Taxi drivers will have to do training courses, make their cars more disability friendly and adhere to a new code of practice under plans announced by the Commissioner for Taxi Regulation, Ger Deering, yesterday.
He has now sought feedback from the industry and the public and will consider any submissions up to September 26th.
The new regulations will then be drawn up and will be implemented on a phased basis from early next year, starting with a customers' charter, a new complaints system and more simplified fares.
Mr Deering has decided against introducing a uniform colour for all taxis, saying it would cost too much.
"Yes, it might be something nice to have, but in terms of cost and in terms of where our priorities are, it isn't something we are proposing to change at the moment," he said yesterday.
Under the new plan, all taxi, hackney and limousine drivers will have to do a "driver skills development programme" and regular refresher courses every three years. The courses will address topics such as geographic knowledge, relevant legislation, customer care, health and safety, and dress and deportment.
Mr Deering said he had often heard anecdotes of "bad cases" in terms of dress and deportment. A lot of drivers "presented themselves very well . . . but we feel that everybody should do that".
The Commission for Taxi Regulation would not be telling drivers what not to wear, he said. "We're not going to go for an actual dress code." Drivers would be "advised" on how best to dress as part of their training.
"Yes it would be nice to think that everybody would wear a particular type of dress, but we don't think it's appropriate for the commission to become involved in actually telling people what to wear." Shorts, for example, "wouldn't be ideal" but the commission would not be banning certain clothes, he said.
The driver-training courses will be provided at local level but with national accreditation.
Mr Deering has proposed eliminating situations where taxi drivers "go off the meter" and devise their own charges when the taxi leaves the taximeter area.
Under his plan, fares have no connection with taximeter boundaries and passengers will only be charged on the distance they travel. He said he would eventually like to see a unified fare structure all over the State.
All taxis will have to be accessible for people with disabilities, according to the proposals. One category of taxis will have to be wheelchair accessible, while all other taxis will have to have accessible features such as a passenger swivel seat for people with mobility problems, a talking meter and bright yellow grab handles for people with visual disabilities.
The target date for making these measures compulsory is 2008. Mr Deering also plans to introduce a new category of wheelchair-accessible hackney cars next year.
Cabs - including taxis, hackneys and limousines - will have to be less than nine-years-old at the time of licence renewal, under the new plans. The average age of taxis and hackneys is now between seven and seven and a half years.
Mr Deering also said a new complaints system was necessary as many people were not aware of how to make a complaint about a taxi driver.
He also published research yesterday which found that there were 20,744 cabs in the State in 2004 - some 68.3 per cent were taxis, 29.2 per cent were hackneys and 2.5 per cent were limousines. Just 3.7 per cent of these were new vehicles. Dublin accounts for more than half of all cabs.
According to the research by Goodbody Economic Consultants, more than half of adults use a cab at least once a week, with 15 to 24-year-olds using them more often. The research found that the typical gross annual income of a taxi driver is €25,451.
For full details of the Commissioner for Taxi Regulation's proposals, log on to www.taxiregulator.ie
