It is the new taxi-charging option that has brought traffic in and around Dublin to a near halt over the past month.
On two occasions, taxi drivers have mounted go-slow protests in the city centre and near the airport to draw attention to Uber’s new fixed-fare option.
And further days of disruption loom – unless accommodation can be reached at a meeting in Government Buildings later this week.
The global transportation giant has started offering Irish customers fixed rates when they book a taxi trip through its app.
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Uber claims it is offering passengers clarity on what they will pay – and it will result in more “earning opportunities for drivers”.
The taxi industry has reacted angrily, claiming that if a journey is delayed by heavy traffic or roadworks this cannot be reflected in the fare – and the amount can fall well short of what the traditional metered fare would have been.
So how does the process work?
Trying to book a cab last Friday morning in south Dublin, it seemed that either taxi drivers using the Uber app were very busy or they were ignoring fixed-fare requests.
Here is how it went: this reporter first attempts to book a fixed-fare trip to Rathfarnham shopping centre – a journey of about 2.5km.
Various options are suggested. First, a traditional metered trip with an estimated price of between €12 and €15.
Second, the fixed-fare option – the same journey but for a guaranteed €12.12: “You will not pay more than the fare displayed”.
Within two minutes the app suggests a tip be added – saying “a driver may be more likely to accept this trip if you add a tip”. In the interests of not distorting the research, this option is declined.
Six minutes later it is all clearly a failure. “Please choose a different trip,” says the Uber app. “Sorry, Taxi Fixed Price is unavailable right now.”
A longer journey, a 6km trip to Dundrum Shopping Centre, is then selected – only to end up with the same result. Drivers either unavailable or unwilling to take the booking.
The first Friday before Christmas may well be a difficult time to find a taxi driver. With many an office Christmas party in full swing later that day, bigger and more readily available fares in the evening could prove more enticing.
Another effort to book through the Uber app later in the day fails to land a fixed fare to Dundrum priced at €20.20 – but instead a metered fare is finally accepted.
Getting on board, the driver, who doesn’t wish to be named, confirms the suspicion there was little appetite to pick up fixed fares. “We are not taking them right now.”
A taxi driver for the better part of a decade, he has plenty of thoughts on the latest development from Uber.
“They are taking money off the drivers and the customers. They’ll charge €20 even when the journey only ends up costing €17 – when the roads aren’t busy the fixed fare can actually be more expensive,“ he claims.
“When people order a ride they select the fixed one because it looks cheaper and they don’t realise.
“And then when it is busy with traffic – the driver loses.”
He tells of a colleague who accepted a fixed fare to Tallaght village, only to get stuck in heavy traffic for about half an hour.
“That customer ordered with a fixed rate of only €10. That journey would have normally worked out at €23.”
While we talk, the meter is ticking over.
Traffic is light for a late Friday afternoon – and the metered fare actually turns out cheaper than the advertised fixed fare: €18 instead of €20.20.
The driver departs with the words: “There you go!”
Wednesday’s meeting at Government Buildings will probably see taxi drivers demand action from the National Transport Authority (NTA) to put an end to the fixed-fare practice.
The NTA sets the metered fares that drivers base their livelihoods around.
The authority has said it only sets the maximum amount that a driver can charge and has no role to play in any arrangements between taxi drivers and third parties such as Uber.
“We’ve been asked to sit down, have a negotiation and see if we can sort things out,” says Taxi Drivers Ireland spokesman Derek O’Keefe. “What we’ve said is that we will look to relax things until Wednesday – and then see what you have to say.”
Drivers fear it is the thin end of a wedge. While they don’t have to accept fixed fares, they worry that if the development is not confronted, further challenges to their traditional business model could follow.
Uber is a massive company, boasting 189 million monthly users in 2024 – and gross bookings worth more than $44 billion (€37.7 billion).
Clearly the company has been frustrated in its efforts to establish a private car-sharing operation in Ireland like the sort it offers elsewhere around the globe. It has not been able to achieve the regulatory change it wants – and has been forced to find a new role for itself within the regulated taxi industry.
Uber maintains it is simply offering customers more options and more certainty on their costs. It cannot be denied that if such fixed-fare options were to become widespread, customers would certainly be saving money on many journeys.
[ John McManus: Taxi drivers are going to war with Uber. There won’t be any winnersOpens in new window ]
The taxi industry claims, however, that what would more likely happen in such a scenario is that drivers would be forced to leave the business – and taxi numbers would fall significantly.
If the dispute is not resolved over the coming days, Dublin’s Christmas shoppers and revellers could again find themselves going nowhere fast.
