John Kennedy Dublin Taxi DriverI've been driving a taxi for eight years now. I think some of what the taxi regulator will be doing will be good for business, but painting the cars a uniform colour - I just don't think that will work.
If you are a driver who has just spent 38,000 on a brand new, big and extremely comfortable car, you are not going to want to spray it yellow. What you will get is people buying cheap Japanese imports for a few grand instead, so when it comes to comfort the customer is going to lose out. If they want us all to have the same cars like in New York or Spain they need to look at doing something about the Vehicle Registration Tax. Cars are just too expensive here.
I like the idea of a uniform. We already wear one with National Radio Cabs, it's a blue shirt which has the company name on the sleeve. You look smarter and people can recognise you more easily.
I think it's too easy to get a licence now and that is a problem that needs to be dealt with. A few bad apples can give taxi drivers a bad name but customers are often hard to deal with too. People think they can eat, drink or smoke in the cab.
Some parents refuse to put seatbelts on kids. Drunk people also give you trouble. My point is that drivers need protection just as much as customers and I hope the taxi regulator keeps that in mind.