The taxi industry has become “a wild west” where “predatory” tech firms were trying to take control, driver representatives told the Oireachtas transport committee.
The fixed-price offering rolled out by Uber late last year was a “loss leader” intended to destroy a well-regulated system and would force drivers out of the business, TDs and senators heard.
“Make no mistake, the consumer will pay the price after the professional driver is no more,” Angus McDonnell of the Taxi Alliance of Ireland said.
He said the intention of tech firms was to “make out like bandits at the expense of drivers presently and members of the public going forward”.
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The National Transport Authority (NTA) – which has responsibility for regulating the sector – was repeatedly criticised during the hearing.
Representatives of drivers’ organisations said the authority had, despite the experience in other international markets, failed to anticipate or respond to the technological developments now driving what they said was a crisis in the taxi industry.
The groups before the committee, which included ones representing vintners, restaurant owners and other businesses dependent on the availability of taxis to drive footfall, called for a national strategy for the sector.
Drivers’ groups said legislation from 15 years ago, which takes no account of the applications drivers now rely upon for much of their work, needed to be updated urgently.
The capping of commission charges should be a priority, the politicians were told.
“If was to put an extra euro on to my meter, I’d be pulled up by the regulators straight away for overcharging,” Alan Cooley, president of the Irish Taxi Drivers Association, said.
“But it seems to me there’s no legislation at the moment to protect the drivers or passengers in this country from the price-gouging of the tech companies.”
Several speakers suggested an NTA-run app integrating taxis into the wider transport network would benefit drivers and customers, especially in rural areas where shortages were often acute.
“I would really love the NTA just to take control of the whole taxi industry,” Mr Cooley said.
“At the moment, it’s just the wild west. There are so many different stakeholders trying to make money out of the industry, but they won’t invest in it.
“The customers are getting frustrated, the drivers are getting frustrated, everybody’s getting frustrated, but the NTA are not taking control of the situation.”
Mr McDonnell said in many instances a fixed fare provided “comfort” to a customer that a fare could not go over a specified level.
However, he said it did not save them money in reality as the figure quoted would be the fare a driver might be expected to charge if hired directly.
What was being cut for now, he said, was the driver’s share of the fare paid.
He cited what he said was a real example of an order for a wheelchair-accessible taxi to take a customer from Cabinteely, south Dublin, to the city’s airport.
The tech platform, he said, had charged the customer €70, of which “€39 went to the driver with their share including the M50 toll”.
Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann chairman David McGuinness said the technology companies were intent on establishing an effective monopoly in the industry.
He said they “are pushing the legal boundaries of the legislation to control the fares and therefore push down drivers’ incomes and increase fares for passengers”.
The committee heard how the long-term goal of the tech firms would be to introduce “surge pricing”, a system employed in many other jurisdictions under which the level of fares was influenced by demand.
