more efficient of routing taxi's for pickups

AlekSmart

[QUOTE=antoinolachtnai;70332453]

I agree that there is a need to manage the taxis in the city centre, but I don't think a tag would provide much of an answer.

[/QUOTE]

I`m not actually thinking of the "tag" element Antoin,but rather the actual technology and/or methodology behind the concept.

Neither am I overly concerned at the level of Taxi service but rather on the ability of this Easytaxi system to automatically impose a degree of order upon a situation which has now spiralled out of control.

At this stage regular users of Dublin City Centre both Motorists and Pedestrians are faced with significantly increased levels of risk due to the illegal and dangerous off-rank Taxi parking.

There can be no justification for a line of Taxidrivers parked across the bottom of Grafton St stretching from Nassau St to midway along Suffolk St.

If the technology can identify the individual Taxi drivers and then simply automatically issue a €200 Fine and/or Points for as long as it takes the individuals to comprehend the necessity for the Road Traffic Regulations in the first place.:o

Capt'n Midnight

AlekSmart wrote: »

If the technology can identify the individual Taxi drivers and then simply automatically issue a €200 Fine and/or Points for as long as it takes the individuals to comprehend the necessity for the Road Traffic Regulations in the first place.:o

Or in other words use the existing cameras in the same way they do in London.

We have the technology we just need to use it. Think how many bus lanes could be freed up if we could clear them of white van man.

Del2005

AlekSmart wrote: »

If the technology can identify the individual Taxi drivers and then simply automatically issue a €200 Fine and/or Points for as long as it takes the individuals to comprehend the necessity for the Road Traffic Regulations in the first place.:o

There's always loads of top quality surveillance around that location which can identify individual drivers and can issue immediate fines (and give a good bolloxing) but they choose to ignore it, it's the Mark 1 human eyeball equipped Garda!

There's no need to reinvent the wheel for this issue. It's like most Irish traffic laws, there's plenty of legislation already in place to sort out the mess but none of it's enforced, so they bring in more laws/rules/ideas to be ignored aswell.

Why hire and pay a company/someone to do something that's already illegal but being ignored?

antoinolachtnai

There is also a fundamental, underlying problem, that every so often, there are just too many taxis showing up looking for fares and unsurprisingly, they have nowhere to go and end up causing disruption.

The solution is to manage the supply so that the dangerous situation will not arise.

Spook_ie

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

There is also a fundamental, underlying problem, that every so often, there are just too many taxis showing up looking for fares and unsurprisingly, they have nowhere to go and end up causing disruption.

The solution is to manage the supply so that the dangerous situation will not arise.

Wonder how many posters are gonna jump in and protest the taxi drivers right to free and fair trade, the same number who jump in and protest about NOT regulating the numbers? :P