Fine Gael Senator, Garret Ahearn, has urged Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to address the “significant shortage” of taxi services in rural towns across Ireland.
Senator Ahearn said that Minister Ryan “should be doing more” to ensure a quicker roll out of taxis and hackneys in areas outside the main urban cities.
If what he claimed is “resistance” by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to services like Uber is not addressed by the minister, people living in rural Ireland will “continue to suffer”.
Commenting that this Christmas has again shown the “curtailment” of people’s socialising and shopping due to a lack of “decent” transport in towns and villages, he said:
“We are experiencing a significant shortage of taxi services in our rural towns – that has been evident particularly throughout this busy season.
“It’s high time we [see] some intent from the minister for transport to address the problem – it’s not acceptable that the NTA have such a stranglehold on the rollout and delivery of a reliable service.”
Taxi services
While Uber has been in Ireland and is licensed by the NTA since 2014, it only operates in cities and is subject to the same regulations as other small public service vehicles (SPSV) operators, he said.
“Dispatch operators are required to only provide bookings to SPSV licensed drivers using SPSV licensed vehicles,” according to the Fine Gael senator.
Senator Ahearn claimed that Minister Ryan “continues to dodge any meaningful discussions” around introducing Uber to rural passengers.
Earlier this year, the minister launched a one-year, grant-aided Local Hackney Pilot Scheme to encourage part-time local hackney services in communities which cannot support a full-time taxi or hackney operation.
However, this pilot is currently only servicing 21 locations nationwide and local hackneys may only pick up passengers within a designated area of between 7-10km from a chosen point, he said.
“Those living in our cities and major urban centres are afforded choice when it comes to transport. There’s public transport and various taxi options.
“A choice of transport is something most people in rural Ireland can only dream about – they need a safe, reliable mode of transport that can take them where they need to go, be it to meet friends, attend an appointment or do shopping.
“For too long Minister Ryan has passed the buck to the NTA, leaving the ball entirely in their court to veto who drives our taxis, from where and when,” the senator said.