Failed taxi scheme costs €350,000

NEARLY €350,000 was spent on a botched sticker system for taxis designed to give passengers information on fares and their rights.

Introduced last September, the stickers, which were also in Braille, interfered with the opening of electric windows in taxis.

The stickers cost €11.68 per car and were sent to over 20,000 taxis. Each pack was sent by registered post, which costs a minimum €4.50 per item. This package also included an industry CD. The design cost, which is unavailable, also added to the bill.

But after complaints about drunken passengers pulling them off and windows not opening properly, the taxi regulator has announced the system is being scrapped.

Ger Deering said yesterday that temporary cards, costing around €1 each, would be placed in the front or back of cars until next year. He denied that the original sticker costs were a waste of money. “This was put in place to create awareness. We believe it has done that. We did tests, but one of the things we didn’t anticipate was the level to which passengers might remove information,” he said.

National Taxi Driver Union (NTDU) president Tommy Gorman welcomed the move.

According to the NTDU, several cars were broken into in Tallaght over Christmas, probably due to robbers thinking that the stickers meant there was cash inside.

Consultation will continue over a permanent, in-vehicle information system, which may include computerised speaking systems.