Taxi regulation: has it failed?

[cyberianpan]

With much hooplah we got a new Taxi Regulator in 2004 ... I think this expensive body has failed, here's some samples:

1) Do new taxi drivers know the routes ?
I regularly take taxis in Dublin & I am getting sick of the poor drivers... many of them haven't a clue where they're going. They attempt to go roundabout ways , or through areas where traffic is likely heavy. It's clear that many of them simply don't know Dublin.

A while back I got into a taxi at Drogheda rail station, I asked the driver to go to St Peter's church (the Anglican one).. the dude didn't even where any of the churches in Drogheda might be... even when I found it on the carpark map he still couldn't get there.

Now many taxi drivers are excellent - the issue is that the Taxi Regulator sets no standards here... and certifying that taxi drivers know about the locality should be the prime function of the regulator

Compare to "The Knowledge" in London

2) Economics
There's a €1 per extra passenger charge:

• that hardly encourages taxi sharing which would be green & lean.
• the charge makes no sense as it's not harder for a taxi to drive with extra people !

Meter tarif: the charge being split between per km or per minute is opaque and confusing ... it is very difficult to figure out whether it is time or distance making the meter go up, foreigners are baffled. E.g. should be say 10c per KM AND say 30c per minute... at the very least there's no evidence that they've done econometric modelling here (aim would be to incentivise driver to find fastest path)

3) Sundry

Why haven't we got yellow cabs like NY or black like London ?
Why don't they review rank placings
etc

She has a staff of at least 22, most of whom seem to deal with "customer service"... not surprising given there's so many complaints... the taxi drivers have to pay €6300 for a license.

The Taxi Regulator is an expensive failure and it is time for it to be closed... Ireland can no longer afford failed quangos.

cYp

[coisceim1]

There are too many taxi's, the fare continues to be set too high, local authorities have not provided enough ranks and there has been an abject failure to invest in credible public transport

[BodyofEvidence]

only if you consider actually being able to get a taxi to be failuere....

[sarak2]

deregulation has been great - we can get taxis now.

[Factorem]

Yes. Regulation has failed.

Abolish this quango and reinstate the garda carriage office.

[coisceim1]

The number of taxi's needs to be capped but in doing so we can't afford to go back to a suitation where the price of a plate was equivalent to the price of a three bed semi-d. Plates should be bought or sold from the Depat of Transport and not on the open market. A new plate could only be issued if an old one has expired or if the registered owner had not achieved a specific number of fares in a given month or year.

[Factorem]

The number of taxi's needs to be capped but in doing so we can't afford to go back to a suitation where the price of a plate was equivalent to the price of a three bed semi-d. Plates should be bought or sold from the Depat of Transport and not on the open market. A new plate could only be issued if an old one has expired or if the registered owner had not achieved a specific number of fares in a given month or year.

Sorry. Drivers should be allowed buy and sell their assets on the open market.

[coisceim1]

that was the cause of the introduction of regulation in the first place and it also lead to the establishment of vested interests and a 'mob-like' mentality in the trade. A taxi plate could be treated as the equivalent to a bus route which has been tendered for by private companies. Don't see what is wrong with capping the price of a taxi plate

[jc_ie]

Sorry. Drivers should be allowed buy and sell their assets on the open market.

Nothing to stop them buying/selling them but there shouldnt be a limit on it that forces the marking clearing price to skew so high that they cost double a house before deregulation.

[coisceim1]

Nothing to stop them buying/selling them but there shouldnt be a limit on it that forces the marking clearing price to skew so high that they cost double a house before deregulation.

maybe its just me but that read like a bertieism if i ever heard one - what exactly were you trying to say