While taxi drivers from across the country prepare to stage a mass rally from the Phoenix Park to Government Buildings in Dublin on the 15th September, protesting at what has been a lack of government support during the Corona virus pandemic, on the 3rd of September Freenow posted a recruitment ad on jobs.ie.
Drivers who are currently working report average income at well below minimum wage, some saying they only earn €5/€6 an hour.
Gerard Macken, chairman of the Taxi Alliance of Ireland, said that most taxi drivers were operating at a 20% capacity because of a lack of customers
Job Description:
Are you ready to start a career as an independent driver?
At FREE NOW we are making a drive for drivers and are helping new drivers enter the industry every day.
We’re offering all interested parties free access to FREE NOW Manual, our online training platform.
The Manual is an online resource designed to help you become an accredited SPSV driver and get on the road.
This online revision platform is the most effective way to prepare for the SPSV test - with over 18,000 roads in Dublin there’s a lot to take in!
Why should I consider becoming an SPSV driver and alongside FREE NOW?
Income
As a licensed taxi driver you have access to a career where you can earn a very healthy income. Demand for taxis in Ireland continues to grow so there’s more than enough work for new drivers.
Flexibility
There aren’t many professions out there that offer you the same flexibility as being a taxi driver. As an independent driver you get to be your own boss. You can choose your hours and what days you work. It's all your call!
Support
Choosing a new career isn’t always an easy decision. Thankfully FREE NOW will be with you every step of the way. We’ll help you pass your test, get you on the road, and send you more business than you know what to do with.
Skills:
drivers, Drivers Licence, Customer Skills
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Free Now missed a series of payment deadlines to drivers, sparking concern in the trade. Many drivers were left owed sums equivalent to most of one week’s earnings, when Free Now’s weekly payment run failed for the second week in a row.
Blamed
Free Now blamed the delays on Wirecard, its payments processor, and promised to switch to another payments service. It said the drivers would be paid “as soon as possible” and that the money owed has already left the company’s account and was on its way to drivers.
The episode highlights how problems at third-party aggregators, such as Free Now can potentially leave taxi drivers vulnerable and in a difficult position.
In essence, such apps have full control over money that does not belong to them. In the financial services sector, service providers that handle other people’s money in this way are tightly regulated. Third-party aggregators face no such scrutiny.
Cormac Devlin, a Government TD, has called for Ministers to examine whether legislation is required to make sure that aggregator apps properly protect the money that they handle, but which does not belong to them.
The NTA did not involve them selves even though the CEO of Freenow, Alan Fox, sits on the taxi advisory committee.
In the same Times article...
While reporting to the tac in recent weeks, Fox has stated that Freenow are back to pre covid profits and that a recruitment drive for new drivers is required.
Every taxi driver in the country knows this to be untrue. How could it be possible when there are no night clubs open, no concerts, no crowds at sports events and hardly any traffic to and from airports?
Then to add insult to injury Freenow came out with this humdinger...
Where did Freenow get this supposed information from? Certainly not the "hundreds of passengers" they speak of in this promo. The only reason a passenger has ever had to contact Freenow was to complain or to retrieve a lost item. Anyone needing to contact Freenow has always had a lot of difficulty locating a phone number for the app service. Even taxi drivers using the app and needing to contact Freenow have had to post on social media requesting the contact details from other users. They brought this about for two reasons, to detract from the nonpayment debacle and to disrupt the industry.
It's a kick in the teeth for those drivers who have plastered their taxi's with the Freenow livery and promised ambassador status for doing so. Suddenly they've been moved down the pecking order.
Whilst talking about this with a Dublin driver, he said, "I've been driving a taxi fulltime since 2008 using both the Avensis and Octavia. I've never had a passenger question the fact that I'm driving a diesel car. In fact, I've had numerous conversations with passengers about the Prius where they told me there was very little head or leg room and as for the tiny boot space! Once the radio company I'm with had to call me to an airport job where a Prius had taken the booking but couldn't then fit four passengers and their luggage where the Octavia did it comfortably".
Then there are the new recruits brought into the industry by Freenow with promises of more business than they know what to do with. These new drivers can only own a taxi by purchasing a wav... 99% of wavs on the market are driven by a diesel engine.
Freenow have recently partnered with Applegreen, an oil company!
Promoting Japanese vehicles, Toyota and Nissan, when they (Freenow) are owned by BMW and Daimler!
So, here we have a company within the taxi industry, recruiting when there's no work, not guaranteeing weekly payments, promoting vehicles that are not fit for purpose and misleading the taxi advisory council.
Why is Alan Fox allowed to sit on the taxi advisory committee? The company he is CEO of haven't a clue what is happening on the ground.
They obviously don't consult the ordinary taxi driver when coming up with their hair brained schemes to help "improve" the taxi industry.
Click on the above link, print a couple of copies of the booklet, keep one in your cab for people who talk to you about getting into the industry and drop one into the Freenow office on the 15th.
The four organisers of the mid September demonstration...
They say protesters will set off in their taxis from Conyngham Road at 10am and drive up the quays making their way to Merrion Square.
The issues are, lack of financial aid post covid, moratorium on the issuing of licences, extension of all vehicle licences from ten to twelve years, transferability to be introduced, the disbandment of the taxi advisory committee, an independent body that advises the National Transport Authority.
The drivers also want continued access to bus lanes, after Dublin city council proposed to transport minister Eamon Ryan that taxis be banned from certain bus corridors.
“The government has given us two options: either you come off the Covid payment and go back to minimal work, or stay on it and stay out of work,” said Gerard Macken, “What we are seeing is reams of taxis parked at ranks with no one in them. There’s no point in operating them whatsoever, but drivers want to get back to work, even just for mental health reasons. Absolutely nothing is being done for us.”Macken argued restricting taxi access to bus lanes would detract from customers’ reasons for hiring one. “What’s the point in getting in a taxi if you have to sit in normal traffic during rush hour?” he said. “It’s the privilege of the customer to get brought to a destination by the fastest route, and the majority of those routes are through bus lanes, particularly when travelling through town.”
The Department of Transport said it had been working with the NTA to ensure taxi operators could avail of financial supports. “The NTA has undertaken several measures to assist operators including waivers, temporary licence suspensions, interaction with the insurance industry, and providing guidance to operators on cleaning and other ways to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19,” it said.
“The Taxi Advisory Committee recently submitted a report with recommendations on how to assist SPSV (small public service vehicles) operators recover from the impact of the pandemic. It is currently being examined."
There are many divisions within the taxi industry... plate owners, wavs, plate renters, full taxi renters, part timers with their own plate, part timers who rent, multiple plate owners etc.
These divisions were deliberately set in place by the regulator with the aim of controlling the taxi industry by the "divide and conquer" philosophy.
An instance of one of these divisions is the drivers who, in the past decade, have come into the industry. They have had to finance a wav in order to own a plate, rent a plate and put it on their own car or rent a complete taxi. This puts the driver under huge financial strain and so he/she cannot contemplate protesting as they feel they cannot afford the time off.
Allowing people to take up driving a taxi as a part time occupation is another way of dividing the industry.
Freenow now have adopted this philosophy with their ambassador status and now their "green car" promotion. Freenow have been showing signs over the last couple of years of wanting to take over the taxi regulator role.
Taxi drivers, regardless of their status, need to band together now. They need to appreciate that anyone driving a taxi in order to support a family is in the same situation as themselves. The industry has hit the floor and unless their is unification among all who depend on a taxi to make a living, the industry will die. Freenow will take over with an Uber style model and eventually the self driving car.
The 15th is the day ALL taxi drivers need to head for the Conyngham road to show this government and in particular, Eamon Ryan and the NTA that Irish taxi drivers are united.
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