Taxi rights helpline gets 500 calls a week
A number of the calls are from persons who wish to make complaints, the Commission on Taxi Regulation said.
More than 30 formal complaints have been laid against taxi drivers around the country in the month since the commission’s new regulations came into force at the end of September.
The complaints to the commission — almost one a day — have concerned the condition of the vehicle, the behaviour of the driver and fare overcharging.
One of the cornerstones of the new rules introduced in September was a new national fare for which all the taxi meters in the country had to be re-calibrated.
According to taxi regulator Ger Deering, the number of meters calibrated corresponds to the number of licenses.
“We think this indicates full compliance. However, we will only be able to check that through enforcement,” said Mr Deering.
He said gardaí can enforce the new rules and the commission has completed the recruitment process for its own nine full-time enforcers who will be on stream by the end of December.
Regarding the complaints procedure, he said they had received a number of calls from people enquiring how to lodge complaints with the regulator.
Of those calls, 30 had filled out a detailed complaints form. Each is being investigated with the driver in question before a “determination” is made.
Mr Deering said the commission has three options. It can decide no action is required, a formal warning could be issued or a prosecution sought.
The commission will publish an annual list of complaints. However, this will not identify individual drivers. They will, however, be identified if there is a prosecution. “The feedback we are getting is that there is a lot more interest in how the fare is calculated as well as what the passenger’s rights are,” said Mr Deering.
“When we ran an awareness campaign, there were increased calls to our information line and in the run-up to Christmas, one of the busiest times for taxis, we will be running another campaign.”
He said that campaign will aim at ensuring drivers do not try to rip off passengers with illegal extra charges.
There was a high degree of disaffection among drivers at plans to introduce the new regulations — several work stoppages were held around the country.
However, Mr Deering said the commission has had mainly positive feedback from the profession since the rules were implemented.
“One of the problems was that there was a lot of misinformation out there at that stage. We have always said ‘give it an opportunity to work’.”
