More than half of taxi requests go unfulfilled in Cork during peak times

A NEW report has found that 56% of peak time taxi requests are unfulfilled in Cork, as a newly formed coalition demands changes to how the industry is regulated.

Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard has called for an overhaul of current taxi regulations to address the lack of taxis in rural Ireland.

“There is an unequal distribution between urban and rural areas — 60% of the country’s taxis serve 28% of the population, who live in Dublin, which is ludicrous. Whether you’re out in Kinsale, Castletownbere or any town in Ireland, chances are you won’t be able to get a taxi home on a weekend night — people are increasingly worried about their ability to get home safely after a night out,” Mr Lombard added.

Cork taxi driver and sector spokesman Bobby Lynch said that there is no “taxi shortage”, that the issue is instead tied to the negative impact of the taxi apps on drivers’ earnings, saying that they prefer to pick passengers up. 

At peak times, he said “it is utterly impossible to accommodate such a high volume of people at the one time, so at that hour of chaos, taxi apps are turned off, meaning the taxi driver can save the percentage of each fare due to apps for each app job accepted”.

“It is easy for other business chiefs to complain when they don’t have to deal with the issues the last bastion taxi driver has to when the night out is over, putting their own safety at risk in a 24/7 service, which incidentally is the only 24/7 public service available 365 days/nights a year,” Mr Lynch said.

COALITION

It comes as a coalition of hospitality lobby groups and taxi-app companies met last week with members of the Government to address the “chronic shortage” of taxis across Ireland.

The Taxis for Ireland Coalition was established last year in response to a dwindling taxi supply, with Restaurants Association of Ireland, Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, Licensed Vintners’ Association, Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, and mobility firms Bolt and Uber among its members.

Mr Lombard said: “The National Transport Agency has admitted that there has been a very poor uptake on the local hackney pilot grant aided programme, which was launched in January 2023 with the aim of improving and increasing services in rural Ireland.

“I believe it was only taken up by one taxi operator. There is clearly something wrong with this programme so a workable solution must be arrived upon.” He called for the NTA to change “prohibitive” taxi regulations, such as the need to be wheelchair accessible and the fact that drivers must also take a geography test.

“Most of us driving in 2024 utilise Google Maps or Satnav aids to arrive at our destination — this is standard practice nowadays for all drivers on the road,” he added.

The coalition meeting heard the negative impact the availability of taxis was having on businesses, and significant barriers to more drivers entering the industry were discussed.

A report published in advance of the meeting by Steer, using extensive industry-wide trip data made available by Bolt, shows the state of the taxi industry in Dublin and Cork, highlighting stark gaps between customer demand and actual taxi supply. The report shows that in Dublin 43% of requested trips by customers can go unfulfilled at peak times (between 12pm on Friday and Sunday morning), and even the least constrained period of the week, Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, has a 16% shortfall.

The problem is more pronounced in Cork, where 56% of peak time requests are unfulfilled and 40% of off peak.