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Taxi driver protest

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12467…21

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    #92
    jack90210
    Closed Accounts Posts: 214 ✭✭jack90210


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    Of course there can be too many entrants into any market and under normal market conditions the surplus will leave based on supply and demand, but this has not happened in the taxi industry as it has few barriers to entry but huge barriers to exiting.


    It will eventually, if as you claim, there isnt enough money to go around. Market adjustments don't happen over night.


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    #93
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    Your formal education qualifications clearly aren’t related to rocket science.

    Taxis don’t have the right to cap numbers because they believe there are to many drivers. A free market (or so I believe) is that any one can join it and make a go of it. Its their risk. If risk pays off fair enough. If they are back protesting 6 months later because the promised €1000 a week didn’t materialise then tuff titties

    The cap is to allow for reform of the industry, so the barriers to entry will be increased and the industry will be better regulated. When these reforms are in completed then open it back up for anyone who wants to get in and meets the new standards. This is what is being asked for.

    Why is the regulator sitting on a report into the industry from Goodbodys for the last 3 months???


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    #94
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    Cry me a river. You didnt walk into the industry blind. If you did then thats your fault.

    Supply and demand balance its self out naturally butthe way you are proposing is just looking after yourself and doesnt help any one who may come along who can make a living based on current conditons.

    What happens if things pick up and there is a massive demand for taxis? Would you lift the cap? Not with a few more protests I'd say

    Your making assumptions now and not paying attention to anything I have said.


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    #95
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    Your making assumptions now and not paying attention to anything I have said.

    They are assumptions based the previous actions of taxi drivers


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    #96
    confused-dazed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 78 ✭✭confused-dazed


    HydeRoad wrote: »
    You lot are unbelievable. You are either sitting in work dossing on boards, or sitting at home dossing on boards. Charmed lives.

    I am NOT out protesting with the taxi drivers today. Instead I have an appointment with the bank this afternoon to plead with them AGAIN to give me more time to try to sell my home before they take it. I cannot get a buyer. I have sold my taxi plate, but cannot sell the car, which is worthless. I cannot taxi in it, as it is overdue maintenance that I cannot afford. The money from the plate is gone on overdue bills.

    I have been going into Social Welfare for weeks now, and they string me along and tell me every reason why I am entitled to nothing. Citizens Information also told me I am entitled to nothing. I have to go into the bank, and explain to them that my income is ZERO. NOTHING. I have no money to give them. Not even a dole payment. I hope they don't start proceedings to put me in jail. I was honest all my life, and worked hard.

    At least in jail I would be guaranteed shelter and a meal. Perhaps that is where some of you would like to see me. After all, in the words of paulm17781 I am only a 'stain' on society.

    There are plenty of taxi drivers on this protest who are not destitute. They are older, and don't have the mortgages and commitments of the younger guys. That does not take away from the desperate situation of some of the younger guys. I'm sure some of them are only in it for what they can get, but I don't care, because whether they win or lose their case, it's too late for me. Sure there's a few who would happily drag us back to the 1970s, but screw them, too. Unfortunately, many of them haven't a clue about good PR or fighting a just case. But then, they were paid up members of a union that should have been doing that for them, and instead, has let them down. I would have hoped that in andrewdeerpark's 'capitalist free system' there would be some threshold slightly above ZERO that nobody would be let fall. Maybe if I could afford to emigrate, then he wouldn't have the disgust of having to look at me.

    I am sorely sorry I ever got into taxiing. I hung myself out the window with loans to do so. But I was strung along by this regulator with promises of high standards and an industry that was modernising itself. Instead she opened the floodgates to hundreds of people who quite obviously never had to pass any kind of knowledge or suitability test, and all the promises of standards in the industry were proved to be lies, like everything else that comes out of this government. I was sold a booger, and now I am paying dearly. I don't want a cap on anything, just some standards I could have aspired to, and some self respect. Instead it is a free-for-all, with no standards whatsoever. That's your 'free market' system in action.

    There you are now, paulm17781, I didn't want to broadcast my personal business on a public forum, but I hope you are happy. You can carry on with your self satisfied insults now all you want. I won't trouble you further. I will withdraw my ID to protect what little self respect I have left.
    after reading this i'll keep it very short. why the hell were the protesting taxi drivers allowed to use the bus lanes today. they weren't plying for hire nor did they have a fare yet i didn't see one guard on the bus lanes doing these guys. as i said it's short.
    after reading hydes post it kinda gets you in the heart no matter how much people hate taxi drivers. i've always enjoyed his posts and out of all the taxi drivers that post hyde has to be the most genuine and honest one i've come across here.
    have the taxi drivers not lobbied the opposition to act on their behalf.?


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    #97
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    They are assumptions based the previous actions of taxi drivers

    In a bygone era and under different conditions. Those actions were by a few thousand drivers, many of whom are no longer even in the industry. Open your mind just a fraction and you might see things are not the same.


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    #98
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    In a bygone era and under different conditions. Those actions were by a few thousand drivers, many of whom are no longer even in the industry. Open your mind just a fraction and you might see things are not the same.

    Taxi drivers in the past protested about deregulation.

    They are now protesting about the need for regulation and capping numbers.

    Whats changed?


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    #99
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    confused-dazed wrote: »
    after reading this i'll keep it very short. why the hell were the protesting taxi drivers allowed to use the bus lanes today. they weren't plying for hire nor did they have a fare yet i didn't see one guard on the bus lanes doing these guys. as i said it's short.
    after reading hydes post it kinda gets you in the heart no matter how much people hate taxi drivers. i've always enjoyed his posts and out of all the taxi drivers that post hyde has to be the most genuine and honest one i've come across here.
    have the taxi drivers not lobbied the opposition to act on their behalf.?

    The organisers were acting in consultation with the Garda Traffic Corp and its was under their direction that taxis were in those bus lanes.

    There are several opposition TDs who have become involved including Tommy Broughan, Labour spokesperson on Transport and Joe Costello. The organisers have also encouraged drivers to approach their local TDs.


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    #100
    lods
    Registered Users Posts: 569 ✭✭✭lods


    confused-dazed wrote: »
    after reading this i'll keep it very short. why the hell were the protesting taxi drivers allowed to use the bus lanes today. they weren't plying for hire nor did they have a fare yet i didn't see one guard on the bus lanes doing these guys. as i said it's short.
    after reading hydes post it kinda gets you in the heart no matter how much people hate taxi drivers. i've always enjoyed his posts and out of all the taxi drivers that post hyde has to be the most genuine and honest one i've come across here.
    have the taxi drivers not lobbied the opposition to act on their behalf.?

    Also park at ranks and not be available for hire.


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    #101
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    Taxi drivers in the past protested about deregulation.

    They are now protesting about the need for regulation and capping numbers.

    Whats changed?

    That those drivers were trying to protect their super-normal profits. We are now trying to protect the future of the industry. Big difference.


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    #102
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    lods wrote: »
    Also park at ranks and not be available for hire.

    Look if want to live in a country where protest is illegal, move to China or somewhere similar, if not just get over the fact that people have the right to protest and when its done in consultation with the Gardai no laws are broken. Do you honestly think any of this could happen if the guards werent on board??


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    #103
    lods
    Registered Users Posts: 569 ✭✭✭lods


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    That those drivers were trying to protect their super-normal profits. We are now trying to protect the future of the industry. Big difference.

    Theres no problem with "the future of the industry" . The industry will go on and on, just not with as many drivers. Welcome to the real world.


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    #104
    Quint
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,407 ✭✭✭Quint


    I do have sympathy for some taxi drivers. Although, I do remember taxi drivers moaning on the radio well before deregulation.
    But when you read stuff like this, it's really hard to have any sympathy at all:
    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    One guy or girl on there own are not ideal passengers on a saturday night as they are the most troublesome group of passengers you can have. They fall asleep and you cant wake them up, they have no money in some cases, they are more likely to get sick in the car and they are more likely to do a runner.
    ...a taxi driver will drive past a girl on her own at night because she mightn't have any money! :eek:
    That's a disgrace, you should be ashamed of yourself.


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    #105
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    lods wrote: »
    Theres no problem with "the future of the industry" . The industry will go on and on, just not with as many drivers. Welcome to the real world.

    No, if reforms are not implemented what you will end up with is a far worse, far lower standard industry than you have at the moment.

    When are people going to realise that if you are going to have a Taxi service, the people operating it must be able to make money doing it. Thats the real world.


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    #106
    Spook_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,896 ✭✭✭✭Spook_ie


    kearnsr wrote: »
    Its an open market. There cant be to many taxis.
    jack90210 wrote: »
    +1

    Taxi drivers need to study economics.


    So if next week we decide to come into Dublin and ply for hire ( no signs on sideways, using the bus lanes ) you won't be on here complaining then? even if the city is in gridlock, after all economics will sort it out.....:cool:


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    #107
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    Quint wrote: »
    I do have sympathy for some taxi drivers. Although, I do remember taxi drivers moaning on the radio well before deregulation.
    But when you read stuff like this, it's really hard to have any sympathy at all:

    ...a taxi driver will drive past a girl on her own at night because she mightn't have any money! :eek:
    That's a disgrace, you should be ashamed of yourself.

    Look with the current situation as regards availabilty of Taxis, nobody gets driven past unless they are really messy drunk or some other extreme reason. I was merely pointing out why single passengers on a Sat night are not ideal. I did not say i would drive past anyone and if you re-read my post you will see that.


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    #108
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    No, if reforms are not implemented what you will end up with is a far worse, far lower standard industry than you have at the moment.

    When are people going to realise that if you are going to have a Taxi service, the people operating it must be able to make money doing it. Thats the real world.

    if you cant make money from it cop on and do something else. no one owes you a wage


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    #109
    Spook_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,896 ✭✭✭✭Spook_ie


    confused-dazed wrote: »
    after reading this i'll keep it very short. why the hell were the protesting taxi drivers allowed to use the bus lanes today. they weren't plying for hire nor did they have a fare yet i didn't see one guard on the bus lanes doing these guys. as i said it's short.
    after reading hydes post it kinda gets you in the heart no matter how much people hate taxi drivers. i've always enjoyed his posts and out of all the taxi drivers that post hyde has to be the most genuine and honest one i've come across here.
    have the taxi drivers not lobbied the opposition to act on their behalf.?


    Which bus lanes were they, I attended from Swords and apart from turning left to access O'Connell St the bus lanes weren't used, except by buses, Gardai, ambulances, working taxis and Joe Public.....We were addressed by a member of CDFT and told explicitly that the Gardai would ticket us for using buslanes and ignoring traffic lights... If it happened elsewhere then I suggest you contact the Gardai


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    #110
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    if you cant make money from it cop on and do something else. no one owes you a wage

    I think you need a few more degrees as they havent improved your ability to read whats right in front of your face.

    1, I never said I was owed a living

    2, I have stated numerous times in other threads I am actively seeking other employment but until I leave this industry I will continue to protest and fight for what I feel are neccessary reforms in the industry.


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    #111
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Taxipete29 wrote: »


    2, I have stated numerous times in other threads I am actively seeking other employment but until I leave this industry I will continue to protest and fight for what I feel are neccessary reforms in the industry.

    I dont think there is a degree for mind reading so I know what you said in other threads


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    #112
    AlekSmart
    Registered Users Posts: 14,005 ✭✭✭✭AlekSmart


    Todays protest appears to have proceeded without too much problem.
    I suspect the usual media warm-up act regarding "Chaos" in the City Centre meant that many people with an alternative routing used it.

    However notwithstanding the all too apparent dislike for the Public Transport trade in general,there are some very valid points raised in relation to what exactly has been delivered by the "Office of Taxi Regulation"

    As delop points out......
    Taxi Driving is a low skilled job that is mainly left to immigrants, It seems that locals think they cant make a living out of it, and immigrants seem happy enough, In fact I was talking to a Nigerian Taxi driver a few weeks ago, and he said there was plenty of money in it if your willing to put in the hours, and he was....

    Now there is indeed a valid point here and it is one which is figuring large in the current CIE Bus companies situation too.

    One of the Companies stated "Must Have" items appears to be the almost totally misunderstood implimentation of the EU Working-Time Directive,sometimes called the 48Hr week.

    This places a maximum of 48Hrs as that which an employee can be asked to work in any given week (Averaged over 17 weeks)

    However,when combined with serious restrictions regarding "rest-periods" this implimentation will reduce the Bus Drivers week to a flat time only basis.

    Now the interesting aspect to much of this is where the greatest resistance to this Working Time Directive is coming.
    It is coming from the younger and in many cases foreign employee`s who see their earnings ability being reduced at a stroke.

    It is the stated intention of the EU commission to push ahead with the roll out of the Working Time Directive across the ENTIRE labour spectrum to include Self - Employed in the medium term,something which will surely result in a serious problem for the entire basis of Taxi Driving being a Full Time job at all.

    There appears to be some form of shared goal at work here and it seems to be solidifying around the concept of Part-Time working and it`s introduction into areas which have hitherto been regarded as Full Time employment.

    I wonder if there`s precedent for a Part Time Taxi Regulator...or for that matter a Part Time Taoiseach...?


    Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

    Charles Mackay (1812-1889)



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    #113
    lods
    Registered Users Posts: 569 ✭✭✭lods


    Less taxi's isn't reform. Nothing on that protest about quality of service or of the taxi's.


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    #114
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    kearnsr wrote: »
    I dont think there is a degree for mind reading so I know what you said in other threads

    Well then dont make assumptions without asking a simple question such as " Are you trying to get out of the industry??".

    I would guess over half the drivers out there are like me and looking for work but as you know there is not alot out there, so while we are stuck we feel we have the right to try to change things so it might be possible to make a living in the future.

    As this is unlikely in the short-term, I hope and pray I get something before it does happen as I have just had enough. I really enjoy taxi driving, but at the moment it would be less soul destroying if I was on the dole. Alot of drivers feel this way and its a real shame as many good drivers will be lost to the industry as things stand.

    People have this perception of Taxi drivers as " stains on society" as one poster put it, but for every muppet driver you meet there is 5-10 good ones out there. You get muppets and cowboys in every industry but unfortunatly they dont get found out as easily in the taxi industry and can continue to operate. Good and legitimate operators in this business dont get the recognition they deserve for the job they do, which is not as easy as some posters make out.

    I feel for guys like Hyde, whos story, unfortunatly is becoming all too common in this industry. People want an" all singing all dancing" taxi service, but yet they dont feel those operating it have a right to earn a living. Well guys you cant have it both ways. The market wont sort this one out, no matter what the armchair economists will say. It needs regulation and it needs it now.


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    #115
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    lods wrote: »
    Less taxi's isn't reform. Nothing on that protest about quality of service or of the taxi's.

    Cap on licences, then reform the industry. You cant reform an industry if you still have people pouring into it.


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    #116
    confused-dazed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 78 ✭✭confused-dazed


    Spook_ie wrote: »
    Which bus lanes were they, I attended from Swords and apart from turning left to access O'Connell St the bus lanes weren't used, except by buses, Gardai, ambulances, working taxis and Joe Public.....We were addressed by a member of CDFT and told explicitly that the Gardai would ticket us for using buslanes and ignoring traffic lights... If it happened elsewhere then I suggest you contact the Gardai

    F.F.S. spookie i'm not stupid and neither are most of the posters here. they were using the bus lane in the navan road and all the way down the quays as well as other parts of the city. now i know what i saw. i'm really pissed of. taxi drivers are a law unto themselves.plus there was a woman on one of the talk shows late for an appointment because there was a go slow in one of the bus lanes and guess what! a few taxi drivers came on the show saying she was seeing things well guess what! i saw the same thing as well as hundreds of other people. let me guess the taxi's using the bus lanes weren't protesting but instead their signs happened to be blown sideways by a hurricane which then followed the cab everywhere so the driver couldn't straighten the sign.
    since when have taxi drivers obeyed the rules of the road. i can name hundreads of places where the law is been broken every day and post hundreds of pics of taxi's doing the same and the guards do **** all about it. the country is short of money well i know where the government can get a wind fall of at least a couple of grand a day and tens of thousands on a fri and sat night.
    the answer:the taxi's
    tell ya what i'll go one better and we'll see how much support you guys really have of the joe public


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    #117
    pseudonym1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,092 ✭✭✭pseudonym1


    A taxi driver was once considered a somewhat honnorable profession. If trouble was ever about and you couldnt see a gaurd find a taxi driver - my grandaunt used to say.

    There used to be a trust and confidience put in the driver. I have a high regard for most taxi drivers - but recently through a couple of experiences my opinion has diminished.

    No other profession has become as easily accessable as taxi-ing. With that comes some chancers and for something that requires a level of local knowledge fact that now any Joe soap is able to apply for a licence and plate - has caused huge problems for the structure of the industry and in turn how the public precieve it.

    While there was a need for change more problems have been caused by instating someone who probably would have been better suited to a top bank job. Who else would put up prices in a ressession.

    Majority of the older generation Taxi drivers are the decent hard working folk - slogging hard hours for pittens. And are the ones paying for/ bailing the muppets with stupid titles big salareys and not a clue on how to manage things. EG taxi regulator.
    EORant


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    #118
    Taxipete29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Taxipete29


    confused-dazed wrote: »
    F.F.S. spookie i'm not stupid and neither are most of the posters here. they were using the bus lane in the navan road and all the way down the quays as well as other parts of the city. now i know what i saw. i'm really pissed of. taxi drivers are a law unto themselves.plus there was a woman on one of the talk shows late for an appointment because there was a go slow in one of the bus lanes and guess what! a few taxi drivers came on the show saying she was seeing things well guess what! i saw the same thing as well as hundreds of other people. let me guess the taxi's using the bus lanes weren't protesting but instead their signs happened to be blown sideways by a hurricane which then followed the cab everywhere so the driver couldn't straighten the sign.
    since when have taxi drivers obeyed the rules of the road. i can name hundreads of places where the law is been broken every day and post hundreds of pics of taxi's doing the same and the guards do **** all about it. the country is short of money well i know where the government can get a wind fall of at least a couple of grand a day and tens of thousands on a fri and sat night.
    the answer:the taxi's
    tell ya what i'll go one better and we'll see how much support you guys really have of the joe public

    The protest today did not come down the Navan road so you should check your facts. Those drivers you saw were probably working but they most certainly were not on the official protest


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    #119
    confused-dazed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 78 ✭✭confused-dazed


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    The protest today did not come down the Navan road so you should check your facts. Those drivers you saw were probably working but they most certainly were not on the official protest
    so if they were probably working please explain to me and the hundreds of posters and readers why these taxi drivers were in the bus lane going down the navan road with their signs turned completely sideways
    read these words again
    bus lane, completely sideways
    i can't wait for this one :rolleyes:


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    #120
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Quint wrote: »
    ...a taxi driver will drive past a girl on her own at night because she mightn't have any money! :eek:
    That's a disgrace, you should be ashamed of yourself.

    Yeah it's so sexist, like men always have cash!!!


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    #121
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    Taxipete29 wrote: »
    Cap on licences, then reform the industry. You cant reform an industry if you still have people pouring into it.
    Why? The first and most obvious thing to do is stipulate a uniform colour like Ivory and I guarantee you that many people will pull back from entering. They won't risk respraying their car to a colour that will instantly identify it as a taxi unless they are fully committed to the idea of being a taxi owner.


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