[Article] Air passengers hit by taxi strike

markpb

IrishTimes wrote:

Passengers arriving at Dublin airport have been left stranded by taxi drivers after they staged an unannounced strike. The row centres on 70 spaces in a holding area of the airport being cut by Dublin Airport Authority.

Some 1,560 taxis have permits to work in the airport, with 600 spaces set aside at the airport. DAA said it created the temporary overflow area for taxi drivers in 2010, prior to the opening of Terminal 2 (T2), which can accommodate about 170 vehicles. It told drivers a month ago it needed between 60 and 70 of those spaces back for commercial reasons and claims almost 60 extra spaces were created when the T2 rank opened.

“The amendment to taxi space provision at the airport will mean that taxi drivers will have exactly the same number of spaces this year as they had in 2010, despite the number of airport taxi permit holders declining by more than 300 during the same period,” the DAA added.

This bit piqued my curiosity

John Usher, president of the Irish Taxi Federation, said drivers were left with no option but to pull services when they were given parking tickets from gardai after being forced to stay on the main road.

I assume the airport police gave them parking tickets, not the Gardai? Even the incredibly stupid levels of illegal parking in the city centre every evening never seems to be enough for the Gardai to ticket anyone so I can't see why the airport would be any different.

Jamie2k9

moan, moan, moan, moan............................thats all taxi drivers do. Would be great if all airport permets were withdrawn and issued to people who are willing to da the job as many would.

Mr Simpson

Off topic but Gardai very frequently ticket taxi drivers in the city centre, I see it a lot.

On topic, even with the extra space, they're always blocking up the road beside the kesh. Its a pain for staff parking in the car park there as it makes it very difficult for the bus to get down the narrow road. Its good to see its finally been clamped down on.

The taxi system in the airport needs to be overhauled. Maybe a short distance rank and a longer distance rank with different queues.

SHOVELLER

Anyone else sick sore and tired of taxi drivers whinging, whining and complaining?

Mr Simpson

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Anyone else sick sore and tired of taxi drivers whinging, whining and complaining?

Beyond belief :mad:

oisindoyle

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Anyone else sick sore and tired of taxi drivers whinging, whining and complaining?

there would be NO dispute id the DAA hadnt removed the necessary and badly needed spaces.
The DAA did it in an underhanded "sneaky" way ,they brought in bulldozers at 2am ,this resulted in drivers having to park on the roads which obviously blocked other traffic.
The Gards came and started to isse tickets .
The DAA issue permits to drivers at 440euro a year and it is commone sense that if they issue permits for drivers they should provide parking spaces.
this dispute was the DAAs doing NOT the drivers

wicklowwonder

Crazy behaviour. DAA should tell them to get to work tomorrow or they will be issuing another 1000 permits to drivers willing to work. Taxi drivers should cop on and just do their job.

markpb

oisindoyle wrote: »

there would be NO dispute id the DAA hadnt removed the necessary and badly needed spaces.

Are the DAA incorrect in saying there are less taxis serving the airport but the same amount of spaces as was previously there? (Genuine question)

wicklowwonder

oisindoyle wrote: »

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Anyone else sick sore and tired of taxi drivers whinging, whining and complaining?

there would be NO dispute id the DAA hadnt removed the necessary and badly needed spaces.
The DAA did it in an underhanded "sneaky" way ,they brought in bulldozers at 2am ,this resulted in drivers having to park on the roads which obviously blocked other traffic.
The Gards came and started to isse tickets .
The DAA issue permits to drivers at 440euro a year and it is commone sense that if they issue permits for drivers they should provide parking spaces.
this dispute was the DAAs doing NOT the drivers

Taxi drivers are not employed by the DAA it's a free market if they are not happy hand back in their permit and go work somewhere else in the city, if they not happy with taxi driving as a living p?ss off and get another job or leave the country. I am fed up hearing taxi drivers moaning about their plight. It's hard on a lot people at the moment.

oisindoyle

wicklowwonder wrote: »

. Taxi drivers should cop on and just do their job.

thats exactly what they were doing and want to do ,But where are they to park then if the DAA took away necessary spaces??

juan.kerr

Ridiculous that they have so little regard for their customers that they stage an unannounced strike.

It hasn't lowered my opinion of taxi drivers though.

wicklowwonder

oisindoyle wrote: »

wicklowwonder wrote: »

. Taxi drivers should cop on and just do their job.

thats exactly what they were doing and want to do ,But where are they to park then if the DAA took away necessary spaces??

It's what 60 places? If I pull up to a car park that is full I have to move on if a taxi driver pulls up to the airport and it's full hard luck go sit on a rank somewhere else in the city or whatever.

oisindoyle

markpb wrote: »

Are the DAA incorrect in saying there are less taxis serving the airport but the same amount of spaces as was previously there? (Genuine question)

Well the figure they mentioned today was 300 less taxis ,It was a surprise to hear because a letter seen last week showed the number to be less than half that.

Jamie2k9

Ridiculous that they have so little regard for their customers that they stage an unannounced strike.

It hasn't lowered my opinion of taxi drivers though.

Months notice seems enough time to me but taxi drivers must be making lots of money to be able to strike and turn down the €20 airport-city fares. So keep on moaning as you doing no favours to the paying public.

oisindoyle

wicklowwonder wrote: »

Taxi drivers are not employed by the DAA it's a free market if they are not happy hand back in their permit and go work somewhere else in the city, if they not happy with taxi driving as a living p?ss off and get another job or leave the country. I am fed up hearing taxi drivers moaning about their plight. It's hard on a lot people at the moment.

Of course ,great idea,Sure they're all racist robbing bast**ds anyway

oisindoyle

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Months notice seems enough time to me but taxi drivers must be making lots of money to be able to strike and turn down the €20 airport-city fares. So keep on moaning as you doing no favours to the paying public.

months notice really ? and yes you are right taxi drivers are making an absolute fortune ,sure they have to pay for their apartments in Spain

juan.kerr

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Months notice seems enough time to me but taxi drivers must be making lots of money to be able to strike and turn down the €20 airport-city fares. So keep on moaning as you doing no favours to the paying public.

I'm referring to the notice the taxi drivers and their trade union gave. DAA gave the Taxi drivers a months notice about the change. I understood that the taxi drivers and trade union gave no notice hence the unannounced...

wicklowwonder

oisindoyle wrote: »

wicklowwonder wrote: »

Taxi drivers are not employed by the DAA it's a free market if they are not happy hand back in their permit and go work somewhere else in the city, if they not happy with taxi driving as a living p?ss off and get another job or leave the country. I am fed up hearing taxi drivers moaning about their plight. It's hard on a lot people at the moment.

Of course ,great idea,Sure they're all racist robbing bast**ds anyway

It is a great idea.... No other industry would allow public facing members act, behave and moan the way taxi drivers do. The amount of taxi drivers with a chip on their shoulder is ridiculous. I am a firm believer if you don't like your job do something about it. Leave the country, upskill or quit.

I never mentioned racism....

Cookie_Monster

oisindoyle wrote: »

The DAA did it in an underhanded "sneaky" way ,they brought in bulldozers at 2am ,this resulted in drivers having to park on the roads which obviously blocked other traffic.

who made them park on the roads?
There is still over 600 spaces. If it's full you leave the airport and try again later, simple. why even 600 space are required is crazy. 100-200 would give the required backup to cope with turnover fluctuations.

The usual whiney entitlement moaning from taxi drivers, some things will never ever change.

wicklowwonder

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

who made them park on the roads?
There is still over 600 spaces. If it's full you leave the airport and try again later, simple. why even 600 space are required is crazy. 100-200 would give the required backup to cope with turnover fluctuations.

The usual whiney entitlement moaning from taxi drivers, some things will never ever change.

Agree totally. Crazy how this industry have so self inflated opinions of themselves.

juan.kerr

The sooner we have robot taxi drivers the better.

Losty Dublin

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

later, simple. why even 600 space are required is crazy. 100-200 would give the required backup to cope with turnover fluctuations.

200 would barely scratch the surface to be honest.All it takes is for 2 or 3 flights to come through arrivals to suddenly fill up 200 cabs in quick time. At times in the evenings, they can't call in enough cabs to meet demand while at other times they could have over 1,000 cabs waiting. In either case, a large holding area is required so airports can get people into cabs and out of the terminals. As DAA hasn't looked at multi story parking, space close by is going to be a thorny issue whatever way it's resolved.

zagmund

Yeah. But no.

a) flights don't just appear out of nowhere - they are scheduled. Supply management for taxis would be something the DAA could assign out to a student in for the summer. Count all the planes we have arriving at these times, apply this factor for the number of passengers who are likely to want a taxi. Done. We know how many taxis we are going to need. It's not like they don't have *decades* of metrics available on this stuff.

b) yes, the stabling is a mess. Yes, the DAA should have thought a little longer and harder about how they were going to have dispatching when they were spending bazillions on the new terminal. They didn't. They continue to have a stone age system in place when other modern airports seem to manage quite well. Someone forgot to tell the consultants to think about the taxi situation. Where were the national union of associated taxi drivers of Ireland when DAA were doing all their development work over the last few years ? If they lobbied hard and still got nowhere with them then maybe the solution is to stop supplying *full stop* and not just this day and that day and whatever day takes their fancy.

c) having 1,000 cabs waiting . . . well don't you think #999 and #1,000 might just have a think about how long they are going to have to wait for the rest of the lads to churn through before joining the back of the queue ? Anyone who joins a queue of 1,000 of anything either has a lot of time on their hands or else believes there's a pot of gold at the end.

z

[edit] it's not that I think all foreign airports have perfect setups, but I know that the DAA one is far from perfect and they could have learned a few things on the transport side instead of learning all about retail instead.

n97 mini

There are more staff car parking spaces in Dublin Airport than there are taxi spaces, and I'm being told the bulk of these additional spaces are to be reallocated to DAA staff.

In addition the taxi union is a waste of space. No point in standing up for yourself after you've been done over. Not just in this instance, but going back to deregulation.

Cookie_Monster

Losty Dublin wrote: »

200 would barely scratch the surface to be honest.All it takes is for 2 or 3 flights to come through arrivals to suddenly fill up 200 cabs in quick time.

ah come off it. The majority of those people will use the buses, private cars or pickups anyway.

Anyway the technology exists to easily make a virtual rank possible. Have the 200 odd spaces at the airport and give 300-1,000 a virtual queue number displayed on the meter or radio or GPS, updated every couple of seconds as car move in and out of holding pen. This way drivers can go about other business while still sitting up in the 500+ bracket and then know to make their way towards the airport after that.
A logical continuation of the fleet position and mgt bus companies now use.

suicide_circus

Bad move by the taxis.
I work in the airport and as i came into T1 this morning, sure enough, no taxis. However, also no stranded panicked passengers. Services like aircoach have increased capacity and tbh , there is no massive backlog. Taxi drivers might score an own goal here when people realise that things can function without them and will go for the buses/coaches next time.

stargazer 68

suicide_circus wrote: »

Bad move by the taxis.
.

Have to agree. Every time I come through the airport and get a taxi the driver whines and moans about how short my journey is. If he can get back to the rank in - think its 20 minutes- he can go to the top of the queue. Fair enough if he drives like a Formula 1 driver he can probably make it.

Several times they have complained that they have been sitting there for 3 or 4 hours waiting for a fare - if there aren't enough spaces with what they have been now given why are they waiting for 3 or 4 hours

Lombardo86

This complaining about a fare is one of things that annoys me most.

In an ideal world of course everybody would be going from the airport to cork in a taxi but guess what. They aren't. Some people live in swords/drumcondra etc.

Now can you please do you job and drop me off where i live and stop ****ing moaning?

frag420

Dovies wrote: »

Have to agree. Every time I come through the airport and get a taxi the driver whines and moans about how short my journey is. If he can get back to the rank in - think its 20 minutes- he can go to the top of the queue. Fair enough if he drives like a Formula 1 driver he can probably make it.

Several times they have complained that they have been sitting there for 3 or 4 hours waiting for a fare - if there aren't enough spaces with what they have been now given why are they waiting for 3 or 4 hours

I hate this complaint too. I have heard far too many stories from friends and colleagues about taxi drivers moaning about sitting about for hrs and only getting short fares.

You dont see shopkeepers complaining when you walk in and just buy a marsbar eh??

the groutch

yeah, it that kind of whinging that means I'll never EVER take a taxi from the airport

Melanoma

I think that the airport should use a booking desk for taxi's so that people are given a ticket, or virtual ticket if they book ahead and taxi's are assigned the number as they approach the pick up point.

Maybe the pick up charges for the airport are too high. Maybe taxi drivers need this fee to justify being instantly available. Technology to remove this pick up fee is required. Its a sign of the past when the country had regulated taxi's and then too much money.

A system needs to be in place to reduce the amount of time Taxi drivers will be stuck in queues and efficiencies made. Taxi drivers might not be interested in this if they feel it wont make them more money but it is about reducing costs and wait times.

You always need to few taxi's about to account for rain/weather international big events and a queue is something that is needed but there is no way as a previous poster said a system could not be developed to reduce queues and virtual queues tied to a system of booking is a much more efficient system.

Customers deserve this and Taxi drivers fees for the airport are not necessary. More work will result from more efficient methods.

How many people from Glasnevin would use a Taxi for example? Most people bus it or get someone to leave them off. I mean get real its a taxi not a limo.

Valetta

What's all this whinging and moaning by the taxi drivers and their unions that the DAA acted in an "underhand, sneaky way" by starting the work at 2 AM?

What did they expect them to do - carry out the work during the day and disrupt the whole airport?

They had a month's notice.

super_furry

Not happy with going on strike, they're now blocking up all the traffic at the airport by driving around in a go slow convoy.

The DAA should refund their permit charges then ban them from the airport.

hardCopy

super_furry wrote: »

Not happy with going on strike, they're now blocking up all the traffic at the airport by driving around in a go slow convoy.

The DAA should refund their permit charges then ban them from the airport.

Why should they refund them? If they're deliberately disrupting traffic then the airport owes them nothing.

As sick as I am of taxi drivers complaining, the DAA shouldn't be selling more permits than they can cater to. They also shouldn't have any need to provide extra staff parking, the airport is one of the best serviced locations in the city by public transport.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Melanoma wrote: »

I think that the airport should ....

This and any number of other ideas that could be implemented would required the taxi drivers and DAA to get off their hole and do something constructive.

I don't know how many years of taxi drivers bitching about the short run to Drumcondra I had to ignore before they had the epiphany to introduce the "20 minute back to the head of the queue". Constructive ideas is not their strong point.

Dave!

I'm on board with the DAA issuing new permits. There are thousands of taxi drivers in Dublin, all of which complain about deregulation and how there's no work for them anymore. I'm sure they'd jump at the chance to work the airport.

bk

Melanoma wrote: »

How many people from Glasnevin would use a Taxi for example? Most people bus it or get someone to leave them off. I mean get real its a taxi not a limo.

I do, no buses after 11:30 or too heavy bags to be dragging and I have no one to pick me up. I'm sure many people in the same boat, otherwise no one would ever take a taxi.

BTW how does it work if you pre-book a taxi to the airport (say as you get off the flight). Does the driver come and pick you up at arrivals with a board and your name on it? Where do you walk to actually get the taxi then?

Losty Dublin

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

ah come off it. The majority of those people will use the buses, private cars or pickups anyway.

Anyway the technology exists to easily make a virtual rank possible. Have the 200 odd spaces at the airport and give 300-1,000 a virtual queue number displayed on the meter or radio or GPS, updated every couple of seconds as car move in and out of holding pen. This way drivers can go about other business while still sitting up in the 500+ bracket and then know to make their way towards the airport after that.
A logical continuation of the fleet position and mgt bus companies now use.

The whole idea of the holding area is that the airport has taxi's on hand and that cabs are managed in this queue. Allowing a taxi to leave the airport defeats the purpose entirely as a taxi is not ready to be called up to the rank if it's elsewhere or with a fare. Fleet tracking works fine on buses or trucks when they are meant to be at A or B at fairly specified times or to find out a location; cabs however are far more mobile and can be anywhere at a given time.

Losty Dublin

bk wrote: »

BTW how does it work if you pre-book a taxi to the airport (say as you get off the flight). Does the driver come and pick you up at arrivals with a board and your name on it? Where do you walk to actually get the taxi then?

Two ways this works; one is as you mentioned with the name card; the other is to go to a predetermined pickup point once the passenger is ready and you pick up there. There was a small short term car park for pre booked taxi's some time ago which was a Godsend for these jobs but it was closed when the new bus park was laid out; drivers use the short term park now which is grand if the flight is on time; any delay and it's pricy.

mikemac1

Ranks can bring angry drivers who give out to you the customer with your blasted short fare
Sorry


There is a local company in your area, use them, build up a relationship, chat to them.
They'll sort you out with discounts and you can call them to meet you in the airport too, they actually want your business

bk

Losty Dublin wrote: »

drivers use the short term park now which is grand if the flight is on time; any delay and it's pricy.

But doesn't that cost the taxi driver €3, does the passenger then pay this?

Losty Dublin

bk wrote: »

But doesn't that cost the taxi driver €3, does the passenger then pay this?

Parking fees and tolls etc may be added to the fare, yeah.

JustinDee

Just get the bus. There are a number of excellent services available. Either that or arrange lifts. And this includes to the airport too. Don't give that lot the satisfaction that you support yet another ode to the old days when fares were supposed to fall into their laps.
Some of the bullsh being spouted by cabbies about people waiting "tree owers" at T2, for example, is just laughable.

devnull

From the other side (just for balance)
http://irishtaxi.org/forum/index.php/topic,20523.0.html?PHPSESSID=kj2lhp3d9cvm6a55e5m0b2u964

bk

JustinDee wrote: »

Just get the bus. There are a number of excellent services available. Either that or arrange lifts.

I live in Drumcondra, no bus operates to/from their after 11:30 pm or early morning *

Also have to walk to and from the bus with large heavy bags, might not be an option for some.

Most adults don't live with their parents so not an option to arrange lifts and your certainly not going to bother your housemates or significant other to get up late/early to give you a lift.

* I think the 16 should be a 24 hour service. The first one to trail a normal, frequent night service like most cities have.

devnull

Aircoach run one bus every half an hour that call at Drumcondra train station between 11.30pm and 4.30am

Vahevala

bk wrote: »

I live in Drumcondra, no bus operates to/from their after 11:30 pm or early morning *

Also have to walk to and from the bus with large heavy bags, might not be an option for some.

Most adults don't live with their parents so not an option to arrange lifts and your certainly not going to bother your housemates or significant other to get up late/early to give you a lift.

* I think the 16 should be a 24 hour service. The first one to trail a normal, frequent night service like most cities have.

Doesn't the aircoach stop in Drumcondra?

foggy_lad

So the Taxis are in dispute because they have a carpark which holds several hundred cars and ALSO a "temporary" overflow car park which holds about 300 and this has been reduced in size due to the numbers of taxis at the airport being reduced by DAA, so instead of going somewhere else like the City centre for work the taxi drivers decided to park illegally on the busy roadway at the airport leading into the overflow carpark.

It seems to me that many taxi drivers use the airport as some kind of rest stop or sleepover place where they can get their head down for a few hours while they wait for the cash cow fares!

I must also say that groups like Tacsaí Timonaí na hEireann and taxi drivers calling the carpark "the Kesh" does not help their cause in the minds of most people who would be getting taxis at the airport.

hardCopy

devnull wrote: »

From the other side (just for balance)
http://irishtaxi.org/forum/index.php/topic,20523.0.html?PHPSESSID=kj2lhp3d9cvm6a55e5m0b2u964

Some strange avatars on that site.

bk

Vahevala wrote: »

Doesn't the aircoach stop in Drumcondra?

I'm actually north of Griffith Avenue, would be a brutally long walk from Drumcondra stop with heavy bag.

Vahevala

hardCopy wrote: »

Some strange avatars on that site.

Never mind about the language, it is a whole other world! :eek: