Skip to main content

Freenow at it again!!


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. 





Comments

  1. UnknownJune 16, 2020 at 4:33 AM

    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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threats to the taxi industry

The obvious threat to the taxi industry in Ireland at present is covid 19. The business, along with many others,  has been decimated. Driving a taxi for a living may never be the same as it was pre covid. Pubs and night clubs probably won't reopen til the end of the summer. Air travel has been reduced by 95%. Tourism for this season is non existent. Sporting events and concerts all cancelled for now. Without all of this, there is no taxi business.  It will probably be Christmas time before things start looking like they did pre covid, and that's a hopeful anticipation.  In recent times there have been a number of threats to the taxi industry: 1. Freenow, formerly Mytaxi, formerly Hailo. And to a certain extent, Uber. 2. The N.T.A., National transport authority. 3. The current minister for transport,  Shane Ross. 4. Illegal taxi's, including social media ads re. airport pickups and drop offs. 5. Rickshaws. 6. 24 hour buses. 7. Violence, robbery and high jackings. 2016...
11 comments
Read more
  Self employed people are to be allowed earn an extra €120.00 a week without affecting their P.U.P. payment. This announcement was made during budget 2021. Taxi drivers, being self employed, are included in this. Before considering going back to work, taxi drivers need to read over the figures within this blog.  Figures are average and reflect accurately the current situation Irish taxi drivers are presently in. The figures are based on information gleaned from drivers sitting on ranks over the past two months. These drivers report an average waiting time for a fare of two to three hours and the fares ranging between €10 and €15. Although the taxi apps are hailing they are infrequent and usually accepted immediately they come on screen, giving the driver little chance to react. Radio companies are extremely quiet with most of the work appearing early morning.  The table below shows the breakdown of weekly taxi running costs. It is split into four categories, self owned c...
10 comments
Read more

Taxi's in crisis

Hailo launched in Dublin 10 years ago to the delight of both taxi drivers and customers. A simpler, quicker way to order a taxi had customers downloading the app in their droves. Drivers,  who had for decades been working with radio companys or working the streets signed up to Hailo in their thousands. The promise of no base fees, the ability to accept jobs from anywhere and only being charged a percentage of each job done was revolutionary. Hailo delivered on their promises and became the friend of taxi drivers and the taxi hailing public. Unfortunately this excellent company sold out to Europe's My taxi and things became a bit sinister. Customers and drivers complained about the new app. It wasn't as efficient as the Hailo app which had during it's time tweaked the model to suit all. A very sinister turn of events came about when My taxi sold out to Daimler and BMW. These motor giants invested heavily into a taxi app!!! The company had been reporting losses and still does...
3 comments
Read more