A report on the taxi industry has recommended that a moratorium should not be placed on the issuing of new licences.
Taxi drivers have been calling for such a halt to the issuing of licences and continued their protest this morning outside the Offices of the Taxi Regulator on Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Square before the report was published.
The Goodbody report entitled Economic Review of Small Public Service Vehicle (SPSV), published by the Taxi Regulator Kathleen Doyle today, said the current regulatory structure in the taxi industry was “the most appropriate and successful model and should be continued.”
It called for further improvement of standards with fast tracking of planned reforms considered. Quality and innovative service should be rewarded while greater provision of service for people with disabilities should be sought.
Earnings in the taxi industry have not collapsed and while drivers have to work harder to meet their income expectations, there is evidence that demand still exceeds supply at peak times, the report found.
Members of the Drivers for Change campaign group which had sought a moratorium on the issuing of new licences immediately dismissed the report’s findings and called on the taxi regulator to resign.
Ms Doyle said the report showed there is no doubt that the drivers, who staged their sixth protest in recent weeks today, “are operating in a more competitive market than ever”. But she added there has also been a drop in new licence applications every month for the last nine months “which is perhaps an indicator of the market finding its natural equilibrium.”
Among the key findings of the report into the industry which was worth €1.5billion in 2008 are:
Waiting times for consumers have reduced since 2005; The demand for SPSV services peaks on Fridays and Saturdays, which account for 73 per cent of all trips; In Dublin, from 2001 to 2008, the proportion of cabs arranged by telephone has increased from 38 per cent to 58 per cent. Nationally, 63 per cent of bookings are by phone, and 37 per cent are street hires; Use of SPSV services by people with disabilities is lower than that of the general population and has decreased since 2005.
In relation to drivers’ working hours the report found that overall, drivers were working longer hours than in 2005, with an average 52-hour week. Estimated earnings varied considerably, but “best analysis” suggests that average earnings have dropped, “although not dramatically”.
But reaction from the Drivers for Change campaign this lunchtime was swift and forceful. In calling for the Taxi Regulator to “consider her position” spokesman Frank Byrne said the industry “no longer has confidence in the regulator to implement reforms”.
The drivers said they were particularly incensed with the report’s contention that there was no economic justification for a moratorium on the issuing on new licences, which they described as “patently false”.
Siptu branch organiser Jerry Brennan said it came as no surprise that the report did not support a moratorium on issuing licences.
“It concurs with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey’s letter to me on October 6th last year, in which he stated that he ‘would not contemplate a moratorium’ on more taxi plates being issued.
“Based on this letter and two years of non-productive talks with his Department, we balloted our members last November and they voted by 98 per cent to support a Taxi Drivers Rights Campaign. We suspended the campaign this week in the light of the impending report in the hope it would highlight abuses and propose measures to deal with them.
“Unfortunately it failed to do so. It seems to feel the carefree distribution of licences is perfectly acceptable and the report ignores the problems of: a lack of an appeals process against decisions of the Taxi Regulator; the method for issuing licences and the health and safety problems arising from double-jobbing and a lax licensing system for divers and the travelling public alike.
Mr Brennan said Siptu's taxi branch committee had therefore decided to resume its rights campaign for drivers.
"Over the coming days we will embark on an appropriate series of protests after prior consultation with our colleagues in the other taxi organisations.”
Drivers will now take part in a mass protest in Trim Co Meath, the constituency base of Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, on Wednesday.