Emer Higgins
Question:205. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Transport if engagement has taken place with online taxi apps (details supplied) with a view to regulating the service and increasing taxi supply [19531/23]
View answerTuesday, 25 April 2023
Questions (205)
Written answers
The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, including SPSV licensing, is a matter for the independent transport regulator, the National Transport Authority (NTA), under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016. I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of the SPSV industry.
Uber, FreeNow and Lynx, as dispatch operators, are regulated by the NTA. Dispatch operators are permitted to provide bookings to SPSV licensed drivers using SPSV licensed vehicles, only. A fundamental tenet of Ireland’s SPSV regulatory regime is that only SPSV licensed drivers and vehicles are used for the carriage of passengers for reward.
Ireland's regulatory framework requires that all drivers and vehicles are licensed, as a means of protecting the consumer and helping ensure public safety. No special regulations have been developed to govern the carriage of passengers by passenger cars which are not SPSVs. Therefore, the classic model where anyone with a car and the relevant App, can provide taxi services, does not exist here.
The Advisory Committee on SPSVs is the primary forum for discussing issues in relation to the SPSV sector. It was established under the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 to provide both the Minister and the NTA with advice in relation to small public service vehicles and their drivers. Neither the NTA nor the Minister are bound by any advice provided. I last met the Committee on 23 February 2023. The meeting provided me with a valuable opportunity to get first-hand information on the issues affecting the industry. There is a representative from a dispatch operator, namely Free Now, on the Committee since 2019, acknowledging the fact that Free Now is currently the largest taxi dispatch operator in Ireland, with around two-thirds of all taxi drivers affiliated to it. Therefore, the views of taxi dispatch operators are listened to and are of great significance to the Committee.
Separately, I met Uber representatives in June 2022 who advised that Uber is satisfied with the regulatory structure of the SPSV industry in Ireland, as it’s clear to the company how it can legally operate here.