Sir, – The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has proposed the “removal of regulatory barriers” to allow ride-hailing services expand in the Irish market to boost taxi supply (“Ireland should embrace Uber and other ride-hailing apps to increase options, says watchdog”, February 19th).
While the CCPC has recognised the ongoing need for regulation to ensure high service and safety standards, this centres on the needs of consumers, which is not surprising given its remit.
Similarly, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien, in rejecting the proposal, focused solely on concerns for potential negative consumer outputs.
However, solutions to any policy problem should consider the range of actors affected, especially the workers who would be expected to implement them.
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Contrary to the CCPC’s argument about innovations in other countries, we have previously pointed to a raft of public policy and employment problems in other countries arising from having ride-hailing services (“Ride-sharing services are not the answer to Dublin’s taxi problem”, July 8th, 2022).
We highlighted the experiences of drivers working for ride-hail platforms in deregulated contexts where exclusion from employment rights, low pay exacerbated by dynamic forms of labour pricing, long hours and stress were common outcomes. Importantly, employment rights in Ireland are generally restricted to those with contracts of employment.
The model and form of work offered by ride-hailing services often renders drivers ineligible for access to employment rights as they are deemed to be self-employed.
The work is sold to workers as providing “freedom to be your own boss” and flexibility, but the reality is a highly precarious form of work whereby the financial risk is transferred to the worker.
In considering this issue we need to look at it from multiple angles, not just from a consumerist standpoint.
In our previous piece we argued against a deregulated liberal market approach to resolving public issues. This is particularly pertinent now. – Yours, etc,
JULIET MacMAHON,
MICHELLE O’SULLIVAN,
CAROLINE MURPHY,
Department of Work & Employment Studies,
University of Limerick.
Sir, – As a former taxi driver operating in Dublin, it has been my experience that prospective customers used a traditional dispatch operator, or app, to book a taxi for their journey.
Having engaged customers over my 20 years driving a taxi, the conversation largely centred on the difficulty they experience in securing a taxi for their journey in a climate where there is a perceived shortage of taxis.
One of the questions I always felt compelled to ask was, why did you feel it was necessary to book a taxi through a dispatch operator, rather than just hail a passing taxi?
Invariably, the answer I got was: they felt it was safer from the point of view that they knew who the driver was and they could get a receipt.
What I’d like to say to taxi users is, you can get a receipt from any taxi and you can also check out the legal status of that driver through the driver-check app provided by the National Transport Authority (NTA). You can also pay for your journey through the same means provided by any dispatch operator.
So basically, any ancillary services provided by any taxi app or traditional dispatch operator can also be provided by independent drivers, but the difference is, you will save yourself money, time and effort by engaging with a street-hailed cab.
If you engage a street-hailed cab, you are securing it in real time, not waiting and wondering if it will turn up at all. In addition, you will save yourself money on all kinds of additional charges such as call-out charges, etc.
Why would anyone waste their time booking a dispatched taxi instead of a street hail? – Yours, etc,
PAUL O’BEIRNE
Beaumont,
Dublin 9.
