New standards for taxis saw the size of the Dublin fleet fall from 27,000 in 2007 to under 22,000 by 2019. For obvious reasons, the Covid-19 pandemic also has not helped and there are now just under 19,000 cabs on the roads of the capital
On a recent Saturday night, Wayne Canavan walked for around 90 minutes from Dublin's Harcourt Street in search of a taxi home to Finglas."Every single corner we walked to, there was someone sticking their arm out," Mr Canavan told Prime Time.For some, a dearth of cabs is more than an inconvenience.
But new standards for taxis, including the introduction of a rule restricting the age of taxi vehicles to under 10 years, saw the size of the fleet fall to under 22,000 by 2019. But the National Transport Authority has signaled that the stay will soon come to an end, meaning that around 5,300 taxi vehicles will be too old to be on the roads by next year.Many of the taxi drivers who wish to continue working will struggle to find finance to purchase a newer vehicle.
For my part, I was unable to book a taxi using Free Now at midnight on Saturday night. Each time the app told me that it was unable to find a driver. Noting that it was"easier to get a car ride" outside Ireland, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar recently floated the idea of a further relaxation of regulations.
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