Apologies, TD42. I was pissed when I got home last night and I'm not long outta bed now.
Anywaysanall, last time I was in the depot was back in 2014 when I joined Hail0 having bypassed the waiting list of drivers, presumably because I hold a Wicklow licence as well as Dublin. It’s a different place these days, bright and modern with a state of the art coffee machine and friendly staff on hand to help with any problems you’re experiencing and hand out merchandise such as till rolls, notebooks, biros, branded clothing, etc… Upstairs is a hive of activity with various offices and meeting rooms facilitating the support team, the marketing department and the finance/admin functions.
Anyway I met the two people in charge of the Irish operation, Tim Arnold (General Manager) and Fiona Brady (Senior Operations Manager). For some reason I expected Tim to have an air of arrogance so I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t. Both were welcoming, friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the feedback provided. For the most part it’s nothing they haven’t heard before and they have plans in place to address most issues discussed.
Rolling out app updates isn’t as straightforward a process as might have been the case under the Hail0 brand. The mytaxi app has been around for as long as Hail0 without attracting negative feedback from drivers in other regions who have no experience of the Hail0 user interface. However, changes are being made with development centres in Germany and Spain working on the various issues raised by drivers as well as satisfying corporate requirements. Bringing back the “going home” facility was mentioned in addition to the other points raised.
DAA’s commitment to it’s restrictive practices is a problem for mytaxi and it’s drivers. I’m told the passenger app has been updated tao direct clients to the prescribed areas but we have all seem the cones out in the short term car park at T1 and Tim mentioned that the free of charge access period has been reduced. I covered a couple of T2 jobs in the early hours of Sunday morning, the queue for taxis was horrendous and the Kesh was empty. If the rumours that mytaxi is to be represented on TAC are true I guess drivers opposed to quantitative regulation at DAP will have an ally in that arena.
Fiona assures me that the tone of replies from the support team is not intended to be condescending and she will review the set responses. A couple of posters on Roy’s referred to one which essentially told drivers offering feedback not to waste the support team’s time. I haven’t had that one myself yet but if anyone still has a copy of it please post it up and I’ll pass it on.
mytaxi obviously has access to reams of statistics on our trade. No doubt those statistics will form the basis of it’s lobbying activities going forward. Given the firm’s marketing and communications skills it is likely to become the driving force behind future regulatory changes. Interestingly, 60% of taxis don’t work during some weekend peak periods. The prospect of bringing back Cosies is something mytaxi seems to support with a view to satisfying increasing demand.
The number one complaint from drivers is no pick up charge. Charging PUC wasn’t ruled out but it would require Irish management justifying it to board. The first question is would it result in more jobs being covered. Of course, my somewhat biased answer to that is yes. The next question is how much, if any, passenger demand would be lost. Given that passenger numbers keep increasing despite significant levels of complaints on (social) media I’m inclined to conclude that losses would be minimal and short-term. I guess it’s up to drivers to make sure it stays on the agenda!
