Is a dearth of late-night taxis putting Dubliners in danger?
Some people end up having to walk home from an evening out in the capital as it can be difficult to hail a ride, says
Valerie Flynn
Sunday June 12 2022, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times
have reported waiting long periods at ranks or on the street, with many giving up and walking home late at night
Frustrated Dubliners have reported waiting long periods at ranks or on the street, with many giving up and walking home late at night
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When Noel Rock, the former Fine Gael TD turned public relations consultant, went to meet friends in Dublin last bank holiday Sunday, his journey involved a bus followed by a Luas and then a walk. “It was lashing rain,” Rock recalled. “Across the three [hailing] apps and on the street, you absolutely could not get a taxi. I tried for around 40 minutes. There’s clearly a pinch point on the number of taxis.”
He noted that even a “cursory glance” at social media throws up dozens of similar stories from recent weeks. Frustrated Dubliners have reported waiting long periods at ranks or on the street, with many giving up and walking home late at night. “Talking to any young woman in the city, in particular, will make you realise how unsafe they feel at being stuck or stranded for 20, 30, 40 minutes, waiting for a taxi,” Rock said.
As he was trying to hail a cab, 15,000 people were making their way to the sold-out Forbidden Fruit Festival elsewhere in the capital. Both taxi drivers and punters agree it is at such times of high demand that the “pinch point” with supply arises.
Yet at about midnight on Friday of the bank holiday weekend there was no shortage of taxis seeking work in the city centre. The consensus among drivers at a rank on Dame Street was that the reported shortage was an exaggeration.
Mick Maloney said: “People all come outside at the same time and say ‘there’s no taxis’ because they’re waiting half an hour. There’s never going to be a taxi for everyone. If you’d been here an hour ago you would have seen me waiting hours for a job. There are not many jobs where you are supposed to be busy for only two hours on a Friday and Saturday night.”
Several drivers added that the pandemic prompted many taxi drivers either to change their work pattern to daytime, given that nightlife was shut, or to leave the industry entirely in response to the collapse in demand. Some immigrant drivers returned to their own countries, while other drivers took jobs with Dublin Bus or doing delivery driving.
Patrick O’Reilly, who has been working as a taxi driver for 20 years, said: “Lads are not working as late into the night. I’m 66 and I’m going home now shortly.”
Two thirds of taxi drivers in Ireland are over the age of 50 — a challenge identified by the National Transport Authority (NTA), the sector’s regulator. After pre-pandemic recruitment campaigns, more than 1,200 new licences were issued each year. However, so far this year only 376 new licences have been issued. The size of the active fleet shrank by 11 per cent to 15,800 vehicles during the pandemic, the lowest level in 17 years, and well below the peak of 21,000 in 2008. Of those drivers still on the road, an NTA survey has found less than one third are now working Friday and Saturday nights.
The age of the fleet is also a looming problem. A ten-year retirement age for taxi vehicles was put on hiatus in the pandemic to support the sector but only until the end of 2022. Next year over 5,000 cars — about one third of the active fleet — must come off the road, bringing the risk of a further exodus from the industry.
This weekend the Department of Transport said there was “no consideration being given to amending the age-related rules now or at any time in the future”. In fact the department wants old cars to be replaced with electric vehicles, with a €15 million grant scheme in place to “support the greening of the sector”. However, the biggest grants are available only to scrap cars that have at least three years left as taxis. Last year 600 drivers shared just €11 million in grants.
The NTA acknowledged the “demand pressure” on taxis after pubs and clubs close. While it deems the problem particularly acute in Dublin, it noted that in all Irish urban areas demand is concentrated at times when there are few other options. Public transport is limited in Dublin after 11.30pm, and close to non-existent everywhere else. Bar closing times are not staggered.
David McGuinness, chairman of Tiomanai Tacsai na hEireann (TTNh), a representative group, said: “I don’t think there’s a shortage of taxis. I think there’s a shortage of other public transport after midnight. Dublin is supposed to be a major city. Taxis are taking the slack.”
McGuinness said TTNh warned the government early in the pandemic that drivers would leave the industry without more support. “We got the same help [the pandemic unemployment payment] as a student working in Centra at the weekend, and we were supposed to keep an expensive car on the road and pay insurance,” he said.
In fact the government did give taxi drivers waivers on licence fees, motor tax and NCT costs during the pandemic. Ireland’s supply problem is compounded by the fact ride-sharing services remain illegal here. The Uber app allows you only to hail a regular taxi. Since deregulation in 2000, Ireland has had an unusually high number of taxis. In Britain, for example, there are only 1.2 per 1,000 population compared with 3.2 in Ireland. However, when the likes of Uber and hackney cabs are counted, Britain actually has 19 per cent more small public-service vehicle licences per capita than Ireland.
The NTA hopes to incentivise drivers to work late nights by allowing fares to increase by an average of 12.5 per cent later this summer, with the increases weighted heavily towards the “premium” hours of 8pm to 8am on Friday, Saturdays and bank holidays. It is also considering allowing five more Dublin bus routes to operate through the night.
However, even if the problem of late-night availability at weekends is solved, other pinch points will remain. Just 10 per cent of the taxi fleet can serve Dublin airport, where many passengers have reported waiting more than an hour in recent weeks. DAA, the airports agency, will issue new licences only to vehicles that are wheelchair accessible or can seat five passengers, which disqualifies saloon cars. It charges drivers €440 a year to use the airport’s ranks.
For taxi users, waiting in line looks set to continue.
