The state of Dublin taxis
Over the last few weeks there has been some comment in the media from Taxi representatives that there is now an over supply of taxis in Ireland and in Dublin in particular . From a consumer viewpoint it is indeed easier to get a taxi these days and surely that is a good thing particulerly on weekend nights . It is a pity that when the taxi regulator was deregulating the industry they did not use the opportunity to deal with the standard of taxis on our roads . I recently had some Belgium clients in Dublin and we needed a taxi for four persons . The taxi arrived on-time when we ordered it ,but you should have seen the faces on my colleagues when they saw the car that arrived for us . Four of us had to squeeze into a 1999 Toyota Corolla that in my view had seen better days . Now I have nothing against the Toyota Corolla ,I think I owned one at some stage ,but surely this model was not designed to be a taxi . At best it was designed to carry three passengers in some comfort ,not four adults plus the driver .Given the age of the car I would question its road wordiness as a commercial vehicle ,yet I am sure if asked the owner could show it had passed the necessary tests . Contrast that experience if you order a taxi in most other European country’s .If you arrive in Brussels airport for example you will be met by a line of taxi’s all the same color ,all of a sufficient size to take four passengers in comfort ,most will be Mercedes or similar and all will be spotlessly clean both inside and out . Is it not time that we made moves to standardise the taxi fleet in Ireland . I have no doubt the Taxi unions will say that the cost of the cars in Ireland are much higher than in the rest of Europe ,etc,etc,. Someone needs to tackle all these issues and set a target to improve the quality of the product for the consumer . Perhaps a tax incentive ,similar to the Capital Allowance scheme that was available to Hotels could be designed for new taxis . In the Hotel sector we have a modern world class hotel product ,much of which would not exist if it were not for the capital allowance schemes of the last two decades .