Night driving in Dublin city centre

Jay D

I'm unaware if it has been brought up in the past I couldn't find anything on it.

Basically I feel that taxi drivers around town at night don't give an absolute f*ck for anything around them and are going to cause some accidents. I'm sure there has been some already. Jamming on wherever the hell they want, jutting into grab a fare, parking at green lights, holding up other traffic, while the idiot waits to see if that person they're eyeing up is looking for a taxi or not.

I'm not imagining this, I despise the prospect of driving through town after 10 at night. So if I've to get from IFSC to Camden St I'd take the Adelaide Rd route and back around, for example. But when I'm faced with having to go to say Christ Church, from the IFSC, it's just horrible what you have to put up with and something does need to be done about it. I know areas of the UK in Wales for example where taxi drivers wouldn't stop if you flagged them and you had to go to the rank. it would certainly cut out these díckheads being a complete nuisance if that were the case.

Lawrence1895

At least, Taxi drivers try not to push you off the bike or throw bottles at you, when you are cycling home during the night :rolleyes:

Spook_ie

Jay D wrote: »

I'm unaware if it has been brought up in the past I couldn't find anything on it.

Basically I feel that taxi drivers around town at night don't give an absolute f*ck for anything around them and are going to cause some accidents. I'm sure there has been some already. Jamming on wherever the hell they want, jutting into grab a fare, parking at green lights, holding up other traffic, while the idiot waits to see if that person they're eyeing up is looking for a taxi or not.

I'm not imagining this, I despise the prospect of driving through town after 10 at night. So if I've to get from IFSC to Camden St I'd take the Adelaide Rd route and back around, for example. But when I'm faced with having to go to say Christ Church, from the IFSC, it's just horrible what you have to put up with and something does need to be done about it. I know areas of the UK in Wales for example where taxi drivers wouldn't stop if you flagged them and you had to go to the rank. it would certainly cut out these díckheads being a complete nuisance if that were the case.

Yeah yeah yeah, here we go again, when taxi drivers complained about too many taxis everyone else was happy because they could get a taxi whenever they wanted because taxi's were Q'ing up to get fares. Now some people are realising that perhaps the taxi drivers did have a point. Well trouble is you left it too late to complain

Sacksian

Spook_ie wrote: »

Yeah yeah yeah, here we go again, when taxi drivers complained about too many taxis everyone else was happy because they could get a taxi whenever they wanted because taxi's were Q'ing up to get fares. Now some people are realising that perhaps the taxi drivers did have a point. Well trouble is you left it too late to complain

I think he's complaining about the quality of taxi driving late at night not the quantity of taxis.

If they're driving without due care, it doesn't matter whether there are 10 or 10,000.

teddansonswig

100% agree, have started a thread on this a year ago
every friday night for about 4 hours their should be an unmarked garda car with a representative from the taxi regulators office/NRA witnessing & recording Dublin city taxi behavior.

Marty McFly

I half agree with the op, I think some fo the driving by taxi drivers late at night in town is shocking but nor does the idea of them only being allowed to use ranks sound desirable. First of all theres not enough ranks, and what ones there are if it was the cae they were only allowed use ranks would be complete and utter chaos at them I would love to say it wouldnt cause rows but we all know it would.


So Id say leave things the way they are but what we do need is for taxi driver to be considerate for other drivers, indicate and do as much to accomodate other drivers on the road were possible and if they have blcoked the path of drivers behind at least have the decency to wave an apology to those they have, sadly not all but a lasrge amount but not all of taxi drivers pretty much have bad manners and feel no need to consider other drivers on the roads they use.

Spook_ie

Sacksian wrote: »

I think he's complaining about the quality of taxi driving late at night not the quantity of taxis.

If they're driving without due care, it doesn't matter whether there are 10 or 10,000.

Basically I feel that taxi drivers around town at night don't give an absolute f*ck for anything around them and are going to cause some accidents. I'm sure there has been some already. Jamming on wherever the hell they want, jutting into grab a fare, parking at green lights, holding up other traffic, while the idiot waits to see if that person they're eyeing up is looking for a taxi or not.

If only we were in some kind of utopian world, the reality though is that too many taxis are chasing too few customers, so as soon as they see a punter or have the inkling there might be one taxis are going to stop before another taxi does.


Kind of like flys around ****

irishguy

Ya I used to live by shelbourne park and Saturday nights after the dogs were mad. They were parking everywhere blocking roads/entrances and when instructed to move by the guards they were often giving lip then moving straight back within 5mins. They like all other stupid driving should have on the stop fines.

In the uk if you stop on a red line or pick in a drop off area in the airport it's an instant fine. Regardless of what you tell the them, they take no excuses.

Gumbo

I see the same every day in the city centre from :

Cyclists
Truck Drivers
Women Drivers
Male Drivers
Bus Drivers

Wishbone Ash

kceire wrote: »

I see the same every day in the city centre from :

Cyclists
Truck Drivers
Women Drivers
Male Drivers
Bus Drivers

.....motorcyclists, pedestrians...etc

OP - taxis usually pick up/set down at the behest of their passengers, i.e. the general public. Perhaps you should address your concerns at them.

shakin

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

.....motorcyclists, pedestrians...etc

OP - taxis usually pick up/set down at the behest of their passengers, i.e. the general public. Perhaps you should address your concerns at them.

Well thats total crap-taxi drivers control the vehicles..they and only they decide when and where the taxi stops. Bad driving by taxis is the fault of the drivers..not the passengers imo.

starviewadams

Every weekend night traffic on Dame Street slows to a crawl because of taxi's stopping without any warning and parking wherever they feel like.

The last bus I get into town's last stop is supposed to be at Central Bank,but the bus drivers have everybody get off on Ormond Quay beside the Ha'Penny Bridge instead because they can't safely access the bus stop at Central Bank because of the taxi's parked there.

Same with the un-official rank that appears at the bottom of Grafton Street/Suffolk Street.

M three

teddansonswig wrote: »

100% agree, have started a thread on this a year ago
every friday night for about 4 hours their should be an unmarked garda car with a representative from the taxi regulators office/NRA witnessing & recording Dublin city taxi behavior.

Could a rep from the taxi regulator not just use their own car or even walk around rather than tie up another garda car?

I mean how are they going to collect all those takeaways?!

mikemac1

What's with the beeping?

I stand on the footpath checking my phone or maybe taking a moment to decide where I'll walk to and beep, beep, beep, taximan trying to get my attention

If I want you I'll let you know

I don't remember any of this 2 years ago

teddansonswig

M three wrote: »

Could a rep from the taxi regulator not just use their own car or even walk around rather than tie up another garda car?

I mean how are they going to collect all those takeaways?!

although I agree their takeaways are important, the current ''taxi regulation'' seems to have nothing to do with their behavior on the streets, and is tied up with bureaucracy.
only the garda / traffic garda can do anything about their style of driving at night. I just wish the regulating body took a more active approach in witnessing the dangerous taxi driving/parking that occurs every weekend in our city.

Piliger

This is all nothing new. Taxis have been driving like power addicted ignorant maniacs for years ! Why ? because they get away with it !

Taxis pay NO attention to any of the laws of the road. They drive through red lights. Do U turns wherever they like; hold everyone up when they like; park on double yellows, or double park, when they like. They NEVER get punished. Look at the taxis that park across the bottom of Grafton street on the double yellow ? If you or I parked on double yellow it would be a major fine ... but not for taxis.

The ONLY thing we can do is COMPLAIN !!!! not to here on Boards, but to our TD and to the Gardai themselves ! Write letters and not emails.

pabloh999

There is too many taxis.
Where should they all go?

CreepingDeath

Jay D wrote: »

Basically I feel that taxi drivers around town at night don't give an absolute f*ck for anything around them and are going to cause some accidents.

+1

Only last night a taxi driver nearly crashed into the side of my car.
It's the same bad taxi driving blackspot on the quays heading towards Heuston Station.

Google Map Link

Where the bus lane ends and there's a large junction box for traffic to merge in. But far too many taxi drivers just keep driving in the now "left turn only"
lane to undertake as many cars as possible and force their way in on the actual junction, approaching unexpected on the left hand side.

Anyway, I've the incident on my dashboard camera, and he'll be reported.
It's the only way these ***holes will learn.

So if you drive a silver van/people carrier taxi, 05-MH-XXX4 reg taxi and got beeped at that junction last night, you can expect my very best efforts to get you a few penalty points in the near future. :mad:

Jay D

CreepingDeath wrote: »

So if you drive a silver van/people carrier taxi, 05-MH-XXX4 reg taxi and got beeped at that junction last night, you can expect my very best efforts to get you a few penalty points in the near future. :mad:

How much are they and how easy are they etc? Could definitely use one!

Spook_ie wrote: »

Yeah yeah yeah, here we go again, when taxi drivers complained about too many taxis everyone else was happy because they could get a taxi whenever they wanted because taxi's were Q'ing up to get fares. Now some people are realising that perhaps the taxi drivers did have a point. Well trouble is you left it too late to complain

We needed more taxis, maybe they over did it. Do you not remember taxis being complete choosers in the past, that was hardly fair was it?

Marty McFly wrote: »

I half agree with the op, I think some fo the driving by taxi drivers late at night in town is shocking but nor does the idea of them only being allowed to use ranks sound desirable. First of all theres not enough ranks, and what ones there are if it was the cae they were only allowed use ranks would be complete and utter chaos at them I would love to say it wouldnt cause rows but we all know it would.

Well just from NYE in Cardiff a few years ago. Place was pretty jammers everywhere so I was expecting mayhem trying to get back to place. Taxi ranks were policed, taxis came and went, no problems it was brilliant. I know what you're saying, as it is it probably wouldn't work here but maybe if people got their finger out it could easily.

starviewadams wrote: »

Every weekend night traffic on Dame Street slows to a crawl because of taxi's stopping without any warning and parking wherever they feel like.

The last bus I get into town's last stop is supposed to be at Central Bank,but the bus drivers have everybody get off on Ormond Quay beside the Ha'Penny Bridge instead because they can't safely access the bus stop at Central Bank because of the taxi's parked there.

Same with the un-official rank that appears at the bottom of Grafton Street/Suffolk Street.

I don't think it's limited to weekends at all. Any night I drive through I have problems. It's just unbelievable a blind eye has been completely turned to this ridiculous development. Fair enough I have seen guards from time to time move them along outside City Bar Dame St or McDonalds etc O'Connell St but more needs to be done to enforce free traffic movement.



Just to reiterate, enforced ranks I see as the solution.

PhoenixParker

As a regular night driver in Dublin City Centre, I have a lot more problems with pedestrian behaviour than with taxi behaviour.

Dame Street slows to a crawl because drunk pedestrians feel entitled to step out in front of cars without looking.
It's not safe to drive faster than 10mph on a whole host of city centre streets any time after 9pm, especially at the weekends. Taxi behaviour has little to do with the problem in my experience.

CreepingDeath

Jay D wrote: »

How much are they and how easy are they etc? Could definitely use one!

Well this is the one I have, plus I've an 8Gb TF Card for it.

DealExtreme Link

But it all depends on how much you want to spend.
To me that one was a good compromise between hi-def video quality and price.

There's others which have built-in gps tracking/recording etc, if you're job is driving every day. But you're straying towards €200-€350 for a high end dashcam.

The one I have... you plug it into the cigarette socket and it starts recording when the engine is turned on and stops when the engine is turned off.
It recycles/overwrites old video clips, so you can leave it constantly recording.

It's quite visible in the windscreen, so I take it down when I'm parked anywhere. It records video and audio.

uch

PhoenixParker wrote: »

As a regular night driver in Dublin City Centre, I have a lot more problems with pedestrian behaviour than with taxi behaviour.

Dame Street slows to a crawl because drunk pedestrians feel entitled to step out in front of cars without looking.
It's not safe to drive faster than 10mph on a whole host of city centre streets any time after 9pm, especially at the weekends. Taxi behaviour has little to do with the problem in my experience.

Agree, try driving down South Great Georges street between 11pm- 1am on a friday or saturday night, you'll actually get gobshítes walking into the side of your car they're so drunk

uch

Jay D wrote: »

Just to reiterate, enforced ranks I see as the solution.

Most Cab drivers can't even get on a rank, so how are enforced ranks going to be a solution to them ?

Jay D

uch wrote: »

Most Cab drivers can't even get on a rank, so how are enforced ranks going to be a solution to them ?

Ok well for example, it would cut out inconsiderate mentality making sudden dangerous movements to pull in and collect someone, or jam on in the hope they will get the person they've passed that just put their hand out after they'd passed, or maybe cut out complete and absolute plebs parking dead at green traffic lights.

It would create some organised behaviour in the city centre because at the moment it's horrible. I do take into account that people in general are careless when drunk and do cause hassle but taxi professionals clearly need to be more responsible.

How can most cab drivers not get on a rank? If you mean the short size of current ones i'm thinking we should have some more.

pabloh999

Any city in the world cab drivers are percieved to be maybe slightly reckless drivers.

They're entire livelihood i.e paying the mortgage and putting food on the table depends on getting the next customer in their car.

Therefore percieved recklesness in the never ending hunt for the next customer.
Common sense really:rolleyes:

Edit - throw in massive taxi oversupply into the mix and the reckless driving will be multiplied

CreepingDeath

pabloh999 wrote: »

Any city in the world cab drivers are percieved to be maybe slightly reckless drivers.

They're entire livelihood i.e paying the mortgage and putting food on the table depends on getting the next customer in their car.

Slightly reckless?
That's an understatement.

They're aggressive drivers who, as full time drivers, should have a higher standard of driving and manners, not worse.

Crying about mortgage and food has absolutely nothing to do with driving properly, safely and respecting other people on the road.

Marty McFly

I hate this over supply off taxi drivers argument give over, there is not an over supply its just we now have an adequate amount of taix drivers in Dublin City.

For years there was nowhere near enough in Dublin I rememeber nights having to baiscally walk home because I couldnt get a taxi in the city centre, you could be waiting a long long time to get one, now theres a decent amount taxi drivers cant pick and choose or name there price and the power has retuned to the the paying customer all we here is how there are to many taxis give over.

Yeh you have to work more hours and harder to earn the same amount as you used to, There was a time when being a taxi driver was a licence to print money but hard luck we all have to work hard to earn our wage.

pabloh999

Marty McFly wrote: »

I hate this over supply off taxi drivers argument give over, there is not an over supply its just we now have an adequate amount of taix drivers in Dublin City.

For years there was nowhere near enough in Dublin I rememeber nights having to baiscally walk home because I couldnt get a taxi in the city centre, you could be waiting a long long time to get one, now theres a decent amount taxi drivers cant pick and choose or name there price and the power has retuned to the the paying customer all we here is how there are to many taxis give over.

Yeh you have to work more hours and harder to earn the same amount as you used to, There was a time when being a taxi driver was a licence to print money but hard luck we all have to work hard to earn our wage.

Adequate?
Have you not driven down Dame st/Camden st/Dawson st at the weekend

Marty McFly

pabloh999 wrote: »

Adequate?
Have you not driven down Dame st/Camden st/Dawson st at the weekend

Yes I have and ive also been one of the people coming out and getting into on the taxis along there, and I for one like that I can walk out and get a taxi immediately instead being stuck in town for hours trying to get one or having to get the nightlink home which at times was like taking your life into your own hands.

So yes its adequate for a capital city to have enough taxis so us the paying customer is not left wating hours for a taxi.

At the same time keeping on topic does not mean taxi drivers can not be more considerate of other rooa users, simple manners is all it is.

Wishbone Ash

When people refer to an over-supply of taxis they are usually referring to the abundance of them during the day especially around mid-morning when ever rank is full with a queue to get into them. At the airport at that time there will often be a couple of hundred taxis queuing to get into the holding area where they may have to wait another hour or two to get a fare. Perhaps there should have been a different licencing system whereby some licences are only valid during specific hours - eg. 10pm to 6am.

Spook_ie

Marty McFly wrote: »

Yes I have and ive also been one of the people coming out and getting into on the taxis along there, and I for one like that I can walk out and get a taxi immediately instead being stuck in town for hours trying to get one or having to get the nightlink home which at times was like taking your life into your own hands.

So yes its adequate for a capital city to have enough taxis so us the paying customer is not left wating hours for a taxi.

At the same time keeping on topic does not mean taxi drivers can not be more considerate of other rooa users, simple manners is all it is.

Manners are often the first thing to disappear when you're in a free for all and the results of your competing in that free for all will decide if you can feed your children and pay your mortgage or just choose one of them.

Nobody who came into taxiing since the days of deregulation would argue that the situation of 2000 odd taxis for a major city was nothing but a license to print money however even the dog on the street ( if he hasn't been run over by them ) can see that there are too many taxis, you sound like one of the people that wouldn't be willing to wait even 5 minutes for a taxi before crying out about how long we've been waiting