https://www.donegalnow.com/news/upset-taxi-customer-warns-end-letterkennys-e5-cab-fares/214326A Letterkenny taxi user who was upset by recent price hikes has claimed that customers could ditch cab runs if the town’s €5 fares are axed.
The Letterkenny Post reported warnings from a local taxi driver at the start of this month that cabbies could end their €5 fares due to increasingly expensive operating costs.
Some Letterkenny taxi drivers, who have been charging a flat rate €5 fare for in-town runs throughout the last decade, despite authorisation from the taxi regulator to charge much more, warned in The Post that they can no longer under-charge and subsidise the true value of their customers’ higher fare costs.
But a Letterkenny taxi user, who has been shocked in recent weeks by being charged excess of €5, is now warning that people will not be able to afford taxis at all if the cheap €5 fares disappear.
He said: “Myself and a few friends have been charged much more than €5 in recent taxi runs around the town and we’ve been really taken aback by it.
“We couldn’t believe it. You have to accept some drivers will charge more, but there’s no way that people in Letterkenny will stand for a complete end to the €5 fares.
“People couldn't afford it. I’m sure that they would think twice about getting a taxi in Letterkenny if the prices stay much higher than €5.
“The problem is that taxis are necessary if you want to go out for a night in town, but the recent prices are just too much.
“The taxi drivers in Letterkenny should get together and agree that they will not charge more than €5 for runs around the town.
“They would get more business and that’s what it’s all about. There should be a flat-rate fee in the town. Letterkenny is not Dublin. Why are the fares now so high?”
The latest fare increases from the National Transport Authority (NTA) came into force on February 1 past, increasing maximum taxi fares by an average of 3.22 per cent.
This means that the basic fare jumped last month from €3.60 to €3.80 between 8am and 8pm and up again to €4.20 between 8pm and 8am and on Sundays and bank holidays.
Legal charges, which drivers can apply, include €2 for a callout on top of a €4.20 evening hire charge, plus a €3 fee for up to three extra passengers – a total of €9.20 before the car even begins its journey, but the NTA allows cabbies to waive these charges.
Cabbies can be fined €100 if caught not using meters and not issuing metered receipts (€60 for not running a meter and €40 for not printing a receipt), a practice that is widespread across Letterkenny.
There were five on-the-spot fines (fixed payment notices) issued for failing to operate a meter and five for failing to print and offer a receipt within the last 12 months in Donegal.
COULD €5 FARES END?
A local driver recently told The Post why Letterkenny’s €5 fares could end: “Taxi drivers were fined in Letterkenny last year for not using their meters when the regulator carried out checks near Tesco. Is it worth it?"
He added: “We have been subsidising the public of Letterkenny for over a decade. Maybe it’s time that the €5 fares are stopped.
“Letterkenny people have been spoilt. If you charge a full fare, you are made to feel like [18th Century highwayman] Dick Turpin.”
The NTA is aware of the taxi practices in Letterkenny and has issued a statement to the Letterkenny Post.
A spokesman said: “It is illegal not to run the meter on every journey so that the passenger knows the maximum fare payable.”
The full story appeared in today's edition of the Letterkenny Post newspaper, a sister publication of Donegal Now.
