‘Rideshare’ in Ireland, a threat to your livelihood
We’ve received an avalanche of enquiries from drivers about the Coalition that was formed late last year. It involves certain groups such as publicans, hoteliers and restaurateurs and is led by two of the international taxi apps here in Ireland.
They are claiming that there is a severe taxi shortage. They are lobbying government to address this, but it could well be that the agenda is to deregulate the taxi industry and replace it with a rideshare alternative.
Just to be absolutely clear, Lynk is not part of the Coalition and we would not agree with this idea of a rideshare alternative to taxis.
The fact is that taxi numbers are increasing every year since we emerged from Covid and continues to do so, and service has returned to Pre-Covid levels since the autumn of last year.
Some claims were also made by one of the apps that up to half of their bookings are going unfulfilled on their app at peak times. We certainly do not experience this. We complete around 90% of our bookings with the vast majority of the other bookings cancelled by the passenger for personal reasons. At Lynk we can acknowledge that there are occasionally some periods when demand exceeds supply, but these are not widespread and you, and the rest of our driver network, rise to the challenge every time to clear the bookings and get everyone home Safely.
And Safely is the key-word here. If we were to end up with deregulated rideshare I doubt anyone would feel safe! Neither passengers nor drivers. Lynk would be very clear in saying that we oppose this. In a deregulated rideshare market quality would plummet out of existence and safety would be a throw of the dice. Not to mention driver’s earnings, which would also plummet.
We will work with policy makers and regulators to discourage any form of deregulated rideshare. We could probably agree to certain changes, like an easing of the area knowledge test, which would help some drivers to pass their test the first time, instead of having to sit it more than once. But we could never agree to un-vetted, unlicensed drivers or unlicensed cars on the streets of Dublin.
Posted 7/02/2024
