Why don't taxis take credit card?

Pmacv1

Every other country in Europe do, how come our guys don't take card for the most part? Is this just another example of something that Ireland is woefully behind on?

biko

Cash is king baby

Edgware

Have you a problem with cash bud?

Pmacv1

Edgware wrote: »

Have you a problem with cash bud?

Nope. However, friends of mine flew in from France and we're quite pissed off because they had to wait over an hour for a taxi that accepted card. Makes a dreadful first impression for tourists.

they really should

Leg End Reject

Pmacv1 wrote: »

Nope. However, friends of mine flew in from France and we're quite pissed off because they had to wait over an hour for a taxi that accepted card. Makes a dreadful first impression for tourists.

Did they consider an ATM at all?

CalamariFritti

I think the charges are quite high.

Potential-Monke

Whatever about taxis, but there's still quite a few retailers who don't use it. Some places have lost out on sales because of it, as money in my pocket is money spent, whereas I'm a bit more frugal with the card!

Pmacv1

Leg End Reject wrote: »

Did they consider an ATM at all?

One it reaches 7PM or so, the ATM in terminal 2 is generally out of cash.

Zaph

They'll be taking them from sometime early next year

Time

Pmacv1 wrote: »

One it reaches 7PM or so, the ATM in terminal 2 is generally out of cash.

There must be 10-15 ATMS in public areas of Dublin Airport. They were hardly all out of cash! It's also a terrible idea to travel with absolutely no cash at all.

Pmacv1

CalamariFritti wrote: »

I think the charges are quite high.

Whatever charges are there are set by visa, so are generic across the EU.

Time

Pmacv1 wrote: »

Whatever charges are there are set by visa, so are generic across the EU.

They're set by the card processor E.G Elavon BOIPA etc and can be very high for a low number of transactions

punisher5112

Some do....

Free now even takes from your account...

L-M

CalamariFritti wrote: »

I think the charges are quite high.

Yeah Income taxi is fairly high alright

Pmacv1

Time wrote: »

There must be 10-15 ATMS in public areas of Dublin Airport. They were hardly all out of cash! It's also a terrible idea to travel with absolutely no cash at all.

I don't know, I wasn't there. Also, arriving after midnight in an airport you've never been to before, finding out taxis don't take card, and having to tramp around looking for an ATM isn't really something that would leave a good impression.

Pauliedragon

Pmacv1 wrote: »

Nope. However, friends of mine flew in from France and we're quite pissed off because they had to wait over an hour for a taxi that accepted card. Makes a dreadful first impression for tourists.

Surely you could have warned them. Did you not realise that beforehand? Tourists should always carry some cash anyway in case of emergency and they lose the card.

Pmacv1

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Surely you could have warned them. Did you not realise that beforehand? Tourists should always carry some cash anyway in case of emergency and they lose the card.

Nope, I wasn't aware they were coming until they had already arrived.

Regardless, I find it appalling that tourists should be "warned" that taxis don't take card from the airport.

Strumms

Most countries that I’ve been to in Europe as of a few years ago accepted cards as standard.

With technology, wireless, contactless etc it’s common sense to have them. For the convenience of the customer and from the outside looking in, the driver too. Who doesn’t need to be carrying around a serious float or cash reserve.

rodders999

If only we used the same currency here as they do in France it would take all the hassle out of this foreign travel malarkey.

dxhound2005

Pmacv1 wrote: »

Every other country in Europe do, how come our guys don't take card for the most part? Is this just another example of something that Ireland is woefully behind on?

That's a lot of countries. How do you know about them all?

dartboardio

Old fashioned ireland eh..

Although I had a taxi man take out a card machine once when I couldn't find my money!

We are backwards in many ways. For example. I live in Waterford, the amount of paper/time/money thats wasted on most people paying with cash to get on a bus and waiting to get a paper ticket that they throw in the bin or on the seat beside them is ridiculous.

There should be a rule in place that everyone has to have a leap card or some sort of card that needs to be topped up, with the exception of maybe senior citizens from time to time that only have change on them.

Then everyone can literally just hop on scan the card and off ye go to find a seat..

Often waiting ten minutes for the bus to take off because there's ten people in a queue and they have to pay their cash fare, wait for change, then get their paper ticket, which they throw away anyway....

Pmacv1

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That's a lot of countries. How do you know about them all?

I've been to most countries on the EU, and in all of the countries I've visited, all taxis were paid using card.

silver2020

Time wrote: »

They're set by the card processor E.G Elavon BOIPA etc and can be very high for a low number of transactions

Debit cards are cheaper than taking cash and lodging it. Credit cards are slightly more expensive, about 0.3% - 0.5% more expensive.

Pmacv1

sweetie wrote: »

They not have the euro in France anymore?

What has that got to do with taxis not accepting cards?

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Whatever about taxis, but there's still quite a few retailers who don't use it. Some places have lost out on sales because of it, as money in my pocket is money spent, whereas I'm a bit more frugal with the card!

That's funny. Usually people are more frivolous with their card compared to cash.
As in, cash you actually have to hand over physically, but a card is just scanning so you don't even know how much you're spending.

Time

silver2020 wrote: »

Debit cards are cheaper than taking cash and lodging it. Credit cards are slightly more expensive, about 0.3% - 0.5% more expensive.

Thats entirely dependent on the plan you're on. The more you process the cheaper it is, for a lot of businesses it is absolutely not cheaper than cash.

Creamy Goodness

They don’t take cards because it leaves a paper trail and they have to declare it and can get away with it as it’s a cash heavy business. Taxi drivers around the world are the exact same. They all prefer cash. One thing that’s uniquely Irish is that they will turn down a fare because of it.

In the last three years I’ve gotten a taxi in New York, Boston, Calgary, São Paulo, London, Madrid, frankfurt, Prague, Istanbul, Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Almaty, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Melbourne and they all want cash but if they pick you up at an airport/hotel they’ll still accept your custom if you ask “do you take card”. Try the same at Dublin airport and you’ll be laughed off the rank.

Pushing it on the tourist to have cash is such a cop out too. Why should they have to carry cash? Cash is unsafe, any taxi driver working should know this if you feel unsafe having a cash float then a tourist feels the same way.

Liberta Per Gli Ultra

It's very important to make a good impression on tourists now that our economy is built on hotels and services, especially on those tourists who aren't intelligent enough to carry a few small pieces of paper which can be exchanged quickly and easily for goods and services with no extra charge.

Creamy Goodness

sugarman wrote: »

As if id trust a taxi drivers card machine if they ever did accept them here!

Yes as if they’d con you with a paper trail to lead back to them :rolleyes:

Seriously I’ll give taxi drivers a bad rap as much as the next person but this would be idiotic for them to try con you this way.

Zaph

sugarman wrote: »

As if id trust a taxi drivers card machine if they ever did accept them here!

Did nobody read the link I posted earlier? Taxi drivers will be obliged to accept credit cards in the new year as part of the agreement to increase fares.

Limerick man

Limerick man wrote: »

Income taxi

https://youtu.be/shfX0FYu8lI?t=63

enricoh

Iirc its going to be mandatory next year to have a card machine in taxis.
The tax man will love that, the taxi driver not so much!

circular flexing

A few years ago I was in Lisbon with some Canadian work colleagues. Went to get a taxi to the hotel and they thought the taxis would take cards. I had to convince them there was no way they took cards - they were pretty confused.

Anyway we got 3 taxis ( there were 10 of us) and the three fares were 10 euro, 20 euro and 35 euro for exact same journey and route.

Odyssey 2005

Taxi drivers dont like paper trails,unless of course they start them and they can claim them.

Cork Trucker

Recent proposals mean taxi drivers will be required to have in cab card terminals in the future

tdf7187

Some do but they seem to be the exception in Ireland. I was in a taxi in Australia as far back as 2005 and realising I was slightly short at the end of the journey I asked the driver if he took credit cards. He said of course, and seemed slightly surprised that I had to ask.

CalamariFritti

Limerick man wrote: »

Yeah Income taxi is fairly high alright

No the card issuer fees and charges is what I mean. If you were a taxi driver and at the end of the month you get a bill for a - I dont know - even if it was just say €50, you'd be thinking that'd be my €50 if I only took cash.

Also with cards you cant funnel money past the books. Not saying taxi drivers do that sort of thing, but cash gives businesses more 'flexibility'.

8-10

I only use Free Now at the airport. I rarely have cash for a taxi and the rank can have huge queues.

Anyone you know visiting get them to download the app and add their card.

Then hail a taxi from it as you're about to leave the airport and head down to zone 18 for pick up.

Only takes 3-4mins for one to come as they all wait at the Circle K for a fare and then just loop around Terminal 2 departures to pick you up.

No waiting, no cash, no swiping card in their machine, email receipt and you have record of driver name, taxi number, time and type for any traceback

kippy

Liberta Per Gli Ultra wrote: »

It's very important to make a good impression on tourists now that our economy is built on hotels and services, especially on those tourists who aren't intelligent enough to carry a few small pieces of paper which can be exchanged quickly and easily for goods and services with no extra charge.

Its part of what makes us different.
We are slowly moving towards uniformness, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Sleeper12

Pmacv1 wrote: »

One it reaches 7PM or so, the ATM in terminal 2 is generally out of cash.

You don't pay at the start of the journey. Your French mates must have passed dozens of pass machines before reaching their destination.



Let's put the record straight here. We have one of the highest card usage & acceptance rates in the world. We are very advanced in that way. Plenty of countries including the states still don't have chip & pin for the most part. Countries like the US are bringing out legislation to make it illegal for stores to become card only as it discriminates against the poor. The poor are more likely not to have a bank account or a card.

dan1895

Got caught in a heavy downpour one night on the way to a pub so hopped a taxi. The fare was only about €7 or €8 but I only had a fifty on me which he didn't have change for. Asked if he took card and he said no. Told him I wasn't giving him €50 for a two minute journey and low and behold he has change. An absolute c*nt of an attitude on him too. F*cking pr*cks

derek214

AFAIK for a taxi driver to get a permit to operate in the airport taxi rank they are required to have a card machine.
I blame DAA for not enforcing it. There's a DAA employee at the top of the taxi rank organising things, these guys should be reporting taxis that don't take cards and refuse a fare (I've also heard of them refusing short journeys).

I always use FreeNow but arrived into Dublin with a dead battery one night so went to the rank and was told I'd be better off getting cash than waiting for a taxi that accepts card. Of course, I went and charged my phone rather than give these cnuts a cent but that's just the kinda guy I am!

That's just Dublin airport, across the board though you shouldn't get a taxi license unless you have card facilities. How you enforce it and avoid drivers just saying the machine is broken is another story, there should be mandatory stickers and information to report such things at every rank I suppose.
There's an old guard of taxi drivers in Dublin that really haven't moved with the times, you'll see them at the rank in o'Connell street pushing their car around it to save on fuel while the wait on a fare/unsuspecting tourist they can ripoff rather than turn on FreeNow and pickup an instant fare that tracks their journey and leaves a paper trail...

somesoldiers

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

They don’t take cards because it leaves a paper trail and they have to declare it and can get away with it as it’s a cash heavy business. Taxi drivers around the world are the exact same. They all prefer cash. One thing that’s uniquely Irish is that they will turn down a fare because of it.

In the last three years I’ve gotten a taxi in New York, Boston, Calgary, São Paulo, London, Madrid, frankfurt, Prague, Istanbul, Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Almaty, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Melbourne and they all want cash but if they pick you up at an airport/hotel they’ll still accept your custom if you ask “do you take card”. Try the same at Dublin airport and you’ll be laughed off the rank.

Pushing it on the tourist to have cash is such a cop out too. Why should they have to carry cash? Cash is unsafe, any taxi driver working should know this if you feel unsafe having a cash float then a tourist feels the same way.

Same with
Barbers
Chippers
A lot of pubs
In my area anyway

The J Stands for Jay

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

That's funny. Usually people are more frivolous with their card compared to cash.
As in, cash you actually have to hand over physically, but a card is just scanning so you don't even know how much you're spending.

I don't understand how anyone thinks this way. You hand over cash and it's just some paper and coins, no real notion of the cost and no records of it. Spend by card, and you get a notification on your phone, you immediately can see your reduced balance, and there's a record of how much you spent and where you spent it. Card spending is really felt and you know how much you've spent, compared to cash where you just hand it over and don't really know how much you're spending.

The J Stands for Jay

somesoldiers wrote: »

Same with
Barbers
Chippers
A lot of pubs
In my area anyway

Eh? I always pay for haircuts and chips with cards.

derek214

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You don't pay at the start of the journey. Your French mates must have passed dozens of pass machines before reaching their destination.

That's a pretty big assumption. My journey from the taxi rank in Dublin airport to my house passes exactly zero ATM's (unless there's one in the CircleK at the airport?) Nevertheless it's not unrealistic to expect a taxi to accept card and is a requirement for a taxi to get an rank permit in the airport AFAIK.

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Let's put the record straight here. We have one of the highest card usage & acceptance rates in the world.

And yet probably one of the lowest card acceptance rates in taxis (rank taxis) around Europe... and it is taxis we're talking about here.

blackbox

If you have a 17 euro fare they will have to search their wallet, the glove box, the centre console etc. to find change for a 20, in the hope that you will say "ah don't worry about it - keep the change"

With a card they will only get the exact fare.

branie2

They don't have the machine for credit cards

gmisk

Use free now app...link to card..job done

pgj2015

Pmacv1 wrote: »

I don't know, I wasn't there. Also, arriving after midnight in an airport you've never been to before, finding out taxis don't take card, and having to tramp around looking for an ATM isn't really something that would leave a good impression.

first world problems.