In terms of the way the taxi industry has been deregulated I have a great deal of sympathy for taxi drivers. I think the regulator, Kathleen Doyle, has made a complete bollocks of it.
The deregulation in itself is not a bad thing but at the heart of it there must be an understanding that you have to protect the quality of the industry. Anyone who regularly takes taxis in Dublin, and I’m sure in other parts of the country, must know that the quality of service has declined quite seriously.
If you’re not trying to explain to someone who can barely speak English where you need to go, you have guys who don’t respect the business they’re in. A few weeks back I was walking from South Anne St to the rank on Dawson Street. Pulled up on the corner was a guy who gestured me to get into his cab. I ignored him, went to the rank and got into the car of the bloke who had been queueing properly. He was somewhat exasperated at the queue jumping taxi, saying it happens all over the place.
And it’s a sign that people are desperate for fares, desperate to make a living, and eventually you will be in a situation where people have hung up their taxi plates and been forced into doing something else. The quality and safety of passengers will suffer as the quality of person doing the job declines. This is inevitable and I understand completely why taxi drivers are upset.
However, they’re not going to get much sympathy from me or anyone else if they carry on with the shit they got up to yesterday. Blocking roads, causing delays to people trying to get home from work, inconveniencing people who are just trying to get where they need to go. There are more ‘pickets’ planned for today. I got caught in the last ‘strike’ they had and there’s nothing quite as infuriating as sitting in your car going nowhere because some people think they’re above the law.
I know they want to make a point. Do it by withdrawing all service. The inconvenience is there for people who need/want to take taxis. They will be a lot more understanding of the problems taxi drivers face. When you block O’Connell Street and the Luas and Pembroke Square and wherever else, you immediately lose the public. I don’t give one fuck about the rights and wrongs of any situation if I’m left sitting in my car or on a non-moving bus when I want to get home after a long day at work.
It’s quite clear the taxi regulator won’t listen to taxi drivers and both she and the Minister for Transport have to bear some responsibility for the protests that brought traffic to a standstill yesterday. Ultimately though it rests with the drivers who are going to isolate themselves completely from what’s left of public goodwill if they keep this up.
I have to be somewhere today, I have to take a taxi, if they make life difficult for me then I’ll deregulate them right in their cunts.
But if there was to be a taxi strike, would they all go on strike or would you have the likes of your rank-jumper out trying to make a killing while all the good guys are marching around with placards?
There should be rules for taxi drivers
1. Garda vetting
2. ‘The knowledge’
3. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to…
One of the many annoying things about taking a taxi is having to tell the driver every turn to take to get to your destination efficiently. If you say nothing you get taken all over the city to increase the fare. Drives me nuts. I expect taxi drivers to take the piss when I am on hols, but not in my own city.
The deregulation does seem to have been handled badly, resulting in the free-for-all we have now. The Knowledge, car standards, and market forces will iron this out in the long-term, one would imagine.
But, if the taxi unions had been a little more open to negotiation in the early days, maybe they could have had some better regulation.
All the did was say no, no, no.
This is what they, and we, get.
One thing for sure, I no longer have to walk halfway home to try and get a taxi these days.
That in itself is a good thing.
The system in London works quite well.
Black cabs:
Drivers have done the knowledge so generally know where they are going, you can hail them in the street or book by phone but they’re expensive and use fare meters.
Mini cabs:
You can only book by phone or call in at their base, English maybe their second language. They may not know where they’re going but they use sat nav, are a lot cheaper and you can generally negotiate the fare when you call.
Unlicensed/illegal cabs:
Expensive, cars are death traps and drivers might rape the hole off you.
“there’s nothing quite as infuriating as”
I had a little smile at that bit – it must be so hard to choose from so many potential candidates & rank their infuriatingness score thingy.
It’s enough to drive someone to chew their fingers
1. Garda vetting
2. ‘The knowledge’
3. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to…
heh at number 3 but 1 and 2 are crucial.
Div, I like that sliding scale of service in London. Although is it compulsory to be a West Ham fan to drive a black cab? Maybe I’m just unlucky.
Christy, I am an impatient driver at the best of times.
“Div, I like that sliding scale of service in London. Although is it compulsory to be a West Ham fan to drive a black cab? Maybe I’m just unlucky.”
Yes it’s compulsory and a condition of union membership.
I usually use mini cabs primarily because they’re cheaper but the fact that they tend to keep their gobs shut is also a factor.
Not being sure of how exactly to say ‘Wot abaat that Zola then?’ is probably a factor for them.
The walk from O’Connell Bridge to Cabra was particularly bracing.
If they want to block O’Connell Street they should be made to sit in their cars and take the abuse they deserve.
Instead, they stand outside Clery’s and the Savoy and melt in with every other punter.
If I blocked the road, I’d be arrested. Why doesn’t the law apply to these fuckbags? Is it because the stench of their BO repels the Gardai?
http://skinflicks.blogspot.com/2010/03/jail-taximen-arseholes.html
Speaking as a former taxi driver who decided to get a job where I was sure I’d get paid at the end of the week I feel I have to point out to Conan….
1: Garda Vetting: This is already in place. To apply for the spsv test you need to go to a garda station and you need 2 references from people not in the taxi business, having said that the courts can overrule the gardai if you appeal the decision which is happening more and more.
2: The Knowledge: Most of the taxi drivers I’ve spent time with over the years actually want this because they know that the current system is open to any manner of gobshite passing. When I did the test you had to get 70% to pass and I was surprised I passed as I had been away for a good few years. The Knowledge would, in my opinion, weed out those who are just buying taxis thinking they’re going to make loads of money. I can tell you thats a complete myth.
As for the final point “Don’t speak unless spoken too” I agree to many drivers are too free with their opinions however there is a code of conduct in place and if you feel you have been insulted by any driver you are free to complain to the regulator. The downside here is that it has to be in writing and must contain your name and contact info as well as the badge and plate number of the driver and most times a receipt from the fare, which most people never take.
Taxi drivers always strike on Tuesdays because most of them play golf on that day so it always looks like there are more out in sympathy. I never participated in strike action but still couldn’t work the days the industry did due to hardliners within who would actually stone your car or worse, I heard of one driver having his car set on fire, I don’t know if thats true but I do know I couldn’t afford to be off the road more than one day a week. The last major strike they had members of my own family were forced to sell up and get other jobs due to mortgages and other debt all for a strike they didn’t participate in.
Every taxi driver I have ever met moans about the industry but most of the decent one’s just take the day off when there’s a strike. It’s seldom that the NTDU goes on strike mainly because they will go through every other channel first and also they always try to keep an open dialogue with all those concerned.
Taxi drivers moan. Fact. They always have, way back in the mists of time “I had Caesar in me taxi yesterday. Total cunt. And that Cleopatra, don’t get me started…” and they always will moan.
I always thought the ‘knowledge’ was lessons in things to complain about.
All the taxi drivers in Swindon are Tottenham fans. There is chaos when Spurs parade a trophy on the open top bus. Last time it happened you couldn’t get a taxi here for love or money. Mind you, there was nowhere to go in 1961 anyway…
Great film !
You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here.
and of course, Jodie Jail Bait!
Stick your taxi up yer arse silly old sod!
“Garda Vetting: This is already in place….”
I don’t think that’s the sort of complete Garda vetting that applies in other areas. For instance, if you go on a Fas scheme and do grounds maintenance work at a school, you will have to provide a total life history – every place you’ve ever lived, every job you’ve ever had – without any gaps.
maggot is Tony Galvin? No wonder yer pissed at his hour ;-)
Garda vetting – let me guess – character witness from someone – say a priest ?
maggot is more Danny Blanchflower, SoS.
Or a TD Maggot..
That’s even worse fill !
Twenty – be nice, I said nice things about your lot last night!
I thought I was being nice
I’d rather have Joe le Taxi maggot
Crikey crank – sweet!
Not always…
http://alltheprettythingsuk.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/81006eh4.jpg
Bring back the trams. taxi drivers are cunts.
if your willing to do a job any simpleton can do (own a driving licence) then you can’t expect to be one of a priveleged few.
It’s a good point about them being arrested, Skinner. Too many of them or just an unwillingness on the Gardai’s part?
Everytime my brother comes back here from New York he tells the following story
He walks out the arrivals gate and gets in the taxi
Taxidriver – “So, where can I take you?”
Brother – “Malahide please”
Taxidriver – “For fucks sake”
Brother – “What’s the problem and why the language?”
Taxidriver – “I didn’t sit here for an hour to bring a fare to Malahide”
Brother – “I think you’ll find that you did”
Irish taxi drivers, and I emphasise Irish taxi frivers, are – in a way that GAA members can be broadly brushed with the same stroke – pig ignorant cunts.
Seriously, JC, that was out of order. Leave me my airbrushed fantasy. It’s all I have.
They brought the knowledge test in last July and the failure rate is 80%.
Only 8% of wannabe taxi drivers pass it first time around.
So we have a glut of ignorant know nothing drivers out there now but hopefully in a few years time we’ll only have ignorant know something drivers.
“and I emphasise Irish taxi frivers”
Emphasise that again for me itchy.
heh
sorry…looking back on it I might have meant chinese, chicken flied lice and all that…
You know, I can understand a guy who isn’t from Dublin, or Ireland, not knowing his way around, but when SatNav systems are such a snip in Harvey Norman then they have no excuse.
GAA members can be broadly brushed with the same stroke – pig ignorant cunts.
If I said that you fuckers would be nailing me to a cross!
Dont hold yourself in such high esteem …
We only nail fuckers who claim they are messiahs
crowd –> “crucify him crucify him”
Punctual pirate –> ” ii …iii wash my hands of this mutha fucka ”
crowd –> “There only one punctual pirate..oneeeee punctual pirateeeeeeeee”
and then we all go have a pint …
I think that London had the best idea: drive around for free for a few years and then pass the knowlege test. That’s the dedication we need from taxi drivers here.
I spend a fortune on cabs mainly because night time transportation is non-existant and I don’t drive myself. I think that they should first concentrate on improving public transport, then reduce the nuber of cabs by 80% and make them what they are supposed to be: luxury services.
I took a taxi to the airport last week, the seats were grubby, the floor was manky and the suspension was knackered!
Every time I call a taxi, they are in bits, too old, and dirty.
The cars, not the drivers, although…
Anyway, that’s the problem, the drivers are too mean to buy decent cars, and they can’t be arsed to maintain the ones they have.
I hate taxi drivers, they are bastards!
1. Garda vetting
2. ‘The knowledge’
3. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to…
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but wouldn’t all of the above conditions require a reasonable level of spoken English? And you also forgot the most important one:
4. Compulsory deodorant use.
Isn’t she Johnny Depp’s missus Crank? A case of Paradise Lost, old boy.
Where there’s life, there’s hope, Lung. Now where’s me pills?
(Milton’s poem ‘Paradise Lost’ was, after all, followed by ‘Paradise Regained’).
“Anyway, that’s the problem, the drivers are too mean to buy decent cars, and they can’t be arsed to maintain the ones they have.”
Taxi Drivers cannot claim back VAT/VRT or any other expenses and they are literally out for up to 80 hours a week to scrape a subsistence living. They cant afford to be splashing out on luxery cars every 2 years.
They really need to standardise the cars, car colours etc and allow the capital costs and depreciation to be offset against taxs. This will keep the part timers out of the business and leave it to the full time professional taxi drivers.
As a former taxi driver I have met more cunts as passengers then I have ever met as taxi drivers.
best title ever…
i lose sympathy for them when i see them just sitting there with their engines running reading the paper. things cant be that bad if they can afford to waste fuel.
we’re more enlightened down here maggot; we’ve earned the right to generalise *cough, cough, cough*
speaking of which
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8558311.stm
where is robocop when you need him?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCznvywH9G4
i lose sympathy for them when i see them just sitting there with their engines running reading the paper. things cant be that bad if they can afford to waste fuel.
they are doing their bit to counteract this freezing winter
It is strange to me that a group of self employed individuals can get together, organise and call themselves a union and even get to affiliate with SIPTU. I’m not aware of any other group of self employed folks who have trade union that’s in SIPTU. Sure the docs have the IMO and the engineers the IEI but they ain’t let join SIPTU so why the taxi lads?
Fact is in most other countries X taxi licenses are given to a company for X number of cars and lads are hired into drive them. They get a set rate and perhaps a share of the fares but the taxi license isn’t theirs, and they do tests to get their medallions and what not. This lark about cars less than 9 years old strikes me as nonsense but there again haven’t the unions been complaining at the subject requirements that exist already that a car be in good nick.
Lung, I think it’s actually…
4. Weren’t you told to shut up already!
then
5. Compulsory deodorant use.
Was always going to be a trap that, allowing private taxi licenses to become a tradeable commodity. Some people used them as collateral for loans I believe.
It was always going to be the law of diminishing returns to the customer as a natural monopoly formed. That monopoly is the union and this is going to be a running sore as a public policy issue as long as taxi licenses are artificially kept inflated in value. Some future govt is going to have to widen the licensed taxi numbers and take the flak for lowering the value of the licenses.
Captain, as far as I am aware the licences are at a fixed price and they are available to buy from the regulator so there’s no artificial price. Harney treated it a bit like the brits and yanks treated eyeraq, while flying through shannon on their way to blanket bomb the place. She “liberated” the market but made no plan for what would happen next. It’s like everything else that she’s ever involved in, anything she touches turns into a pile of shite. And looking at the shape of her I reckon it could be scuttery shite, solid shite and watery shite in places too. The quote from The Wire – “The whole world shines shit and calls it gold” was written for that spoofing, useless, power-hungry fuck.
You still would though Itchy, wouldn’t you?
In a flash Christy.
Phew, I was a bit worried you might be unwell for a minute there. No response then to your plea for people’s sisters, mothers, or grandmothers to come your way?
Israeli taxi-drivers must be complete and utter cunts. I reckon they bring you home, rob your house, bulldoze it and then build their own gaff on top of it. That’ll be 20 quid there bud.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8558850.stm
No, I’m feeling ok. I don’t really think I could pretend to like that yoke harney so it’d end in tears. Imagine the conversation
Mary Harney – “Can you just
no, no, no
Oh no you *are* unwell :). (I hate those but I don’t have a font called Smiling).
Having standards can be such an impediment.
At least you can wait for a Merc to come along these days.
I only have one standard; it does help if you like someone to start with. Harney disgusts me. I like Iris Robinson.
Sorry about revealing the shocking truth about Mrs Depp.
+1 on the Robocop idea.
As for why won’t the keystones arrest the cabbies?
I think they’re a) lazy as fuck and b) under orders not to.
Because if they did, the government is concerned it could spark wider civil unrest among the rest of us, who might wake up to being mugged for Nama and the banksters, and burn down Dail Eireann with the wasters inside.
Also, if they did enforce some standards and the law, and face down the cabbies, most of them would end up on the dole sucking up more welfare funds we’d have to borrow.
Probably loads of them already are doing that, though, so I reckon it’s worth it just to see the look of self-entitlement smacked off their unshaved faces with nightsticks.
The cops will do what they want to do. They always have and they always will. They are a law unto themselves.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0310/breaking42.html
holy fuck. bbc just showed the irish embassy in rome. it a bit like the 3 bed semi. except it’s a palace.
Reminds me, I really must blog about Irish embassies abroad I’ve known, loved and via my taxes paid for.
TTFN.
it looks a bit 3rd reich to me
http://www.cormhaigheo.com/images/embassy1.JPG
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1426/665331962_31fa3c202e.jpg?v=0
There y’are now:
http://skinflicks.blogspot.com/2010/03/irish-embassies-ive-known-and-loved-and.html
jc, i tried to leave a comment on your very good article but found it absolutely impossible. “moderator id activated, blah, blah,” hit publish..zoink.
so here you go
My aunt worked for UN Consul in the Lebanon in the 50′s and 60′s. It was fucking nutzoid.
After Colin Powell made his pitch speech for the invasion of Eyeraq at the UN in New York he met reporters for a follow-up. Behind his podium there was a tapestry of Guernica. The yanks fucking covered it up with a white sheet. Wouldn’t do to talk about starting a war in front of painting depicting dead and decapitated women, men, children and animals.
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/peace_conflict/images/content/picasso_guernica1937.jpg
I’ve kind of gone off track but you know what I mean with regard to your ref to ashtray dude and african palaces etc.. harney has already fucked off to new zealand for paddy’s day. If I was a sheep I’d watch my arse.
pass the j there. or if you’re in the leb, pass the acid.
Sorry about the moderating thingy. I was getting vicious spam from the Viagrabots and a particular loon in the North who reckoned that I was in cahoots with MI5 to kill him.
After 50-odd posts of his nonsense, it was install a moderating system or else call up MI5 to make his dreams come true.
Can someone call a taxi for the poor archbishops?
what a pack of loons. on tv3 just now they’re behaving like they’re the victims. mondo bizarro.
..heh
maggot…are you a spook?
Archbishops are pretty fond of the oul palaces too.
you’ve created an antithesis blog jc.
I’m still wondering why Peadar is going to New Zealand too
“harney has already fucked off to new zealand for paddy’s day. If I was a sheep I’d watch my arse.”
Correct JC. And to back up your point somebody just said a great line ” When you get made a bishop you won’t go hungry and you won’t ever be told the truth”
This press conference is fucking crazy. They’ve rolled back the murphy report and are saying crazy shit. Still no apology for the cover-up. These fuckers are in charge of school boards. crazy. and you can’t go to offie after midnight. blahdeblah. fuckers.
TAXI!
If Skinflicks is the antithesis, I’m living in fear of the thesis.
As for the bishops, Father Ted was bang on. Big swinging boots up the hole of the lot of them.
maggot…are you a spook?
What ? I was raised C of I.
This Tallaght Hospital thing is getting crazier too. There are two years of unopened referral letters to go through too. What the fuck. Are all the staff chomping quaaludes? Trying to think of a taxi angle…
the lot of them.
maggot Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
maggot…are you a spook?
What ? I was raised C of I.
So you sing at the drop of a hat then. A crazy trait of C o I.
crazy is my word of the day today
I quit them years ago.
crazy is my word of the day today
It’s been your word quite a lot of late. You OK ?
a particular loon in the North who reckoned that I was in cahoots with MI5 to kill him.
Was it Felix by any chance ?
Nah. I found out in the end who he was, purely out of fear for my own safety.
Poor lad was suffering from schizophrenia. Very sad.
I’m just dandy. Wait ’til you see the hole that the church dug for themselves today in Maynooth. They played the Willie O’Dea defence of “I’m a victim”. They monumentally fucked it up. Dermot Ahern said a prayer for them.
I rarely use the word crazy. it’s too similar to “awesome” in my mind.
JC Skinner Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Nah. I found out in the end who he was, purely out of fear for my own safety.
Poor lad was suffering from schizophrenia. Very sad.
Celtic fans chant to Andy Goram when he said he had mental health issues -
“There’s only two Andy Gorams, two Andy Gorams, there’s only two Andy Gorams. Two Andy Gorams, there’s only two Any Gorams, two etc, etc, (refrain)
Nah. I found out in the end who he was, purely out of fear for my own safety.
Know what you mean – in the 80s I noticed I was being followed, made me incredibly nervous. Turned out to be a private detective hired by my dear ex-wife.
Wait ’til you see the hole that the church dug for themselves today in Maynooth.
When in a hole, stop digging. I’m still chuckling at Fr Des Wilson’s umbrage at people asking which planet he lived on when he suggested in the IT that as Child abuse is a world wide problem the Catholic Church were the lads to sort it out.
The North’s the North.
It’s a bit like Moyross or Crumlin or Iraq.
And not at all like Foxrock or Islington.
If you’re in the latter places and some loon is following you, physically or virtually, you wouldn’t generally give a toss.
If it’s in the North, however, or indeed Moyross or Crumlin, you might want to think about your personal security.
I was never too fond of that Andy Goram chant. The lad might be a bigot, but he was suffering a mental illness. Not something to joke about.
Which I like reminding hoops-wearing mongs about when they get all thin-skinned about that sick Rangers song about the Famine.
Plus, this really can’t be said enough times: schizophrena =/= multiple personality disorder.
Mind you, having said that, if you had a referral letter to the Tallaght psychiatric service, you might want to develop a few extra personalities in order to be seen quicker.
A bit like buying extra lines in the lottery, type of thing.
Just been reading what Itchy was talking about – Christopher Jones – what a wally!
yeah..i’m with you jc but i did it find it funny. but I also found Gazza’s flute mimic fucking hilarious too. Celtic fans went berko.
I think that poor loon Gazza didn’t even know what he was doing.
He was last spotted barking like a dog at a chipper then driving home drunk as a lord somewhere in Yorkshire.
that was the best bit. he wouldn’t have a had a fucking clue how insulting it was. A guy I know supports celtic and refuses to see the disparity between him finding the andy goram chant funny and not finding the gazza one funny, he can’t get the two; or won’t.
maggot; that guy jones had two friends on stage with him too. they must do some seriously fucked up shit in church. mental reservation. says it all.
Benny also claimed something similar a few years ago
In November of 2002, speaking in Murcia, Spain, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, had sounded a similar note when saying that extensive media coverage of the US sex abuse crisis had led him to conclude that it was part “of a planned campaign . . . It is intentional, manipulated, there is a desire to discredit the church.”
It won’t be long before they start on about the media being run by Jooze and Masons!
But I find the issue of conscience about Gay partnerships wonderful – considering they have not asked for an equivalent dispensation for Catholic Registrars and Staff when faced with a marriage involving somebody who is divorced.
Perfect solution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuOfieIG0Q
Pull the taxi-driver out of his seat and drive yourself away…
SO – LET THE PUBLICANS DO WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT…BUT NOT THE TAXI DRIVERS…YOUR NOTION OF FREE ENTERPRISE LEAVES A LOT TO BE DESIRED….
Ah, there’s a surprise, GLUEY is a taxi driver. He probably has a cap-lock key on his horn.
If they want to earn a living I suggest the lazy cunts go to that Dawson Street rank after midnight on any Saturday night when it’s invariably raining and there are a hundred people waiting for a taxi.
VoT, did you previously blog as a Northern Irish civil servant?
You Show I Go.
cERTAINLY not!
So, Most people here think taxi drivers are useless cunts? Why bother with them then? Fuck off and get the bus. No bus at 4am? Fuck u too. Complain to Dublin Bus or FUCK OFF, OK? Dublin Bus and CIE has your tax money, go and complain to those cunts when you can’t get home, when your full of piss and wind and kebabs.