By now all taxi drivers on the Freenow app will be aware of the new "rule"......Only 2 passengers should be carried, with the front passenger seat kept free.
In March they offered essential workers a 50% discount on taxi rides.
Now they are promoting taxis with covid protection screens, while there is absolutely no proof these screens are effective, that they had farmed out to another business, no doubt receiving a financial kick back.
When are taxi drivers going to make a stand against this monster?
As an Irish cabbie you are self employed, essentially running a small business. You make decisions that best serve YOUR needs in order to keep YOUR business afloat.
Freenow are there to serve taxi's, not the other way round. It should not be within their remit to give discounts on behalf of YOUR business, accepting these fares meant you were at a 50% loss but Freenow got the kudos, or to decide how many passengers you should carry, or whether or not you should fit an unproven covid screen into YOUR vehicle. This is the job of the taxi regulator, part of the national transport authority.
Not wishing to address the subject of the N.T.A. within this blog, it will be discussed later, but they should be telling Freenow to mind their own business and to not make decisions on behalf of Irish taxi drivers.
There are many issues within the taxi industry that are problematic, but the biggest by far is Freenow and unless you want to hand your livelihood to them ( see previous blog taxi's in crisis) you need to make a stand now.
Those of you interested in having a driver representative address the Freenow management email your name and badge number to taxisincrisis@gmail.com for further information.

FN are not the only problem, Radio Companies were dictating to drivers long before FN existed, the FN policies were formerly Radio Company policies. If there is to be change it needs to come from drivers, united and acting as one body in their own intrest, and that is where the whole idea of change falls on it's ass.
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