Taxi driver protest

Taxipete29 wrote: »

Yes average fare really is €10. I work Ballyfermot/Clondalkin and Lucan area with a local firm and you would be surprised the amount of €5 fares I get in a week. There are alot of older people in these areas that dont drive and cant manage their shopping on the bus.

Ok, fair enough

Taxipete29 wrote: »

Its about making the Government and Minister Dempsey in particular sit up and take notice. Unfortunatly the public being disrupted is a necessary evil.

The problem is that it doesn't seem to be having much affect on the government so far, whereas it is going to start having an public perception of taxi drivers.
I get taxis quite a bit, but last night when I got off a late train at Connolly with a heavy bag I waited twenty minutes for a bus rather than get any of the dozens of taxis that passed, because at this stage I'm not giving money to any taxi driver as long as these kind of protests continue. And I know quite a few other people who feel the same way.

What would people think about a reducing charge based on car age. The metered fare on a 4 year old car is 15% less than that on a car less than 4 years old. Every year beyond that it loses a further 10%. A car that is 4 years old takes in €85 for every €100 of a newer car. 5 years it's €76.50, 6 years it's 68.85 and so forth.

It would encourage drivers to drive safer cars, give better value to customers and it would cut out a lot of the part timers. It might even give a shot in the arm to the Irish motor industry! It isn't fair at the moment that the guy in the new Skoda earns the same per km as the guy in the old Toyota.

Taxipete29 wrote: »

I think alot of the hatred for Taxi drivers is historical. I mean most of us remember having to wait for hours in the cold and rain for Taxis while a small group milked it for all it was worth. The trouble is those drivers barely represent 10% of the current drivers now operating.

I think aside from that its like any group people dislike, Travellers, Gardai, to use 2 examples of groups who get a fair bit if stick,they have a bad experience with one and tar everyone with the same brush.

Im not sure anything can be done about it tbh, I have had people openly admit to me in the car that they dont like taxi drivers and they dont know why, that its just one of those things. Its very hard to do anything about that kind of mindset.

I just think that the word "hate" is fairly full on, both for drivers to say they know they are hated and passengers to say they hate drivers.

Apparently they're now parked along both sides of O'Connell St and gone for a march

Bloody arseholes, no sympathy from me. Annoying half the city is not the best way to get support.

It took me over 2 hours to get home from town, absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah, Taxi twats, times are tough...no sh*t. We know that. Chalk it down, muppets.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. All I can think of is "fúck off and die". You wanted deregulation, you got deregulation. In the boom years, there was no mention of a cap being wanted. Now that times have turned bad, you want regulation. Too little, too late.

In the "good old days", you'd get charged over €80 to get from Dublin city centre, to Leixlip, as it was "outside Dublin", the meter would get turned off at Lucan, and they'd charge whatever number they picked out of their arse. You'd be waiting for a long f**king time for a taxi as well.

Soon, there'll be a happy compramise, of enough taxis, and not too much of a charge.

Those taxi drivers are absolute idiots - I mean, how the hell do they think that the general public will have any sympathy for them? They fecked up the whole city centre today. Who do they think they are that they can just grind the city to a halt like that?

And can I ask why they were allowed get away with it? The gardai are bloody useless. If that was a normal motorist who parked on O Connell St, the car would have been towed. Why didn't they get a towing company in and tow all those stupid taxi cars away, if the taxi drivers refused then arrest the taxi drivers and then tow the god damn car and slap a fine of €1,000 to get the car released from the towing centre. I mean why didn't they do that? Instead the gardai just stand around and are like uuuuuhhh, yah motorists should avoid the area.

I have no sympathy for taxi drivers. I never get taxis, they are the biggest waste of money. My bf and I live quite a bit outside of Dublin so if we're on a night out, I'll drive us in and park near where we are going or if he's heading out with his friends, I'll drive in and pick him up. I'd rather drive in myself than waste €25 - €30 on a taxi.