Irish Taxi Forum
Public Area => Taxi Talk => Topic started by: Rat Catcher on December 10, 2025, 07:48:01 pm
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Boycott Uber
http://intaxi.org/forum/VID-20251210-WA0009.mp4 (http://intaxi.org/forum/VID-20251210-WA0009.mp4)
They have the platform. We have the power!
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He even has his limo driver suit on.I really don't trust this chap as much as I'd like to.Why would a limo driver care about us.Zero progress in the short term.Where are the details of the meeting?
There's still no mention of Freenow/Lyft offering discounts.I'd be glad to delete Uber if there was a fair distribution of the work on Freenow.They seem to be promoting discounts before full fare work on the passenger app too.
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Looks more like his funeral attire to me.
As to why a Limo driver from Cork cares about fixed fare taxis in Dublin. He doesn't but he cares about Uber subsidizing Limo fares in Cork and he offers a fixed fare taxi dispatch service in Cork which is also likely to lose business and drivers to Uber because Uber is subsidizing it's fares and paying drivers a lot more than it charges riders. He probably can't do that, at least not for as long as Uber might or can if it wants to. Of course, Uber won't subsidise fares forever. Like Free Now it will want a profit at some stage. That's when drivers will have to either cover the discounts themselves or lose the work. Of course, drivers outside of the traditional taximeter areas will be well accustomed to fixed fares and will know which ones are and aren't worth doing but, for the most part, they won't be used to paying 15% (inc VAT) commission which will obviously increase the amount the fares will need to be to remain viable which isn't good for customers.
An Oireachtas Committee seems like a reasonable course of action from Govt perspective. There will be liberal left politicians on the committee who may side with drivers to some extent and, at least, there will be meaningful debate at Govt level.
In conclusion, I would encourage all drivers to listen to Derek and delete Uber. If Uber survives any legislative change on foot of the work of the committee you can always go back in a few months/years.
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As regards Free Now encouraging clients to choose its Taxi Saver option I agree that makes no sense. If they (like Uber) made the full/metered fare the default option far less riders would select Taxi Saver. I'm tempted to suggest that the way it's set up is just down to incompetent programming and/or common sense not being too common. Obviously they'd make more in commission if less riders selected Taxi Saver. However, maybe certain personnel are invested in Taxi Saver being a significant success for corporate brownie points or whatever.
The bottom line, however, is that Free Now are a great bunch of lads and they really care about us and our opinions. They are only giving discounts because they have to compete with mean and nasty firms like Uber and Bolt.
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Next yr just after Xmas??
Ah the strikes and Xmas shoppers won't be affected there be no slow traffic
Seems we being fobbed off with empty promises in new yr
Don't like the masseys suit he looks like a hearse driver
Long 5 minutes saying fuck all
Seems he likes the limelight maybe he run for president next for ff
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Didn't get 1 FN offer in 7 hours 19.00-02.00. Did 7 Uber meter, and 4 street, rejected multiple Uber FFs.
€171 net after commission.
I reckon that's not much above minimum hourly wage for night work after all running expenses are paid.
Rejecting the FFs is as far as I can go on this, bills to pay.
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The December blues, BS. Not exactly work coming at you from every direction!
I guess it's an egg and chicken situation. As long as drivers are available on Uber riders will hire them simply because their fares a lot lower than hiring a taxi on the street or using other rideshare platforms such as Free Now. As long as Uber have the work drivers will cover it. Most drivers are only interested in the next €50 and don't care who puts that in their pocket or, more importantly, why. Forgive them for they know not what they do.
The downside of an Oireachtas Committee is that it will give Uber and Bolt a platform that they will use to promote P2P rideshare. We have already witnessed Uber taking to social media to take the piss out of Dublin taxi drivers upon whom they currently rely to drive their riders. In reality, they would probably be happy enough to get the current temporary moratorium on the issue of saloon hackney plates lifted as a compromise.
In any event it will be interesting to see if Derek's passionate plea for help results in any impact on Uber availability. One would hope that it will, at least, reduce supply sufficiently to eliminate the 30% discount Uber currently gives it's riders.
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Bit early - most drivers and drivers' Unions probably haven't watched the appeal yet - but Uber still offering the lowest fare (complete with 30% discount) and fastest pick up for a lift to the station this morning:
(https://i.postimg.cc/bJyLCRsd/Screenshot-20251211-102841-com-ubercab-Root-Activity.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/jW1zCP6r)
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Boycott Uber
[url]http://intaxi.org/forum/VID-20251210-WA0009.mp4[/url] ([url]http://intaxi.org/forum/VID-20251210-WA0009.mp4[/url])
They have the platform. We have the power!
Very good ... hes absolutely correct .....
Im in
::sleep
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Didn't get 1 FN offer in 7 hours 19.00-02.00. Did 7 Uber meter, and 4 street, rejected multiple Uber FFs.
€171 net after commission.
I reckon that's not much above minimum hourly wage for night work after all running expenses are paid.
Rejecting the FFs is as far as I can go on this, bills to pay.
Wait till January nothing doing g
I just don't get that guy if he does discount s around cork
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The December blues, BS. Not exactly work coming at you from every direction!
I guess it's an egg and chicken situation. As long as drivers are available on Uber riders will hire them simply because their fares a lot lower than hiring a taxi on the street or using other rideshare platforms such as Free Now. As long as Uber have the work drivers will cover it. Most drivers are only interested in the next €50 and don't care who puts that in their pocket or, more importantly, why. Forgive them for they know not what they do.
The downside of an Oireachtas Committee is that it will give Uber and Bolt a platform that they will use to promote P2P rideshare. We have already witnessed Uber taking to social media to take the piss out of Dublin taxi drivers upon whom they currently rely to drive their riders. In reality, they would probably be happy enough to get the current temporary moratorium on the issue of saloon hackney plates lifted as a compromise.
In any event it will be interesting to see if Derek's passionate plea for help results in any impact on Uber availability. One would hope that it will, at least, reduce supply sufficiently to eliminate the 30% discount Uber currently gives it's riders.
He has given no explanation as to why he is not working during the annual taxi beanfeast.
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Good man, Octy. It'd be great if he could go in to the Committee next year and show them that his campaign has had a real impact on Uber availability.
Maybe December doesn't work for him, SB. It's my least favourite month of the year. Look at what BS took home for a full shift last night, barely minimum wage. The work is very weekend heavy and very city heavy and there's darts on telly... or maybe he has enough drivers working for him to be able to enjoy the festivities himself rather than ferrying other drunks about. I don't think it's particularly relevant anyway, he needs your help so he can help you.
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Good man, Octy. It'd be great if he could go in to the Committee next year and show them that his campaign has had a real impact on Uber availability.
Maybe December doesn't work for him, SB. It's my least favourite month of the year. The work is very weekend heavy and very city heavy and there's darts on telly... or maybe he has enough drivers working for him to be able to enjoy the festivities himself rather than ferrying other drunks about. I don't it's particularly relevant anyway, he needs your help so he can help you.
We should all become local tour guides and charge 5K a week for a trip.
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There's no barriers to entry. A good few taxi drivers do it as well so it's not wholly irrelevant to our trade, I guess. In any event he seems to have the time, the interest and the energy to run this campaign. All he's asking you to do is stop working for Uber. We all know Uber doesn't care about drivers so it's not really that big an ask particularly if you don't like covering fixed fares anymore.
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Good man, Octy. It'd be great if he could go in to the Committee next year and show them that his campaign has had a real impact on Uber availability.
Maybe December doesn't work for him, SB. It's my least favourite month of the year. The work is very weekend heavy and very city heavy and there's darts on telly... or maybe he has enough drivers working for him to be able to enjoy the festivities himself rather than ferrying other drunks about. I don't it's particularly relevant anyway, he needs your help so he can help you.
We should all become local tour guides and charge 5K a week for a trip.
I think JohnM tried that with Dublin history tours in his taxi a few years back (not €5k!) but the NTA called him out and said he could only charge what was on the meter (vague memory, E.&O.E.). Edit: this was all before we found out that dispatchers/apps could charge what they like on top of the metered fare.
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Indeed, these days all you need is a www site and a DO licence or the use of someone else's DO licence, any entity can use any licence, apparently.
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I might turn this site into a premium taxi site when I change my motor - ifn I opt for a new motor. All car(s) 3yo or less.. min fare €50, min tech fee €10 or some such...
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Good man, Octy. It'd be great if he could go in to the Committee next year and show them that his campaign has had a real impact on Uber availability.
Maybe December doesn't work for him, SB. It's my least favourite month of the year. The work is very weekend heavy and very city heavy and there's darts on telly... or maybe he has enough drivers working for him to be able to enjoy the festivities himself rather than ferrying other drunks about. I don't it's particularly relevant anyway, he needs your help so he can help you.
We should all become local tour guides and charge 5K a week for a trip.
I think JohnM tried that with Dublin history tours in his taxi a few years back (not €5k!) but the NTA called him out and said he could only charge what was on the meter (vague memory, E.&O.E.). Edit: this was all before we found out that dispatchers/apps could charge what they like on top of the metered fare.
Tour guides don't need a psv licence, if it's say, educational. They can get away with murder so they can.
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It's not looking great. Still offering the fastest pick up and lowest fare on the market... even on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. If drivers are taking sides they seem to be taking Uber's side:
(https://i.postimg.cc/L6kXTq5K/Screenshot-20251214-130705-com-ubercab-Root-Activity.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/8j5NkzLt)
Interestingly, Taxi Fixed Price is now the default option.
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All jobs are being covered like a regular day.The real test will be when Uber/Freenow/bolt offer fixed fares that are much lower than the metered fare after commissions.At that stage we might see if we're truly fecked or not.
I won't be following any limo driver off a cliff.In years to come they'll study this in college about how some bloke with a tik tok account with no taxi managed to manipulate a load of taxi drivers into getting further deregulated because they didn't realise who they were following.Bizzare stuff.
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You could be right.... except there's not much evidence of drivers following him. He kinda nailed his colours to the mast of drivers deleting the app. Myself and Octy are the only two headcases I know to have deleted it and I'm no more opposed to fixed fares than Derek is. I was happy to trust my own judgement as to whether any job (fixed fare, taxi Saver or metered fare) was worth doing. If I got the odd one wrong so be it, nobody died!
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A night driver did suggest to me that it's 80% immigrants still working for Uber. AFAIK he was one of the 20% but I guess you could easily conclude that 80% of night drivers up above in Dublin are immigrants anyway.... whether it's true or not it seems that way.
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I posted this before but I picked up a techie bloke years ago who told me one of the conditions of the tech companies setting up in Dublin (a long with all the corporate tax fiddle) was maintaining the operation and access of the airport.Could be bollox but the airport has never been shut over a protest.Driving slow around DAP would have gotten the senior civil servants and ministers talking and rightly concerned.Now we have a bloke who doesn't drive a taxi speaking for taxi drivers with government officials.This bothers me a lot.
Blocking up the city over optional fixed fares was a bad move IMO and we'll pay for it in other ways.All that has happened is people who never knew Uber was in Ireland now know it's here.
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Uber does seem to thrive on what we might think is adverse publicity. In reality, it seems to win support from riders (well, it buys that with virtually free rides) and drivers alike. Even them taking to social media to take the piss out of the halfwits protesting against them one day and working for them the next seems to have had no impact on their business. Still the fastest responders and still the lowest fares on the market.
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Good man, Octy. It'd be great if he could go in to the Committee next year and show them that his campaign has had a real impact on Uber availability.
Maybe December doesn't work for him, SB. It's my least favourite month of the year. The work is very weekend heavy and very city heavy and there's darts on telly... or maybe he has enough drivers working for him to be able to enjoy the festivities himself rather than ferrying other drunks about. I don't it's particularly relevant anyway, he needs your help so he can help you.
We should all become local tour guides and charge 5K a week for a trip.
I think JohnM tried that with Dublin history tours in his taxi a few years back (not €5k!) but the NTA called him out and said he could only charge what was on the meter (vague memory, E.&O.E.). Edit: this was all before we found out that dispatchers/apps could charge what they like on top of the metered fare.
There's a get out clause if the the tour is "educational". When I considered doing "Photography tours" I was being undercut by guys doing tours who didn't have a SPSV licence, particularly one in Wicklow.
BG landscape tours IIRC.
https://bglandscapetours.ie/
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Apparently this chap is claiming to be getting bullied online.I haven't seen any of it myself.It is very odd that a limo driver/tour operator would be putting his nose into the taxi industry without anyone asking..Weird shit to be trying to block up the city for an industry that he has no affiliation to.Check out the sad music on the video.Try not to get emotional lads.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRYAYHvU/
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I can't see why he would be bullied. He got a decent campaign going. It's disappointing that he get enough drivers to delete Uber to impact on driver availability on that platform. In general, you won't hear a good word about Uber from any taxi drivers anywhere in the world but when it comes to Ireland drivers seem to have a love hate relationship with it. They can protest against it one day and work for it the next which defies belief. At the end of the day if drivers supported Derek's campaign and deleted the app it would cease to exist in Ireland.
Of course, Uber has the money to give away virtually free rides which, whatever way you look at it, is putting money in drivers' pockets and that is clearly money the men want or need.
In any event, the keyboard warriors need to ask themselves what they have done to highlight concerns with rideshare platforms... whether that's passengers who ought to be concerned about surge fees increasing substantially if left unregulated or drivers who ought to be concerned about maintaining a sustainable trade once the rideshare platforms withdraw their subsidising fares. For Derek's part he has grabbed the attention of drivers, politicians, the regulatory authorities and the media.
I don't think it's fair to say he has no affiliation with our trade. He works as a limousine driver and he provides a fixed fare taxi service in Cork. Uber is clearly undercutting his fares in both of those activities so he has every right to stand up to them. He's also a well regarded businessman and tour guide in Cork. I don't know if he gets paid for running the Taxi Drivers [of] Ireland union or not as I'm not a member but he's clearly a good spokesperson. Yes, he's a bit devious and he certainly misled many drivers in setting up the union, at least in claiming to want to negotiate with Uber. That was never on the cards (he's a direct competitor to Uber in Cork) and he obviously knew that but being a bit devious isn't necessarily a bad thing when you're dealing with politicians.
I don't think we would have an Oireachtas Committee in the offing or have the Minister instructing NTA to review relevant regulations if it wasn't for Derek's efforts.
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P.S. I can't watch that video, apparently you need the tick tock app which I don't have, want or need!
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P.S. I can't watch that video, apparently you need the tick tock app which I don't have, want or need!
+1
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He also said he had to have a medical procedure done and had to get solicitors involved.Mad stuff.
Limo industry is not the taxi industry IMO.What's next are we gonna start protesting with the bus drivers next?Maybe the pilots will strike with us next as we all seem to spend a lot of time in the airports..
Download tik tok lads and you'll never want to speak to anyone again.
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Apparently this chap is claiming to be getting bullied online.I haven't seen any of it myself.It is very odd that a limo driver/tour operator would be putting his nose into the taxi industry without anyone asking..Weird shit to be trying to block up the city for an industry that he has no affiliation to.Check out the sad music on the video.Try not to get emotional lads.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRYAYHvU/
Ah, the Deformation Act!! 8)
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Progress?
Discount is down to 20%, still the lowest fare on the market but not as low as it was last week... but response time is still the fastest available.
(https://i.postimg.cc/7ZrdQ5k3/Screenshot-20251219-100103-com-ubercab-Root-Activity.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/KRQ01v4j)
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Apparently this chap is claiming to be getting bullied online.I haven't seen any of it myself.It is very odd that a limo driver/tour operator would be putting his nose into the taxi industry without anyone asking..Weird shit to be trying to block up the city for an industry that he has no affiliation to.Check out the sad music on the video.Try not to get emotional lads.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRYAYHvU/
Ah, the Deformation Act!! 8)
I'm very sceptical about a hack driver fighting with uber
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Rat Catcher:
"Progress?
Discount is down to 20%, still the lowest fare on the market but not as low as it was last week... but response time is still the fastest available."
I don't chase bonuses but they're offering some today from 1pm so the discounts might be rolled back a bit.
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Rat Catcher:
"Progress?
Discount is down to 20%, still the lowest fare on the market but not as low as it was last week... but response time is still the fastest available."
I don't chase bonuses but they're offering some today from 1pm so the discounts might be rolled back a bit.
The bonuses get in the way of cash work.
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I covered one Uber job yesterday - the only Uber fare I've covered since ending my sulk/protest on Monday. That was at c.11:00 and was a so-called "fixed" fare (64.64 before commission for 64.80 on the meter) so wouldn't have counted towards bonus payments on two counts!
I don't pay attention to any of the bonuses these days. When Free Now were giving us €200/250 for 20 jobs that was worth chasing, 30 or 40 notes here and there isn't worth a bollix.
I worked for a few weeks exclusively for Free Now including 3 Saturday night shifts and didn't receive any bonus yet got a €30 bonus (for what or why I don't know) on a prior Saturday night shift when working for Uber as well. My conclusion being that if they don't come in 3 out of 3 "peak time" shifts working exclusively for one app they're not worthy of any attention whatsoever... if they come without any relevant effort, so be it. I have heard the argument that bonus payments make Free Now's single figure Taxi Saver fares worth covering of a Saturday night 'cos the "bonus" works out higher than the lost PUCs but I'd rather keep it simple and just have the full fare and the freedom to take work from other rideshare platforms or the mean streets as might prove desirable.