Taxi Man, you're having a laugh.

HooterSnout

How on earth is Patrick Street reserved exclusively for taxi's. It's ridiculous. They have ranks on both sides of the road. If it's not a bus stop, it's a taxi rank. Every second large space has become a taxi rank. It's really unfair I think. Pana is more or less the hub of the City so it's very common for people picking folk up or dropping them off in cars, but there's nowhere to do it. Do it in the middle of the road and you get beeped the second you stop, more often than not by a taxi driver, and heaven forbid if you park on one of their holy grounds.

It gets worse at night, loading bays become taxi ranks magically. Check it out.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&layer=c&cbll=51.898461,-8.472483&panoid=BYCOIqUxdN41leJR20zPvA&cbp=12,141.14,,0,34.2&ll=51.898544,-8.472358&spn=0.001177,0.002411&z=19

Sephiroth_dude

Sure its the same across the road from the bus station,taxi's everywhere,there's far too many taxi's in the city centre.

HooterSnout

They should be made drive around looking for fares . I know it's bad for the environment and expensive for petrol/diesel but I don't understand how City Planning allow for this farce. Concentrate on public transport, don't be accommodating this.

rebel.ranter

They were originally planning on letting nobody drive down it bar PSVs & buses.
The city council have systematically removed parking space upon parking space making it more difficult to do business in the city.
The building owners have pushed the rents so high that it is no longer cost effective to operate a business in the city centre. Look at the number of empty retail units & obvious temporary rentals on St Patrick St alone.
Changes need to be implemented in order to kick start a revival of the city. The taxi situation is also a result of bad planning & bad foresight. The issuing of licenses by a regulator without its finger on the pulse has flooded the streets with an excess number of taxis, no proper rank plan seems to have been implemented, look at the back street behind Savoy for example. I wouldn't squarely blame taxi drivers, they are trying to operate in a mis-managed system the same as you. Who knows we might start seeing sense some time soon.

HooterSnout

rebel.ranter wrote: »

I wouldn't squarely blame taxi drivers, they are trying to operate in a mis-managed system the same as you.

Ah no. You're right of course. It is the system at fault. I just have multiple bad experiences from Cork taxi drivers per week. I know I'm not the one in the wrong. Plus even when I once in a blue moon have to take a taxi, they don't even know where easy bread and butter locations are, case in point College Road, but that's a whole other story.

Manach

I wouldn't complain too much of this myself, except in the cases were they provide no service on Patrick's street - case in point on Thurs, walking to the top of a taxi line with shopping bags and having the lead taxi driver indicate he was not interested in the fare.

rebel.ranter

Manach wrote: »

I wouldn't complain too much of this myself, except in the cases were they provide no service on Patrick's street - case in point on Thurs, walking to the top of a taxi line with shopping bags and having the lead taxi driver indicate he was not interested in the fare.

They have to take your fare, they must accpt the fare as long as it is within their area of operation. I used to get that crap at Dublin Airport when I told them I wanted to go through the Port Tunnel. I made formal complaints to the regulator about a few of them. They were all processed. They must take the good with the bad. Equally if you don't feel comfortable with taking the car at tthe top of the rank for any reason you are free to choose any car on the rank. OK the driver might feela bt awkward taking the fare but it is your choice.

booboo88

rebel.ranter wrote: »

They have to take your fare, they must accpt the fare as long as it is within their area of operation. I used to get that crap at Dublin Airport when I told them I wanted to go through the Port Tunnel. I made formal complaints to the regulator about a few of them. They were all processed. They must take the good with the bad. Equally if you don't feel comfortable with taking the car at tthe top of the rank for any reason you are free to choose any car on the rank. OK the driver might feela bt awkward taking the fare but it is your choice.

I didnt realise you had a choice. Ive often waited for someone else to take a taxi first

Ghost Estate

They are a hangover from 2007.

Affluent Dub: "I'll take a cab! ... out of this backward bogger place to Dublin to sell more units. I just bought a sizeable portion of flood plain to build some units onto! Units everywhere to pay for my 15 euro pints in exclusive happening modern venues such as Cafe en Seine (now closed thank god)"

whydoibother?

Yeah, it's always struck me that there is a lot of taxi space on Patrick street, yet whenever to try to drive down Patrick Street, I make relatively slow progress due to the obstacle course of double parked buses, u-turning taxis and multiple pedestrian crossings. I think adding cars pulling up, parking and trying to get out, would make matters worse. I would say Patrick Street in Cork is it's equivalent of Dublin's Grafton street (which is completely pedestrianized). By this I mean it's a main shopping district, and it functions better if shoppers can wander with minimal interference from traffic.

HooterSnout

booboo88 wrote: »

I didnt realise you had a choice. Ive often waited for someone else to take a taxi first

I didn't realise either. I've waited for two taxis to pull off before at Cork Airport before going for the one least likely to be a chatty chappy. Who wants the first news in Ireland coming from a full of it auld know it all, talking complete and utter.

Do they (whoever's in charge of all the spaces reserved for cabs in Cork) not review the situation every year or how long are these measures left in place. Seems so crazy. Although I guess they need a dedicated space to get those buggies into the taxi. Can't be leaving those prams lying around

tommy21

rebel.ranter wrote: »

They have to take your fare, they must accpt the fare as long as it is within their area of operation. I used to get that crap at Dublin Airport when I told them I wanted to go through the Port Tunnel. I made formal complaints to the regulator about a few of them. They were all processed. They must take the good with the bad. Equally if you don't feel comfortable with taking the car at tthe top of the rank for any reason you are free to choose any car on the rank. OK the driver might feela bt awkward taking the fare but it is your choice.

As far as I knew, they only had to take your fare once you were sitting in the taxi?

tommy21

As above it is not the fault of the taxi drivers completely - Patrick St. is a disaster in planning. Pedestrians don't respect the drivers and feel free to cross anywhere. Taxis park where they like. Buses pull out when they like (though other drivers legally have to let them out and often don't, so it may stem from this). All drivers, though taxis are more noticable and boy-racers, continually feeling free to do U-turns in the middle of oncoming traffic. Trucks and vans making deliveries at 8:40 in the morning and reversing into tiny spaces at peak of traffic with people trying to get to work - though as someone said above if the ability to deliver the goods that keep businesses alive had been properly planned by the council/business owners in the first place, this would not happen. Many sources to blame I think for the mess.

deRanged

tommy21 wrote: »

As far as I knew, they only had to take your fare once you were sitting in the taxi?

that's my understanding. they can refuse you if you don't get in I thought.

dave1982

HooterSnout wrote: »

How on earth is Patrick Street reserved exclusively for taxi's. It's ridiculous. They have ranks on both sides of the road. If it's not a bus stop, it's a taxi rank. Every second large space has become a taxi rank. It's really unfair I think. Pana is more or less the hub of the City so it's very common for people picking folk up or dropping them off in cars, but there's nowhere to do it. Do it in the middle of the road and you get beeped the second you stop, more often than not by a taxi driver, and heaven forbid if you park on one of their holy grounds.

It gets worse at night, loading bays become taxi ranks magically. Check it out.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&layer=c&cbll=51.898461,-8.472483&panoid=BYCOIqUxdN41leJR20zPvA&cbp=12,141.14,,0,34.2&ll=51.898544,-8.472358&spn=0.001177,0.002411&z=19

Don't you you know taxi drivers own the roads:rolleyes:

But yes i agree with your post

HooterSnout

tommy21 wrote: »

All drivers, though taxis are more noticable and boy-racers, continually feeling free to do U-turns in the middle of oncoming traffic.

Never have a problem with these "boy racers". Imo,they are the best drivers, very aware of their surroundings, more inclined to stop to let pedestrians cross. They service their cars regularly. Sure they have louder cars than most but it's a safety feature. It lets you know they are coming and to get out of their way . Silent cars are not the way forward. Especially when they are driven by Paddy the taxi man who got his license out of a lucky bag.

Funsterdelux

There's how many multi-storey carparks in the city and also on street parking within 5 minutes walking distance of Patrick Street. A lot of people have gotten very lazy and expect too much to be within touching distance.

kcb

Funsterdelux wrote: »

There's how many multi-storey carparks in the city and also on street parking within 5 minutes walking distance of Patrick Street. A lot of people have gotten very lazy and expect too much to be within touching distance.

Spot on.

Amazing that people expect to park on the main street in the city!

HooterSnout

Funsterdelux wrote: »

and also on street parking within 5 minutes walking distance of Patrick Street.

And where are these mythical on street parking spaces of which you speak of? Please enlighten us lesser mortals. I tend to find them all used. I've resorted to parking across the river, on the street behind the Heineken brewery at times when it's impossible to park anywhere for any length of time. Seems a bit rich though to expect people to park in park houses and the like when all they need is a rolling, stop and go, lane dedicated for collecting people who are waiting with bags of shopping.

CorkMan

The taxis act like they own the bloody road. They expect right of the way, you to sotp for them, everything.

Funsterdelux

HooterSnout wrote: »

And where are these mythical on street parking spaces of which you speak of? Please enlighten us lesser mortals. I tend to find them all used. I've resorted to parking across the river, on the street behind the Heineken brewery at times when it's impossible to park anywhere for any length of time. Seems a bit rich though to expect people to park in park houses and the like when all they need is a rolling, stop and go, lane dedicated for collecting people who are waiting with bags of shopping.

As you said, they're all used!

And sure as I said 5 minutes walk, the Brewery is about 5 minutes!

HooterSnout

Funsterdelux wrote: »

As you said, they're all used!

And sure as I said 5 minutes walk, the Brewery is about 5 minutes!

I have a peg leg and an eye patch so it takes me twice the amount of time. Your time should have been expanded to include pirate walking speeds.

flo8s967qjh0nd

You really need to have you're head examined if you're driving down Patrick Street. There is no need to pass through if you are just crossing the city and if you think any other city in the world would allow you to stop in the middle of the main shopping street to collect your mother from town, then you're mistaken.
I think there are far too many taxis in the city, but that's a problem for the regulator. Much prefer the taxis to be parked in the spots than private cars. At least the taxis are moving out frequently. If the small amount of space on the street was made private parking, you'd have people in them for an hour or two while they went to get a coffee!
If I had my way, I'd do like Oliver Plunkett Street and close the whole place down to traffic after 11am.

deRanged

Reid Steep Gutter wrote: »

If I had my way, I'd do like Oliver Plunkett Street and close the whole place down to traffic after 11am.

I'd love to see that. I reckon it would be great.

tommy21

HooterSnout wrote: »

Never have a problem with these "boy racers". Imo,they are the best drivers, very aware of their surroundings, more inclined to stop to let pedestrians cross. They service their cars regularly. Sure they have louder cars than most but it's a safety feature. It lets you know they are coming and to get out of their way . Silent cars are not the way forward. Especially when they are driven by Paddy the taxi man who got his license out of a lucky bag.

I should have been clearer- there are car enthusiasts who are that type of driver you mention. They look after their cars and their surroundings, not because they are necessarily better people, but because they take pride in them. A minority of them however are pure scum who should never be given a licence. I like their safety features, it means they can be done for noise pollution :pac:

Seloth

Is there any plans about pedestring it in the future