Vol. 513 No. 2
118 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has decided that hackney drivers will be permitted to use bus lanes; the progress, if any, made to date in establishing an agreed marking for hackney cars in order that this procedure can be operated; and when he will introduce these markings. [2125/00]
Full access to bus lanes is at present per mitted only to buses and large public service vehicles. Pedal cycles and taxis may use ‘with flow' bus lanes. Hackneys, as private hire vehicles, 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. The Dublin Taxi Forum, while recommending some form of external identification for hackneys to facilitate enforcement of regulations by the 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 proposals to extend the use of bus lanes to hackneys at this time.
The Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 1999, provide for a range of improvements to the regulatory framework for taxis and hackneys, following discussions with the various interests concerned. In relation to hackneys, the regulations, which will come into operation on 1 March 2000, make new provisions for limited external identification of vehicles, the use of two-way radios and telephonic equipment and the carrying of a log of agreed fares.
