Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
252. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Transport if consideration will be given to the introduction of a taxi service (details supplied) to ease difficulties with provision of taxis in rural parts of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35004/23]
View answerThe regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry 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.
However, I can inform the Deputy that Uber has been licensed by the NTA as a dispatch operator and has been operating as such in Ireland since 2014. Since Uber is considered a transport service which offers the carriage of passengers for reward, it is subject to the same regulations as other SPSV operators. Dispatch operators are required to only provide bookings to SPSV licensed drivers using SPSV licensed vehicles.
As Minister for Transport, I launched the 2023 Local Hackney pilot scheme last January in 21 designated areas, for which applications closed on 28 February. This is a one-year grant aided pilot programme that aims to assist in the provision of part-time local hackney services in designated rural areas which cannot support a full-time taxi or hackney operation. With this new pilot service, rural communities across Ireland will be given the opportunity to have a part time local area hackney service available to them.
The NTA manages the Rural Transport Programme on behalf of the Department of Transport, including the Local Area Hackney Scheme. The NTA will monitor the pilot over the coming year and learn from it, so that it can be rolled out across many other areas if it proves successful. Further details of the pilot scheme, including the areas currently included, are available on the NTA’s website: Local Hackney - National Transport www.nationaltransport.ie/taxi/localhackney/.
