This article is from page 17 of the 2009-05-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
NO APPLICATION has been made for a taxi licence in County Clare WTA ore
According to the Commission for Taxi Regulation, the number of l- censed taxi plates remained at 196 at the end of April — the same as at the end of last December.
But there has been a decrease in the
number of hackney licences which dropped to 226 at the end of April from 237 at the end of 2008. There has also been a drop in the number of limousine plates from 46 at the end of 2008 to 41 at the end of April.
The only sector of the public li- censed vehicle business to show an increase was wheelchair accessible taxis which rose by one from 14 to 15 over the same period.
In all, the number of licences from public service vehicles has dropped from 503 to 488.
The figures show that while now having reached a plateau of 196, the number of taxi plates increased ten- fold since deregulation.
Prior to deregulation, the Ennis taxi market was one of the most re- stricted in the country resulting in exorbitant prices for one of the 20
taxi plates available. In a couple of instances, plates were sold for sums in excess of €100,000. It now costs only €6,250 to purchase a plate.
Director of Ennis-based firm, Bur- ren Taxis, Brendan Tuohy said yes- terday that the current situation is “a CN Riko uae
“If you are not a member of a com- pany like Burren Taxis and you are out on your own, it 1s very hard to
make a living. If a survey was taken of the 196 existing taxi licence hold- ers “you would find maybe a quar- ter that are not working, because the business isn’t there”.
He said that taxi drivers in Burren Taxis — which has 40 drivers — are working 70 hours a week.
Mr Tuohy added that vehicle stand- ards must be increased “as anyone can come in and be a taxi-driver”.