Where Did Dublin Get So Many Asian Taxi Drivers

imme · 25-01-2020 2:56pm #1

There was a taxi driver protest in Dublin on Thursday.

It was to protest at the app FreeNow increasing their share of trips to 15%.

The independent and mirror newspapers featured photos of the protest.

The drivers pictured almost exclusively were Asian men.

Does anyone know where Dublin got so many Asian taxi drivers all of a sudden.

I don't remember it being a feature of the industry except for very recent years.

Does Brexit or the 'student visa' scheme have anything to do with this change.

Auguste Comte · 25-01-2020 2:58pm

Asia would be my guess.

EmmetSpiceland · 25-01-2020 2:59pm

biko · 25-01-2020 3:00pm

By "Asian" do you mean "Pakistani"?

PCeeeee · 25-01-2020 3:00pm

Auguste Comte wrote: »

Asia would be my guess.

Definitely Asia.

Yurt2 · 25-01-2020 3:01pm

I've been in several cabs with South Asian taxi drivers where the face didn't match the license picture and quite frankly they weren't fit to pilot a milk float.

I'm not sure for a period of time was it possible to procure a taxi licence without having your visa paperwork in order so to speak. South Asians got their hooks into the trade in any case.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:02pm

anecdotally from my experience as a frequent taxi user in dublin there has been a big upsurge in Pakistani taxi drivers and a decline in Nigerian taxi drivers

biko · 25-01-2020 3:03pm

It's not only in the pale.
I use taxis a lot and there are definitely many Pakistani now whereas a year or two ago there were almost none.

tdf7187 · 25-01-2020 3:04pm

I far prefer Asian taxi drivers to our native chip-on-shoulder Dubs. Their taxis are usually modern and clean and they conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity. I also far prefer them to taxi drivers from a certain other country, but to mention the name of that country would risk accusations of racism. Go figure!

Yurt2 · 25-01-2020 3:05pm

biko wrote: »

It's not only in the pale.
I use taxis a lot and there are definitely many Pakistani now whereas a year or two ago there were almost none.

The immigration crackdowns of recent years in the UK have almost certainly led to many hopping over the water to Ireland.

Qrt · 25-01-2020 3:06pm

tdf7187 wrote: »

I far prefer Asian taxi drivers to our native chip-on-shoulder Dubs. Their taxis are usually modern and clean and they conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity. I also far prefer them to taxi drivers from a certain other country, but to mention the name of that country would risk accusations of racism. Go figure!

Don’t forget their fondness for the Prius! Nothing like a gentle ride home when you’re on the verge of heaving up on the leathers.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:06pm

Yurt! wrote: »

and quite frankly they weren't fit to pilot a milk float

i had to call the taxi company my work has an account with to make sure the pakistani gent who once brought me to work never did a job for us again. the man could not drive and it was an automatic. it was like being in a car with someone on their second driving lesson.

Pintman Paddy Losty · 25-01-2020 3:07pm

Used to be all Nigerians but it's definitely mostly Pakistanis now. I presume the Nigerians ended up getting citizenship and other jobs or else just went on the dole.

Yurt2 · 25-01-2020 3:07pm

tdf7187 wrote: »

I far prefer Asian taxi drivers to our native chip-on-shoulder Dubs. Their taxis are usually modern and clean and they conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity. I also far prefer them to taxi drivers from a certain other country, but to mention the name of that country would risk accusations of racism. Go figure!

Taxi drivers are usually not exactly Rhodes Scholar candidates no matter what country you're in. Occasionally you get the odd-one with an interesting background /story.

Shefwedfan · 25-01-2020 3:07pm

Anyone is better to the Dub taxi driver to be honest, some of the cars look like a cow has lived in them.....

Remember the government asked them years ago to buy a decent car and they all went nuts....

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:08pm

Does it really matter where they're from as long as they get you to where you're going.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:09pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Does it really matter where they're from as long as they get you to where you're going.

no it doesn't. its just an interesting demographic shift in the trade which people are entitled to discuss.

mfceiling · 25-01-2020 3:09pm

Yurt! wrote: »

I've been in several cabs with South Asian taxi drivers where the face didn't match the license picture and quite frankly they weren't fit to pilot a milk float.

I'm not sure for a period of time was it possible to procure a taxi licence without having your visa paperwork in order so to speak. South Asians got their hooks into the trade in any case.

I got into a taxi in Ranelagh. Young enough Asian lad driving it. "Terenure please".....blank stare. Repeated myself twice and nothing. I wanted to hop out and get another one but herself wanted to be out of the cold so hand signals from me got him there.
Ranelagh, Rathmines, Rathgar, Terenure...that's it.
Surely that lad didn't pass any sort of a test?

Pintman Paddy Losty · 25-01-2020 3:10pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Does it really matter where they're from as long as they get you to where you're going.

Yeah it does.

No one wants to be in a car that stinks of BO or has some Christian preacher CD on the player.

tdf7187 · 25-01-2020 3:10pm

Qrt wrote: »

Don’t forget their fondness for the Prius! Nothing like a gentle ride home when you’re on the verge of heaving up on the leathers.

Indeed. Infinitely superior to a clapped out 1996 Carina.

Bobblehats · 25-01-2020 3:10pm

Taxistan

arybvtcw0eolkf · 25-01-2020 3:11pm

tdf7187 wrote: »

I far prefer Asian taxi drivers to our native chip-on-shoulder Dubs. Their taxis are usually modern and clean and they conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity. I also far prefer them to taxi drivers from a certain other country, but to mention the name of that country would risk accusations of racism. Go figure!

I hate that spicy BO smell off them, must be their diets but they're rotten. Other than that I couldn't care where someone is from or the color of their skin.

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:13pm

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Yeah it does.

No one wants to be in a car that stinks of BO or has some Christian preacher CD on the player.

The taxi company I use have drivers who all stink of fags and booze. They don't even ask when they light up. I just deal with it. And they're all Irish.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:15pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

The taxi company I use have drivers who all stink of fags and booze. They don't even ask when they light up. I just deal with it. And they're all Irish.

i wouldnt stay in a cab with a driver reeking of drink and smoking a fag

biko · 25-01-2020 3:16pm

The Toadman wrote: »

Sue me.

Are you Sue?

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:17pm

Alex Disgusting Planetarium wrote: »

I hate that spicy BO smell off them

i cant believe you went there

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:20pm

suicide_circus wrote: »

i wouldnt stay in a cab with a driver reeking of drink and smoking a fag

Neither do I. I'm only making the point that Irish cab drivers can be just as bad as Asian drivers.
I walk out of the cab the second I'm not happy with the driver whether he's Asian or Irish.

Pintman Paddy Losty · 25-01-2020 3:20pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

The taxi company I use have drivers who all stink of fags and booze. They don't even ask when they light up. I just deal with it. And they're all Irish.

This is lies

imme · 25-01-2020 3:21pm

biko wrote: »

By "Asian" do you mean "Pakistani"?

You can put words in my mouth on Mondays and Tuesdays but never on a Saturday.

I said Asian because that's what I meant.;)

biko · 25-01-2020 3:21pm

With Brexit they now turn their attention to Ireland instead

https://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/irish-news/dozens-to-be-deported-after-using-fake-papers-to-get-taxi-licences-37887231.html

Investigations into 134 foreign taxi drivers has so far resulted in a group of 55 of them having their residency status revoked, with 25 of the same group now subject to deportation.

imme · 25-01-2020 3:24pm

tdf7187 wrote: »

I far prefer Asian taxi drivers to our native chip-on-shoulder Dubs. Their taxis are usually modern and clean and they conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity. I also far prefer them to taxi drivers from a certain other country, but to mention the name of that country would risk accusations of racism. Go figure!

Why answering a different question to the one I asked in the OP?

I asked where did Dublin get so many Asian taxi drivers all of a sudden.

Go on have another try.

imme · 25-01-2020 3:25pm

The Toadman wrote: »

These days 'asian' is code for Pakistani. Look at the 'asian' rape gangs in England, where are the gangs of Japanese men? Or the Koreans? Chinese?

I'm not familiar with this "code" that you speak of.

Asian to me is just that Asian.

Sleeper12 · 25-01-2020 3:25pm

It totally depends on what part of Dublin are you in. You'll be hard pushed to see a none white taxi driver at the likes of Raheny or Donaghmede taxi ranks for example.

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:25pm

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

This is lies

No it isn't because I work in the pub where they have their nights out. And there's no way they are under the limit at 9am when I gave them a lock in till 3am.

imme · 25-01-2020 3:28pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Does it really matter where they're from as long as they get you to where you're going.

As another poster has said it is an interesting shift.

From a zero base all of a we have a growing number of Asian taxi drivers.

Ireland and Dublin in particular is not a cheap country to come to and set up what with our much remarked on insurance and rental prices.

Thelonious Monk · 25-01-2020 3:30pm

I dont really care who lives in ireland or where they are from but how do they get visas? Its an unskilled job.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:31pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I dont really care who lives in ireland or where they are from but how do they get visas? Its an unskilled job.

student visas?

joebloggs32 · 25-01-2020 3:32pm

Yurt! wrote: »

Taxi drivers are usually not exactly Rhodes Scholar candidates no matter what country you're in. Occasionally you get the odd-one with an interesting background /story.

I met a Venezuelan pharmacist driving one in Orlando a few years ago. He managed to escape the poverty of his own country and got to the states but his qualifications were not recognised by the yanks so he was driving for uber to send home some cash to his family.

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:34pm

imme wrote: »

As another poster has said it is an interesting shift.

From a zero base all of a we have a growing number of Asian taxi drivers.

Ireland and Dublin in particular is not a cheap country to come to and set up what with our much remarked on insurance and rental prices.

I agree with that completely. I think some of it is down to regulation. I don't know about Dublin but the Cork drivers I know say they're getting out because of new regs regarding disabled access/insurance etc. My town in Cork has a 24hr bus service now so the busiest time of the week isn't so busy anymore cause people can get the bus home now on Fri Sat nights.

Pintman Paddy Losty · 25-01-2020 3:35pm

joebloggs32 wrote: »

I met a Venezuelan pharmacist driving one in Orlando a few years ago. He managed to escape the poverty of his own country and got to the states but his qualifications were not recognised by the yanks so he was driving for uber to send home some cash to his family.

Those things are very rare.

Most people working in professions like taxis and bouncers are as thick as pig****

biko · 25-01-2020 3:39pm

imme wrote: »

You can put words in my mouth on Mondays and Tuesdays but never on a Saturday.

I said Asian because that's what I meant.;)

Can you not see the difference between people from various Asian regions?
That's kinda racist dude..

arybvtcw0eolkf · 25-01-2020 3:39pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I dont really care who lives in ireland or where they are from but how do they get visas? Its an unskilled job.

Driving a car safely is a skill just as much as using any other machinery is a skill

Bobblehats · 25-01-2020 3:41pm

imme wrote: »

I'm not familiar with this "code" that you speak of.

Asian to me is just that Asian.

And aslan to me is cristy dignam

vriesmays · 25-01-2020 3:42pm

They're here to replace our medical graduates emigrating, only fair.

biko · 25-01-2020 3:42pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I dont really care who lives in ireland or where they are from but how do they get visas? Its an unskilled job.

Some temp visas then they marry some poor trafficked girl from Eastern Europe.
Once married they have access to all of EU, or maybe jump the pond to Canada/US.

vandriver · 25-01-2020 3:46pm

Pauliedragon wrote: »

The taxi company I use have drivers who all stink of fags and booze. They don't even ask when they light up. I just deal with it. And they're all Irish.

I don't usually call bull****e on another poster,but for this...

Tuff Gong · 25-01-2020 3:46pm

I hear the taxi game is picking up, but others say it's dropping off.

Bobblehats · 25-01-2020 3:49pm

biko wrote: »

Some temp visas then they marry some poor trafficked girl from Eastern Europe.
Once married they have access to all of EU or maybe jump the pond to Canada/US.

and if they can get to the end of the rainbow theres a pot o’ gold.

Pauliedragon · 25-01-2020 3:53pm

vandriver wrote: »

I don't usually call bull****e on another poster,but for this...

That's your decision and fair enough I probably should have qualified my post better as in I know the drivers so they feel more comfortable around me. But I'm not lying.

suicide_circus · 25-01-2020 3:54pm

biko wrote: »

Some temp visas then they marry some poor trafficked girl from Eastern Europe.
Once married they have access to all of EU, or maybe jump the pond to Canada/US.

the girls are not all trafficked, some do it as a simple business transaction, some are young naieve and far from home but yes most of it seems to be controlled by gangs.

Bobblehats · 25-01-2020 3:56pm

Makes me nostalgic for some old franco baresi footage on the art of defending

Where Did Dublin Get So Many Asian Taxi Drivers

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