Explained: Why are taxi drivers protesting?

Ottoline Spearman

In recent weeks, about 1,500 taxi drivers have staged protests in Dublin against Uber's introduction of fixed fares. Taxi Drivers Ireland had planned to scale up the protests to last six days in December, but these were suspended on Friday pending the outcome of talks.

So, why are taxi drivers protesting, and what do they hope to achieve?

Why are taxi drivers protesting?

Drivers are protesting the introduction of fixed fares by Uber.

About a third of Ireland’s more than 17,000 taxi drivers make use of Uber to source fares.

The fixed fare option means that Uber users agree on a fare in advance of taking their trip. Should the meter read less than the agreed fare, the customer pays the lower price. If the meter is higher, due to adverse traffic or other factors, the passenger pays only the pre-agreed fixed fare.

In that instance, the taxi essentially operates as a hackney that is still required to use a meter by National Transport Authority (NTA) standards, reported the Irish Times.

“They sent us an email and told us that’s how it’s going to be,” David Mitchell, a Dublin taxi driver involved in organising the protest, said. “I personally shut down the app and deleted my account a week later.”

“I can’t go out and work 80 hours a week. I just can’t. None of us can – it’s not safe.”

Mr Mitchell used the analogy of a publican cutting the price of a pint and his barman’s salary, before raising the price again but leaving the barman’s wage at the lower level.

Uber said the approach “has been shown to increase rider confidence and trip demand”.

Drivers say that the fixed fares will mean that when a car is delayed by traffic or forced to take an alternative route, they lose out, substantially in some cases.

Taxi Drivers Ireland says that the Government has chosen silence instead of responsibility over plans to bring in these fixed fares.

The drivers, who are not represented by any formal union body, are calling for the Government to intervene and update the existing regulations to outlaw what Uber has done.

Fixed fares and Irish law

There are concerns around how the fixed-price model is allowed under Irish regulations. Uber uses the strategy in different countries around the world, but its business in Ireland has previously had to bend to the laws governing the industry here.

Michael Sharkey, another driver and protest organiser told the Irish Times: “You sign a contract with them. Apparently, it’s buried deep down in the contract that they are enabled to change the working practices whenever they like.

"Our rules for taxis, hackneys and limousines are some of the strictest in Europe, and they’re circumventing them.

“Under regulations, the only people who can fix a fare with a customer is the driver. A dispatch operator is not allowed to fix a fare.”

Uber's website says that "Under Irish regulations governing agreed fares, riders must always be charged the lower of the agreed fixed price or the meter fare."

What did the protests involve?

Two protests have been held so far, on Saturday 22nd November, Thursday 27 November and Wednesday 3rd December. The first protest was confined to areas outside Leinster House, while the second and third protests were more disruptive, with drivers converging around Dublin Airport, between University College Dublin and Merrion Road, Clontarf, and Phoenix Park in a "slow protest", driving less than 20km/h.

What was in store for the six-day protest?

The planned six-day protest in December - now suspended - was set to take place around Dublin city centre and the airport. Taxi Drivers Ireland said it had got the backing of its branches in Galway and Cork, but there were some dissenting voices.

Cork Taxi Council said it would not back the demonstrations. Speaking on Newstalk, CEO Bobby Lynch said that fixed taxi fares are not a new issue in the industry: "Our concerns is the way the industry is going. The NTA will have to come in and stop all this price fixing. But price fixing has been going on for years with taxis and taxi business."

Why has the December protest been suspended?

The six-day protest has been suspended pending the outcome of a meeting next week.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Taxi Drivers Ireland said: "Taxi drivers have confirmed they are suspending further escalation of protest action pending the outcome of a meeting at Government Buildings scheduled for next week.”

"They have also informed An Garda Síochána that all protest activity will be paused while engagement with Government takes place."

A spokesperson for Taxi Drivers Ireland told Newstalk that they are acting in good faith, and they hope that meaningful progress can be made at the meeting.

The group emphasised that the suspension is temporary and subject to the outcome of the meeting.