Since when do taxi drivers get to pick and choose their fares?

Stavros Murphy · 29-03-2014 01:08AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

So you decided to drive us around the bend instead?:P

I did the first night - lad hopped into the Xantia, said "drive me home ya fcuker", so I did. Into the boot. Fcuker? Me? How very dare you. Poor career choice, in retrospect.

The Backwards Man · 29-03-2014 01:10AM

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

I did the first night - lad hopped into the Xantia, said "drive me home ya fcuker", so I did. Into the boot. Fcuker? Me? How very dare you. Poor career choice, in retrospect.

Luggage charge has been done away with, you get nothing extra for putting him in the boot.:D

czechlin · 29-03-2014 01:21AM

While I have mostly great experience the very few bad ones I encountered were really bad. The attitude was just horrendous. I used to live in Docklands so the fare from town home was around a tenner and some of the drivers were so mouthy I couldn't believe it. One of them really pissed me off and got the "you get paid a tenner for 2 minutes driving, if you expect to get people going to the airport good luck" and walked off. If I'm going somewhere close I check upfront to save myself the hassle, most of them are really sound. If I get a bad vibe of a driver I don't get in.

marozz · 29-03-2014 01:25AM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

jump into a taxi at the airport and demand they take you to Swords

they love that

I had that a few times. They go mad and the journey home is horrible. One time I arrived at the airport and I called a local cab company. They picked me up outside departures. It worked out cheaper than the airport taxi and the drive home was a lot more relaxed.

Stavros Murphy · 29-03-2014 01:27AM

czechlin wrote: »

While I have mostly great experience the very few bad ones I encountered were really bad. The attitude was just horrendous. I used to live in Docklands so the fare from town home was around a tenner and some of the drivers were so mouthy I couldn't believe it. One of them really pissed me off and got the "you get paid a tenner for 2 minutes driving, if you expect to get people going to the airport good luck" and walked off. If I'm going somewhere close I check upfront to save myself the hassle, most of them are really sound. If I get a bad vibe of a driver I don't get in.

What ju-ju do you use to pick up the vibes?

goz83 · 29-03-2014 01:44AM

I've thankfully never had a bad experience with a taxi driver and i'm only in D13, having got taxis many times from the airport.

If they're decent and chat about something other than "the blacks at the dole office", i usually tip too.

William F · 29-03-2014 01:48AM

Tasden wrote: »

I went to the first taxi at a rank once and was only looking to go about ten/fifteen minutes drive away, so I asked him was that ok before I got in because I assumed they wouldn't want to, and he laughed at me for asking said a fares a fare in these times so get in.
On many nights out we've used the "will 20 get us wherever?" and 99% of drivers will say yeah ok.
Taxi drivers get a lot of bad things said about them but the majority I've encountered have been lovely.

I had a taxi driver charge me 7.50 from Dorset Street to Gardiner Street. Had it been me and not my girlfriend who had paid, I wouldn't of given to the guy.

I waited at the airport bus stop twice in one week and a taxi driver pulled up each time and solicited fairs from me and the others waiting.
I asked the second time whether or not the guy new it was illegal to do that and he said ''You had your hand up didn't you?''

Taxi drivers in the countryside are just as bad. I had a taxi driver charge me 10 euros for a 1 mile fare.
The same location, I had a taxi driver try to give me a British pound coin as change and him telling me ''I new it was in there somewhere''. :rolleyes:

The neck of some taxi drivers in this country, you'd swear it was Norway we were living in. They have a ridiculous sense entitlement.

shedweller · 29-03-2014 01:49AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

It's not that's he's off hire, he can't be on the rank unless he's plying for hire and he can't refuse a fare to Swords whether he likes it or not.

So theres a page i can print off and shove in his face if he refuses, right?
I feckin hope so. Although i live in the sticks and the last taxi i took got punts as payment!
So it prob fair to say im not with "it" anymore. Yolo.

tomwaterford · 29-03-2014 01:51AM

goz83 wrote: »

I've thankfully never had a bad experience with a taxi driver and i'm only in D13, having got taxis many times from the airport.

If they're decent and chat about something other than "the blacks at the dole office", i usually tip too.

I find the conversation of the Africans taking all their work in s**t cars to be a fulfilling source of conversation in my drunken state

czechlin · 29-03-2014 02:15AM

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

What ju-ju do you use to pick up the vibes?

Wouldn't you wanna know! :P

On a serious note, there were few (thankfully rare) occasions when I was really glad to get out of the car because the drivers made me feel very uncomfortable, since then I just try to be a bit more careful. If there's the time and I can check the driver before getting in I do. I like using Hailo because I have the driver's details in advance. (I know I probably sound a bit paranoid and I'm really not, most drivers are grand - some of the funniest chats I had were with Irish taxi men - but if I can avoid being stuck in a car with a complete stranger getting the ultimate creeps then I will.)

Stavros Murphy · 29-03-2014 02:20AM

czechlin wrote: »

Wouldn't you wanna know! :P

On a serious note, there were few (thankfully rare) occasions when I was really glad to get out of the car because the drivers made me feel very uncomfortable, since then I just try to be a bit more careful. If there's the time and I can check the driver before getting in I do. I like using Hailo because I have the driver's details in advance. (I know I probably sound a bit paranoid and I'm really not, most drivers are grand - some of the funniest chats I had were with Irish taxi men - but if I can avoid being stuck in a car with a complete stranger getting the ultimate creeps then I will.)

I'm guessing you're female. I'm usually only interested in what they think of their cars reliability.

asteroth · 29-03-2014 02:32AM

riveratom wrote: »

The answer is probably 'since forever'.

Got into a taxi on the rank half way up Dawson Street earlier. Specifically didn't hail one passing on the street or further up the rank since I figured it was the one to go for (I know you can choose any technically).

Get in and once the driver hears I only want to go to Pearse St station, he tells me (barely made out his unbelievably thick accent), that it is too close and that he has been waiting to get to the front of the queue (the usual rubbish you hear about).

When I tell him he has to bring me to where I want to go and that I am in a rush to make the train, he's like 'no, no'. Tell him I am making a complaint and the a*rsehole is like 'feel free, feel free'. Get out, call out his plate number to him and walk off. Pretty sure I see him grinning back at me when I look back.

End up sprinting to the station and making it with two minutes to spare.

So, has anyone ever made a complaint to the regulator and what happened when you did?

'Public service vehicle' - good one!!

I had a similar episode. Pissing rain one night and the distance I had to go was too short as far as the arsehole behind the wheel was concerned. I was seated in the back. So I got out and said "I'm not selfish, I want you to enjoy the rain too.", and left the door open. Gob****e had to unbuckle himself, get out in the lashing rain and go round to close the door all the while cursing me. Have a nice day, Dickhead.

The Diabolical Monocle · 29-03-2014 02:35AM

You should have gone to the second guy in the queue.

+ No, he doesn't have to accept your offer.

czechlin · 29-03-2014 02:41AM

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

I'm guessing you're female. I'm usually only interested in what they think of their cars reliability.

Good guess

I'm quite happy being quiet but if they're the chatty type I go with it. Cars, motorbikes, gym, families, pets, funerals, politics, travelling, weather, photography, Russian submarines, music, drugs, gardening, sleeping patterns, drunk people, phobias... Some small talks were quite amusing.

riveratom · 29-03-2014 02:44AM

The Diabolical Monocle wrote: »

You should have gone to the second guy in the queue.

+ No, he doesn't have to accept your offer.

And have him say the same thing?

And then go to the third guy and risk having him say the same thing. Then miss my train given I had a two minute window to make it after sprinting down to catch it.

Sound like a good service to you?

What offer?

sdanseo · 29-03-2014 02:44AM

riveratom wrote: »

The answer is probably 'since forever'.

Got into a taxi on the rank half way up Dawson Street earlier. Specifically didn't hail one passing on the street or further up the rank since I figured it was the one to go for (I know you can choose any technically).

Get in and once the driver hears I only want to go to Pearse St station, he tells me (barely made out his unbelievably thick accent), that it is too close and that he has been waiting to get to the front of the queue (the usual rubbish you hear about).

When I tell him he has to bring me to where I want to go and that I am in a rush to make the train, he's like 'no, no'. Tell him I am making a complaint and the a*rsehole is like 'feel free, feel free'. Get out, call out his plate number to him and walk off. Pretty sure I see him grinning back at me when I look back.

End up sprinting to the station and making it with two minutes to spare.

So, has anyone ever made a complaint to the regulator and what happened when you did?

'Public service vehicle' - good one!!

Complain to the regulator and have his ability to be a dickhead in this manner to members of the public revoked. He doesn't deserve to be in charge of a tricycle if this happened as you say.

Whenever I'm in a taxi I've always found drivers generally good, only one near death experience (foreign dude who it turned out wasn't even licensed fell asleep at the wheel and nearly killed us all).

Any time I'm sharing the road with them it's blatantly obvious that they're a pile of arrogant pricks and that none of them can bloody drive, though I suppose that's a different conversation.

riveratom · 29-03-2014 02:45AM

asteroth wrote: »

I had a similar episode. Pissing rain one night and the distance I had to go was too short as far as the arsehole behind the wheel was concerned. I was seated in the back. So I got out and said "I'm not selfish, I want you to enjoy the rain too.", and left the door open. Gob****e had to unbuckle himself, get out in the lashing rain and go round to close the door all the while cursing me. Have a nice day, Dickhead.

Yep exactly. I just stood outside his back door reciting his plate number back to him.

riveratom · 29-03-2014 02:46AM

sdeire wrote: »

Complain to the regulator and have his ability to be a dickhead in this manner to members of the public revoked. He doesn't deserve to be in charge of a tricycle if this happened as you say.

Yup, it happened exactly as I described it.

29-03-2014 02:50AM

riveratom wrote: »

Yep exactly. I just stood outside his back door reciting his plate number back to him.

So you didn't have the time to ask the second driver in the queue would he take your fare but you had the time to try and annoy the driver.

errlloyd · 29-03-2014 02:51AM

Maybe the airport should have a short fares rank. I live in d18, so drivers love me. But I can see why it's bad for driver and consumer if you live in swords.

sdanseo · 29-03-2014 02:54AM

errlloyd wrote: »

Maybe the airport should have a short fares rank. I live in d18, so drivers love me. But I can see why it's bad for driver and consumer if you live in swords.

If they don't like short fares they should go and be a bus driver instead.

languagenerd · 29-03-2014 02:58AM

Worst taxi driver experience I've had was in Belgium a couple years ago. We arrived at Charleroi airport and needed to get the train to Liège so got in the first taxi (which you have to do over there). He started yelling at me (the only French-speaker) in French that taxis are not for those sort of journeys and that we should get the bus instead. Even when I explained that the next bus wouldn't get us to the station in time for our train (our flight had been delayed by over an hour and the trains aren't very frequent), he kept yelling at me about how he'd been waiting there for ages and we shouldn't expect him to bring us to the station, it would be our fault when he couldn't pay his bills. He had to bring us (by law, I think) but kept up this rant in French for the whole journey. Tried to get us to agree to a flat fare deal beforehand - we said no, leave the meter on, and it came to far less than what he'd proposed.

I'd understand if we were asking something ridiculous, but it's a 13km journey (about €20-25) and when we got to the station, there was a big group waiting for taxis and he got their fare back as well as ours. Around €50 for half an hour's work. He was obviously expecting unwitting tourists looking for him to drive them all the way to Brussels... Not a pleasant way to start a trip, that's for sure. There were signs in the airport saying something along the lines of "Take the first available taxi at the rank. Taxis must accept all fares", so it was probably a common occurence.

errlloyd · 29-03-2014 03:00AM

sdeire wrote: »

If they don't like short fares they should go and be a bus driver instead.

I don't think someone's ability to make rent or put food on the table should be down to random chance. The rank queue at the airport is presumably 60minutes plus, in length, so I can absolutely empathise with a driver who is making less than a 10er an hour because he keeps getting unlucky with fares. These things are up and down and I know it should balance out but it can be infuriating. I work in a tips based industry so I know that it sucks.

If there was a short fare rank, it would be less desirable for drivers, so the queue would be quicker to the point where it compensated for the lower earning. Market would correct. Who losses? The occasional confused tourist who goes to the wrong rank?

Vito Corleone · 29-03-2014 03:00AM

I've asked them to bring me to x before and they've literally ignored me. Fair enough if it's not far enough away/too far or whatever but they could at least answer me.

sdanseo · 29-03-2014 03:02AM

languagenerd wrote: »

Worst taxi driver experience I've had was in Belgium a couple years ago. We arrived at Charleroi airport and needed to get the train to Liège so got in the first taxi (which you have to do over there). He started yelling at me (the only French-speaker) in French that taxis are not for those sort of journeys and that we should get the bus instead. Even when I explained that the next bus wouldn't get us to the station in time for our train (our flight had been delayed by over an hour and the trains aren't very frequent), he kept yelling at me about how he'd been waiting there for ages and we shouldn't expect him to bring us to the station, it would be our fault when he couldn't pay his bills. He had to bring us (by law, I think) but kept up this rant in French for the whole journey. Tried to get us to agree to a flat fare deal beforehand - we said no, leave the meter on, and it came to far less than what he'd proposed.

I'd understand if we were asking something ridiculous, but it's a 13km journey (about €20-25) and when we got to the station, there was a big group waiting for taxis and he got their fare back as well as ours. Around €50 for half an hour's work. He was obviously expecting unwitting tourists looking for him to drive them all the way to Brussels... Not a pleasant way to start a trip, that's for sure. There were signs in the airport saying something along the lines of "Take the first available taxi at the rank. Taxis must accept all fares", so it was probably a common occurence.

In stark contrast, we were in Tenerife last year and while granted it's well in a cab driver's interest to take a shine to the tourists in a place like that, the 5/6km trip to the town every night was something like €8 and always a chatty driver who tried his best to speak English to us (probably some Irish too after the amount of drink we had taken).

We probably took the guts of 20 cabs, none of them came to more than €9 and not one complaint or even a hint of one. Guess it's a society thing.

languagenerd · 29-03-2014 03:06AM

sdeire wrote: »

In stark contrast, we were in Tenerife last year and while granted it's well in a cab driver's interest to take a shine to the tourists in a place like that, the 5/6km trip to the town every night was something like €8 and always a chatty driver who tried his best to speak English to us (probably some Irish too after the amount of drink we had taken).

We probably took the guts of 20 cabs, none of them came to more than €9 and not one complaint or even a hint of one. Guess it's a society thing.

In fairness, that's the only time I've had problems in Belgium. The taxi driver on our way home on that trip was a perfect gentleman, very cheerful, and even carried our cases to the airport doors for us.

I don't think it's necessarily to do with cultural differences (though I think the Spaniards do play up to tourists far more than the Belgians) as much as yer man being a dickhead :P

29-03-2014 03:18AM

Kaizersoze81 wrote: »

In fairness it's about 300 metres from middle of Dawson st to Pearse st station. I'd refuse to take you too. Ridiculous distance to expect a taxi to take you.

From what I've seen, judging by the length of the line of taxis at many major ranks in Dublin is that is isn’t worth any drivers effort unless the journey is at least about 30 minutes or more driving to take a fare. Some of those taxis queues appear to be at least an hour long!

sdanseo · 29-03-2014 03:29AM

Deleted User wrote: »

From what I've seen, judging by the length of the line of taxis at many major ranks in Dublin is that is isn’t worth any drivers effort unless the journey is at least about 30 minutes or more driving to take a fare. Some of those taxis queues appear to be at least an hour long!

It's a de-regulated system. In my job I have to make a sale to a customer, I actually, you know, have to sell my product and sometimes even assist the conglomerate I work for to market it. In return, lo and behold, I get paid, pro-rated on how much I sell.

I don't sell my product by sitting in a chair reading the paper waiting for customers to stroll in.

If taxi drivers want to make money, they should get creative. Go where no-one else is rather than sit on a rank and then complain when they get a short job. Short jobs are part of the job, if you don't like it then fúck off and do something else.

The industry is meant to control its own numbers because it reaches a point where it becomes uneconomical for additional drivers to join the fleet, because the amount of customers is fixed and the market becomes saturated. At this point, people are meant to stop buying taxi plates. Unfortunately in Ireland, where people are all too often fat, stupid, lazy and contrite, many people decide to go and buy a taxi plate anyway and then sit in their cars all day being dickheads to people and then complaining about it.

the_syco · 29-03-2014 04:16AM

marozz wrote: »

I had that a few times. They go mad and the journey home is horrible. One time I arrived at the airport and I called a local cab company. They picked me up outside departures. It worked out cheaper than the airport taxi and the drive home was a lot more relaxed.

When my parents are going to or from the airport, and one of us (the kids) aren't available to take them to the airport, they book a local taxi both ways. Cheaper and quicker.

=-=

I barely fit into most taxis (too tall). Thus I very rarely get any hassle.

ardle1 · 29-03-2014 06:34AM

It makes me wonder why some people feel the need to complain on 'Board's' about the slightest thing that a tired low paid taxi man did to fcuk up your day and ruin your life......... If we(taxi men)decided to put in print the numerous negative 'incidents' we have to deal with in our lovely Towns and Cities around Ireland, well let me just say, a lot off people would think twice about starting a frivolous thread like this........

Since when do taxi drivers get to pick and choose their fares?

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