Taxi drivers say new reforms fail to address safety issues

Taxi drivers have complained that new legislation to reform the industry is failing to address a number of issues to make taxis safe and profitable.

Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann, (TTNH) yesterday criticised the Government and National Transport Authority for the lack of consultation with taxi drivers as well as the lack of an appeals process for drivers at risk of losing their licence.

Although TTNH, which represents single taxi plate holders, welcomed the Taxi Regulation Bill, chairman David McGuinness said there were problems the legislation did not appear to address.

Mr McGuinness said a difficult working environment was being created by the new demerit system for taxi drivers, similar to a penalty points system, due to the lack of taxi rank spaces in many towns and cities.

He told the transport committee that Dublin had only 680 spaces for 10,500 taxis, of which up to 5,000 were on duty at any one time.

Mr McGuinness claimed some offences contained in the proposed demerit system, whereby taxi drivers can be suspended for periods of up to eight weeks on reaching a certain number of points, were draconian.

TTNH expressed concern that some foreign taxi drivers who had only recently arrived in Ireland would not be subject to the same level of vetting as Irish drivers.

Mr McGuinness said gardaí had informed his group that it was impossible to do similar background checks on drivers from some countries.

He proposed a rule that any foreign driver should be resident in Ireland for four to five years before they could apply for a taxi licence as it was an important “public safety” issue.

The new legislation will bring in a lifetime ban for anybody convicted of serious crime like murder, manslaughter, rape, and terrorist offences.

TTNH criticised Alan Kelly, the junior transport minister, over recent remarks in which he highlighted the fact that 6,000 taxi drivers had a criminal conviction.

Mr McGuinness said Mr Kelly’s comments could discourage people from taking taxis, despite the fact that the majority of taxi drivers with a criminal record had only committed minor offences.

He also warned about an impending shortage of wheelchair-accessible taxis due to the decision to reverse original plans to exempt such vehicles from new rules limiting the age of taxis.

Mr McGuinness said that wheelchair-accessible taxis now accounted for just 4.3% of the national taxi fleet — a far distance from Labour’s policy of having all taxis being wheelchair accessible by 2020.

He pointed out that many such taxis had been bought around a decade ago and would soon need to be replaced. However, he predicted many owners were likely to buy a standard taxi as new wheelchair models cost in excess of €40,000.