Becoming a Taxi Driver part time.

Your main risk here is to the value of your car and the cost in buying the relevant paraphernalia.

You say you have a new car. If you taxi in it for 3 months, decide you don't like it and then give it up, your car will be worth a lot less than what it was worth otherwise. You will get the benefit of minimal road tax and being able to take the bus lane in to work in your normal job.

Other than the value of your car you have nothing to lose if you can carry on with your existing job. If you are prepared to work weekend nights most weekends then that is where the big income comes in. Then on your off weeks you can spend the time you'd be wasting covering the cost of the overheads of taxiing and meet some decent people making the weekend stuff overhead free!

It sounds like a winner to me and lots of people with different working patterns, such as firefighters and teachers, all do the same.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

aren't you only allowed in the lane with passengers? out of service buses aren't supposed to use bus lanes (not that it happens)

I believe that it is all open to interpretation. I've heard taxi drivers claim that by plying for hire they are engaged in taxiing so can use the lane. Others keep a sealed envelope nearby and say they are delivering that so are on a fare. I guess it just takes it to go to court for a definitive answer.

Some honest answers here from an ex taxi driver

MrPoker wrote: »

How much could I potentially to earn on average for example Monday to Fri working say.... 9 to 5 ? Just a rough estimate.

Daytime, realistically you are looking between €60-€100 a day for those hours. If you spent €20 a day on diesel, your €60 becomes €40 and that's before you consider any other road expense. Like insurance, washing your car, paying off your plate, maintaining your car, new tyres etc. Your take in the evenings will be a bit higher but not all that much bar weekends, some wet nights or if there is a big match on in town.

You need to be aware that for every €10 you take in, about €6 will go out to cover your running expense on the road; there is a lot of work done for you to just cover your back

MrPoker wrote: »

How much could I potentially earn at the weekends?? I would be willing to work most weekends in the evening.

Fridays these days are a washout with nothing like the crowds out there like there used to be; Saturdays are the only busy night in Dublin and even they are a shadow. To pull in any decent cash on these nights you will be looking at 12 hours both days until about 5AM; that's 24 hours on it's own and it takes it out of you never mind the other days/nights. I won't throw a figure at you as the Saturdays in December can be very good while last Saturday (New Years Day) saw city clubs close up early so there are plenty of slack times to take into account. Think of it like this; pubs and cafes are empty or going bust in Dublin so just who is there for you to bring home? The custom isn't there regardless of the amount of competition you will have for every fare.

MrPoker wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking if both me and my father obtain a SPSV driver licence each we can operate on the same car with one SPSV vehicle licence?

Yes but you both will need full taxi insurance; unless you both have a clean NCB then it could be an exorbitant rate while one crash/incident by the other and you are both off the road.

MrPoker wrote: »

I would like to earn about E750 to E1000 p/m working part time. Is this possible?

Yes but as I said you need to take in over twice as much to come out with that much. There are also other things to bear in mind...

• Taxi plates are no longer able to be sold freely as they used to be so once it's bought that's it.
• New plates require wheelchair accessible cars; are you willing to invest in one?
• If you both share a car, who works what weekends which is when it's most busy? This will lessen both your earning potentials.
• Who pays for what bills when something does go wrong?
• Also, if your father is on welfare he will have to sign off as he is working and he will lose his dole payments.
• Your car will be devalued by 70% in a year regardless of how well kept it is.

If I were you I'd spend the spare time with your kids or take up a hobby with your one week off as it's too hard a way to make what is rather a small amount of money for the time and money put into it.

Losty Dublin wrote:

You need to be aware that for every €10 you take in, about €6 will go out to cover your running expense on the road; there is a lot of work done for you to just cover your back

a 40% operating margin is pretty good, regardless of what industry you operate in.

feelingstressed wrote: »

Whereabouts in the country are you?

I'll give you a clue, its written in the first post

Your car is no good if its 2008,you will only be able to put a licence on a car under 3 years old which yours wont be by the time you get your licence. Your first years insurance will be over €5000 with two drivers.
It wont be worth your while as its getting more expensive to own and run a Taxi.

2qk4u wrote: »

Your car is no good if its 2008,you will only be able to put a licence on a car under 3 years old which yours wont be by the time you get your licence.

eh?

Nine years isn't it?
allowing only cars under 3 years old would collapse the industry overnight

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

eh?

Nine years isn't it?
allowing only cars under 3 years old would collapse the industry overnight

New regulations only allow transfer of licence to a car under 3 years or under unless you already own a licence in which case you can change it to a car under 9 years old.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

eh?

Nine years isn't it?
allowing only cars under 3 years old would collapse the industry overnight

Ant thats why there is a high court challenge going on at the moment.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

a 40% operating margin is pretty good, regardless of what industry you operate in.

Which is fair enough except that we are talking about a sole traders income after running expenses as opposed to trades who can charge set fees or whom pay regular salaries with a specified hourly rate.

2qk4u wrote: »

I dont have a link and im not going searching for it. It was changed to allow Taxis use bus lanes to move around freely to make it to customers on time.

In truly typical ambiguous Irishese...the wording can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways...

Originally only Taxi`s with a passenger on-board were permitted to use the With Flow Bus Lanes.

After quite a while a new form of words appeared which referred to Taxi`s "in the course of their business" being allowed to use the With Flow Bus Lanes.

One can see the rise in ambiguity in direct parallell with the introduction of the "New Reigeme" aka..The Commission on Taxi Regulation...sheesh..Irish Public Administration seems to have a bottomless pit full of people well versed in ambiguity.

The latest version comes courtesy of The Taxi Regulation Directorate of The National Transport Authority (Phew...!!) and it states.....
# May use with-flow bus lanes when operating as an SPSV;

Operating...now there`s a term worth a few hours of a Senior Counsel`s time for sure !

Mind you the most un-enigmatic element is the proviso that the dispension refers only to With-Flow Bus Lanes,something which many Taxi Drivers appear unaware of,but equally most Traffic Corps Gardai are acutely aware of.....(Stephens Green/Leeson St is a shoot-goldfish-in-a-barrell location)