Irish taxi drivers - do they care at all?

Taxi rates are the maximum fare they are allowed to charge. They are free to charge less. Some firms advertise that they charge X% less than what's on the meter.
 
National Radio Cabs
So national they only serve one county

And, in contrast to other opinions on the green light, I believe this is 'dog whistle' racism. I recall a few years ago some tried to put tricolours on their roof signs.

Reading too much into it I think
I've commented to drivers before I can't see if they are free or not as they drive towards me in the daytime
Well they are nearly past me by the time I see
The lights will help here


The football is coming soon and lots of people will have stickers for that
Is that racism? Can we have C'mon Ireland stickers?
 

Maybe they had a short fare to make and by leaving the light on they were able to guage the demand on the street
 
In other cities with a decent public transport system, a taxi is very much a luxury. In Dublin it is more of a necessity but it is priced as a luxury.

I was thinking of somewhere like New York where taxis are pretty cheap. But yes, I agree with you.
 
I was thinking of somewhere like New York where taxis are pretty cheap. But yes, I agree with you.

Even there it is a luxury. You can take the subway for $1.50 and stand amongst the general population or else you can get in to your own cocooned air con space of a taxi and maybe spend $10.

My brother was once a barman out in NYC. Him and all his Irish friends were all making fortunes but spending it just as quickly.

People from the south got no chance of going home, those from the north could go home once, apply for whichever passport they didn't have and then head back.

Anyway, the accepted wisdom was once you got sick or immobile it was game over. There was a girl who had been there with him and I met up with her in Dublin after she had come home. She had fallen in the snow and broken her wrist and could no longer work the bars, no longer earn tips, no longer pay rent.

But she decided to try to hold out and see if she could make it work. She phoned her mother and asked if she could send some money to help her through the tough patch. Her mother sent her $200 and this girl's response was "I spend more than that on taxis in a weekend!".
 
A friend of mine was over there and working in construction, pulling good money
Got hurt and broke his arm

They wanted $3,000 for the xrays and treatment
Didn't have it so just took the xrays and came home

I may curse James Reilly and the HSE but at least we don't have that situation here

People from the south got no chance of going home, those from the north could go home once, apply for whichever passport they didn't have and then head back.


Before biometrics I was told about a decade ago that if you're on the system and flagged you have one more option

Get a new passport to replace your current one and put your name as Gaelige
Irish being the first offical language of the State and you are entitled to do it if you wish

The US authorities wouldn't pick on this

Could have been a myth but I'm not sure
And that's long over now with electronic tags and biometrics
 

Nitelinks have operated for years at weekends. They operated mid-week during the early part of this century.
 
Taxi rates are the maximum fare they are allowed to charge. They are free to charge less. Some firms advertise that they charge X% less than what's on the meter.

Well, if you interfere with the market by restricting the price a taxi can charge then you're pretty stuck with the quality/offering out there...no incentive at all to offer something more up-market.