Roy August 24th, 2010
Special thanks goes to Jack for this information:
New Roof Sign with area ID will be available from November @ €15 each.
Driver will need a separate sign for each area for which they hold a licence.
The Commission for Taxi Regulation will issue the new IDs directly to drivers.
Hopefully we’ll all have them ready to go for the Christmas season
Roy August 23rd, 2010
All the recent hype and upset among the Taxi driving fraternity (I wish) has been about the nine year rule and about how many wonderful cars this will remove from the fleet. However coming up very quickly behind it are the luggage capacity/shoulder room rules, these rules will take from the fleet, cars that are younger than the nine years, (many I have seen are 2008 registered) which will all have passed the rigorous new suitability test and so will be clean and presentable vehicles.
Why aren’t the rep bodies fighting the case for these guys? Maybe a three passenger licence could be issued which would solve the problem……….
Here are two cars which I remember being heavily advertised in Taxi magazines and have seen cruising around the city with yellow roof signs on, both of which are no longer deemed acceptable.
Nissan Tilda:
Toyota Corolla:
Roy August 19th, 2010
Vinny Kearns seems to be back on the Taxi case again, lately I have been CC’d a number of e-mails from him, including this one which was sent to the CTR and the media:
Hi all,
we have played around with our “Social Corporate Responsibility” and responded with the correct sound bites to create the perception that we genuinely want to create a socially inclusive taxi service. The taxi industry has been blamed for the lack on progress in this regard when the truth is that the responsibility lies with the Government and if the right incentives and subvention is introduced we will be in a position to deliver. This topic has not received enough public debate and I would appreciate it if the representative bodies would bring this to the attention of the media. The government will not remove VRT and VAT from the purchase of W.A.T.s and there is no plans to subsidise travel for those needing the services.,
Regards,
Vinny
He also included an article about the situation in NSW this is a clip from that article:
The Government in New South Wales have come up with this novel idea:
Incentive payment for wheelchair accessible taxi drivers
The NSW Government is undertaking a twelve month trial of an incentive payment to wheelchair taxi drivers when they carry passengers in wheelchairs.
Since 1 December 2007, drivers of Wheelchair Accessible Taxis (WATs) have been able to claim $7.70 plus GST for each wheelchair passenger carried. The trial is funded from the Taxi Advisory Committee account at no cost to passengers.
This payment is only for the driver of the WAT and is designed to improve reliability and response times for passengers, and to support WAT drivers in achieving these improvements. The NSW Government is committed to improving wheelchair accessible taxi services and supporting WAT drivers in achieving these improvements.
Any chance our lot might take a leaf from that book?
Roy August 19th, 2010
Lots of these on display last night:
Traditionally a bonus night for Taxi drivers and sure enough there were thousands of extra young revelers in the city last night, I seriously think I need to go to confession today after being forced to look at all the semi naked young girls parading about the place!
However there were some amount of Taxis in the city too, many of whom didn’t seem to know their way around! I spotted one making a right off Mercer street and heading the wrong way down a very busy Cuffe Street, there were a few who indicated that they were about to make similar maneuvers but thankfully a warning beep alerted them to their mistakes, many didn’t seem to know how the ranks operated.
Did the CTR issue a lot of new plates yesterday? As this seem to be the only explanation for it, for as we are aware “the fleet is extremely compliant with the regulations”
Roy August 17th, 2010
I’d like to thank Vinny Kearns for this article showing that while the Taxi business in Ireland has been destroyed, during the corresponding period in New York the business has thrived, yet nobody would complain about the standard of vehicle or service in New York, just shows what could have been if we had proper regulation.
As Vinny says in his subject line what’s wrong with plates having a value? …….and what’s wrong with drivers making a living?
A New York City taxi drives through Times Square in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
One of the best investments of the last 20 years may be bolted to the hoods of 13,237 yellow cars in New York City, not traded on an exchange.
From 1990 through the end of last month, the cost of individual medallions for New York City taxicabs increased by 373 percent and corporate medallions by 508 percent, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index is up 375 percent over the same period, and the MSCI World Index climbed 224 percent. Crude oil gained 245 percent.
“Taxi medallions are one of the only assets I know of in the past couple of years that have gone up in this economy,” said Andrew Murstein, president of Medallion Financial Corp., which finances sales of the license that allows drivers to pick up paying passengers on the street.
The average price of a medallion purchased by a taxi company rose 7.7 percent to $825,000 in July from a year earlier, and for individual owners it increased 6.1 percent to $607,000, according to the commission’s website.
The value of the license has climbed as employers curb use of company cars, subway fares rise and cabs let customers pay with credit cards, Murstein said. In 1990, the initial charge for a taxi was $1.50, with an additional $1.25 per mile, compared with a $2.50 base and $2 per mile today, said commission spokesman Allan Fromberg.
The medallion’s performance is a “tangible vote of confidence in New York City’s overall business climate,” David Yassky, the commission’s chairman, said in an e-mail.
‘Too Expensive’
The six-inch-wide aluminum disks have been on taxis since the Haas Act of 1937 and usually change owners through brokers. The average downpayment to finance a medallion is 25 percent of the price, Murstein said. The city collects a 5 percent transfer tax on each sale.
“Medallions are too expensive,” said Sterlin Mathieu, 38, who said he’s been driving for a corporate owner for six months. He would “definitely” want to own one in the future, he said.
“Not right now,” said Mathieu, who is originally from Haiti. “Some people spend 16 to 18 hours driving just to make enough money and don’t have time to enjoy it.”
Medallion Financial reported Aug. 4 that second-quarter earnings increased 39 percent. Net investment income, not including gains or losses on investments, climbed to $2.94 million, or 17 cents a share, from $2.12 million, or 12 cents, in the same period a year earlier, the New York-based firm said in a statement.
Cuomo, Weicker, Aaron
The company, whose board includes former three-term New York Governor Mario Cuomo, 78, former U.S. Senator and Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr., 79, and Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron, 76, has seen its stock drop 36 percent through yesterday from its price of $11 in its May 1996 initial public offering, excluding dividends.
Medallion has gained about 21 percent including reinvested dividends from the end of May 1996 through last month, monthly data compiled by Bloomberg show. The S&P 500 Index more than doubled during the same period.
Roy August 16th, 2010
I’ve just finished reading the latest post from my mate Kyle Wilkins called Taxi Abuse in it he tells of a bad experience he had in a Taxi, personally I’m not sure if it was him or the driver that got the raw deal ….. have a read and tell him what you think ………………… Taxi Abuse
While you’re there have a look through some of his other weird and wonderful ramblings……………
Roy August 13th, 2010
There are a number of these spread around Dublin, junctions were you might think you have the right of way, or even a green light but in fact you don’t.
For example:
Pembroke Street turning right on to Leeson Street;
You get a green light, the traffic you think you should be watching for (coming from Hatch Street) actually have a yield sign and must yield to you, the traffic you think should be stopped by a corresponding Red light (coming from the left down Leeson Street) actually get a Green light at the same time you do and have the right of way.
Clapeizod Road heading straight into Chapelizod Village (Knocmaroon hill)
Here the Village is the road straight ahead and a continuation of the road you’re on, When you get a Green light you might assume you can travel straight ahead without worry? But no, you must give way to traffic turning right on to Chapelizod road coming from the West.
Hume Street on to the Green
No lights, no left turn, just take your chances turning right into the outside lane of a busy 3 lane carriageway, while watching out for the odd Bus coming from the right.
Turning right from Dawson Street on to Nassau Street
Should be fairly simple but the amount of people who cross the continuous white line coming from Trinity and who park opposite the white line makes it dodgy enough.
Every long faded painted Roundabout in every housing estate or straight road.
For example, Cooley road in Drimnagh, or Strand Road in Sandymount. Rumours abound that lads watch while unsuspecting drivers approach these junctions and on signal will cause a shit heap to pull out quickly from minor roads onto these large lumps of tippex thereby causing the driver on the major road to damage the shit heap inflicting multiple stress related injuries to its occupants.
There’s 1000′s more ……………..
Roy August 12th, 2010
Regulator says we MUST have the test completed by the end of 2012, therefore the Gardai and Enforcers can fine us €250 if we don’t have a purple ID display card from January 2013, regardless of whether the yellow one is in date or not. (don’t let anyone tell you they won’t or that they’ll do anything about it)
Book it while it’s free, REP bodies can say what they like, they won’t be paying the fine (or for the test) when the time comes.
Everyone I speak to that’s done it says it’s a piece of piss, the one e-mail I received expressing the contrary was from an “interested party” so what are we worrying about?
Just do the damn thing and get it over with.
Also, while I’m at it:
Why does the NCT need to see our Passport or Drivers licence?
Why do the skills test crowd need our PPS number?
Roy August 9th, 2010
I can’t draw to save my life, that’s why the picture below looks like it was done by a 4 year old, but the mere fact that I did it , was bored enough to do it and had the time to do it, proves we don’t have enough work!
Roy August 8th, 2010
I believe that the main reason behind the current “Light Touch Enforcement” regime, otherwise known as “Chaos in the Taxi Industry” is due to the blanket €250 fine for the most petty to very serious breaches of Taxi regulations.
The Gardai and Enforcers along with their masters/mistresses are human and have difficulty imposing €250 fines for petty offences such as ID not displayed properly or Touting on a loading bay, so instead tell offenders to behave, this is not a deterrent.
However if the fines for the above offences were for example €40, then they might be more inclined to dish them out and the powers in charge would be more inclined to give instructions to do so.
Our Lobby groups should campaign for a scaled system of fines depending on the seriousness of the offence and for a strict enforcement of these ofenses.
Maybe then the mess might be sorted
