Vol. 505 No. 6
188 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason hackney drivers are not permitted to use bus lanes while taxi drivers are; and the plans, if any, he has to alter the regulations in this regard. [14222/99]
Hackneys have not been permitted to use bus lanes in view of their more limited service role – which does not involve publicly standing or plying for hire – and the practical difficulty of distinguishing them from private cars.
The Dublin Taxi Forum, while recommending some form of external identification for hackneys to facilitate enforcement of regulations by An Garda Síochána, nonetheless recommended against the merging of the separate service roles of taxis and hackneys, against roof signage for hackneys and against permitting access to bus lanes by hackneys.
I have no proposal therefore to extend the use of bus lanes to hackneys at this time.
