Ms Doyle and I are very glad of the opportunity to make a presentation to the committee and to give a brief run through of our activities as a relatively new organisation. Our mission statement is to achieve a first-class, professional, efficient, safe and accessible customer-friendly service for small public service vehicles. We have had major consultation since our establishment. The commission was established on my appointment in September 2004.
Since then we launched the first consultation as part of the national review. In June of last year, we published the national review as well as our second consultation paper which set out in broad terms what we intend to do over the next five to ten years. That paper is entitled, Roadmap — Towards a new national code of regulation for taxis, hackneys and limousines in Ireland. We sought views on that up to September 2005.
Coincidentally, also in September 2005, the Minister extended our powers by commencing practically all of the Taxi Regulation Act 2003. On getting those powers, we immediately launched our third consultation paper on taxi meter areas and taxi fares. All of these documents are available to members and were circulated to them at the time. They are also available on our website.
Throughout that process, we received and considered more than 500 submissions. We received advice from the advisory council to the Commission for Taxi Regulation. We also had face-to-face meetings and consultation meetings throughout the country. This has all culminated in the document before members entitled Driving Forward which is our action plan for 2006-07.
I will give some brief highlights of the action plan which include a new national licensing process. Until now, there have been 88 licensing authorities throughout the country. We are now the national licensing authority for small public service vehicles which include taxis, hackneys and limousines. This licensing process will be carried out through the 43 national car test centres following a tender process.
Linked to that new licensing system is a new unique licence number of each public service vehicle, PSV. Until now, the 88 local authorities used 88 different licensing numbers. Now each PSV will have a unique licence number which will feed into a new national register and database. By using that number, we will be able to get all the details on each PSV throughout the country and ensure they are fully compliant.
We will also establish a new taxi meter area and a new national taxi fare, topics to which I will return. Also included in the plan are details on enhanced consumer protection, enhanced accessibility for people with disabilities, improved information and awareness and a new national complaints process, which will be managed by the commission again using the national number. Every taxi, hackney and limousine will have to issue a receipt which will give the licence number and details of the trip. That will form the basis for our new national complaints process.
We are also putting in place a new driver skills development programme. This will be required by new applicants from 2007 and by existing drivers from 2008. I will say more about that in a moment. We are putting in place new operational standards for dispatch centres. They will be more accountable, will have to have their own complaints process and will have to ensure compliance among those providing the service for them. All of this will be supported by stronger enforcement. In that regard, we recently received the approval of the Departments of Transport and Finance to appoint enforcement officers who will be employed by the commission and will ensure stronger enforcement along with the Garda.
There are two issues in regard to taxi meter areas. A number of provincial towns did not declare taxi meter areas and, therefore, could not have a taxi service. In many cases, where they were declared, they were too small and it meant the meter did not operate and the fare was not controlled. Equally, a driver could refuse to take a journey outside that taxi meter area. From 25 September, the entire country will become one taxi meter area. This will mean every part of the country will have a taxi service and taxi fares will be controlled.
As part of this, we will strengthen the area knowledge drivers must have. In future a driver will operate on the basis of his or her area knowledge rather than where the car is licensed. Taxi drivers will have the right to refuse journeys over a distance of 30 km. It would not be reasonable to ask a driver who has been working all day to drive 200 miles. Drivers, however, will have to accept journeys up to 30 km but beyond that, they will have the right to refuse. If they accept a journey beyond that, it will be fare controlled on the basis of the new national taxi fare.
The new national taxi fare will consist of three tiers — tariffs A, B and C — depending on the distance. As I am sure members will ask questions on this, I will not go into too much detail now. The initial charge will be €3.80 from 25 September. That currently varies throughout the country from €2.80 in certain areas to €6. The rate per kilometre will be 95 cent. Currently, it ranges from 78 cent to €1.40 per kilometre. We are rebalancing these fares throughout the country.
We will create an awareness of these fares and consumers will know what to expect when they get into a taxi, irrespective of where they get in. At present there are 36 different taxi fares throughout the country which does not work for the consumer or the driver. There also will be a customer charter and perhaps if I move on to consumer information, members will hear what that entails.
Mr. Deering played a video.
We brought copies of mock-ups of the in-cab information that will be contained in taxis, hackney cabs or limousines should members wish to look at it afterwards.
I mentioned the skills development programme. It is important that drivers possess the knowledge and confidence required to carry out their work. The skills development programme will give them that confidence and professional recognition. Although I will not go through the skills and the areas the programme will cover because time is limited, they are listed in our Driving Forward document. As already stated, anybody entering the business will require it from 2007 and existing drivers will require it on renewal from 2008.
From the service provider's point of view, we are keen to assure them that this is not something they should fear. It will be delivered in a range of easily accessible formats and it is designed, not to make life difficult for drivers but to enhance their skills and their business. We also brought copies of the tamper-proof disk which will be affixed.
On enforcement, one concern raised surrounded the credentials of people who drive taxis, hackney cabs and limousines. The current system is that the Garda vets every applicant based on the Garda Commissioner deciding that the person is a fit and proper person. Section 36 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2003, the only section remaining to be fully commenced, provides that people with certain criminal offence convictions will automatically be disqualified from being awarded a licence. In recent weeks, the relevant parts of section 36 commenced. These provide for a person who has a criminal offence conviction to go to court and put his or her house in order. However, that is with a view to commencing the remaining part of section 36 of the Act in the future so that the process concerned will be tightened up further.
As my presentation slides state, we are entering a new era of service for small public service vehicles. We are committed to working with the customer, all of the stakeholders and the service providers to ensure a quality service. We believe everybody will win from that. We would be happy to answer members' questions.
