Warning over taxi ride surcharge

A proposed surcharge on taxi rides to help drivers pay ever-higher fuel costs must be effectively controlled to ensure it is reduced if prices fall, a consumer watchdog said today.

The National Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU) has called for a 50-cent extra charge to combat high petrol prices which it said were fleecing drivers.

Today Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumer Association of Ireland said: “The only difficulty in allowing a surcharge is going on the assumption that the price is never going to come down.”

Mr Jewell said taxi drivers were entitled to some means of recouping rising expenses, provided that if costs were to fall in the future the charge would be dropped.

“There’s a great degree of scepticism on how it would be managed,” he said.

NDTU president Tommy Gorman said the extra charge was needed as a result of the spiralling cost of fuel, and because a shortage in taxi rank spaces forced drivers to drive around more.

“We’re being fleeced by oil prices and a lack of taxi ranks.

“In order to make a living we’ve got to keep cruising, and in this city it’s using an enormous amount of fuel,” he said.

He said drivers were spending an average of €20-25 more on fuel each week because of the extra costs.

The union favours a one-off extra charge over an increase in fares because of the costs of resetting and resealing meters.

“If things get better, the question of it being removed can be addressed,” Mr Gorman said.

The rising cost of fuel will be examined as part of a wide-ranging reform of cab fares due to be implemented by the Taxi Regulator.

The Regulator, Ger Deering, wants to introduce a new, simplified fare structure which will move towards unified pricing across the country.

Fares are currently set by local authority councils, but under Section 42 of the 2003 Taxi Regulation Act, which is likely to come into force later this year, the Commission for Taxi Regulation can take responsibility for fares.

A planned reform by the Taxi Regulator will involve consultation with all parties, including drivers and the public, and the regulator has said he will take the increases in fuel prices into consideration as part of the process.

Mr Gorman welcomed the transfer of fare controls to the Taxi Regulator, which he said would simplify the process as the union would only have to deal with one person instead of local authorities all around the country.

He said Mr Deering had been very understanding towards the taxi drivers, but that the new pricing structure would not be implemented this year, and he called on local authorities to allow the surcharge in the meantime.

He said the union would also like to see more taxi rank spaces in Dublin which had lost its large St Stephen’s Green rank to the Luas and the Gresham rank which was being re-developed.