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LAST UPDATE | 3 Dec 2025
TAXI DRIVERS IN Dublin are holding another protest against Uber’s new fixed rates in the city this evening.
The protest, which began at 4.30pm, is the second demonstration involving drivers purposefully delaying traffic in the capital since the fixed rates were introduced.
A ‘go slow’ protest was held in Dublin last Wednesday, which resulted in gridlock across the city and brought traffic to a standstill near government buildings and near Dublin Airport.
This evening’s demonstration is taking place along the following routes:
Gardaí earlier advised the public to expect delays on those routes and encouraged motorists to avoid them where possible and allow extra time for any commute in the surrounding areas.
Delays can be expected from 4:30pm in the vicinity of:
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) December 3, 2025
🛣️ Dublin Airport
🛣️ Conyngham Road to Merrion St via the Northside city centre quay
🛣️ UCD to Merrion Square, via N11
🛣️Estuary Road, Swords & Northwood, Santry
Dublin Airport also warned passengers to expect heavy traffic on the roads around the airport from 4.30pm due to the protest
“This will result in significant disruption and delays for passengers, meeters and greeters travelling to and from the airport,” DAA said.
“Please allow additional time to get to Dublin Airport and consider alternate routes, including accessing the airport via Junction 4 (Ballymun) on the M50.”
Organisers have said that drivers don’t want to protest but are being left with no choice as they are facing “severe, immediate and unsustainable” financial pressure, adding that weekly protests would continue “until this matter is resolved”.
Taxi drivers have accused Uber of undermining the regulated taxi fare structure set by the National Transport Authority (NTA) with its new fixed rate system.
Uber said the new model guarantees passengers a maximum fare upfront instead of the usual estimated range that can rise with traffic or route changes, reducing “meter anxiety” and seeing passengers paying the lower amount if the meter comes in under the fixed price.
But taxi drivers claim the model amounts to “predatory pricing” and leaves drivers earning less, particularly during traffic delays.
Meanwhile, taxi drivers in Cork have said they will not be staging a protest against the fixed rates.
In a statement today, Cork Taxi Council said they “will not sanction a protest in Cork City” as they believe that any protest that would see taxis driving slowly or blocking streets “will serve no purpose whatsoever”.
Chairperson Bobby Lynch said customers have not received any information about the issue and “only see taxis blocking town for a moan over money”.
“The travelling public deserve the facts. Uber is bad full stop,” he said.
“Protest in Dublin, the capital city. It’s where the government sits, it’s where the Department of Transport is and it’s where the NTA office is. Protest there. But the ultimate protest is just delete the app.”
More than 6,000 drivers in Ireland currently use the Uber app.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport told The Journal that Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien sent a letter to the NTA on 19 November asking for clarity on the regulatory position on the Uber fixed price fare.
He also met with the Small Public Service Vehicle (SPSV) Advisory Committee on 27 November, “where the matter was discussed”.
“Taxi drivers, who are self-employed operators, make a business decision to sign up or not with a licensed dispatch operator and are not obliged by the NTA to sign up with any dispatch operator,” the spokesperson said.
“The NTA is the independent transport regulator of the SPSV sector, and the Minister is not involved in the day-to-day operations of that sector.”
A spokesperson for Uber told The Journal: “Riders across Ireland are responding really positively to knowing the price of their trip in advance.
“Upfront pricing gets rid of the anxiety riders have about metered fares, giving them greater confidence to book trips which creates additional earning opportunities for drivers,” the spokesperson said.
“Drivers will always see how much they will earn for every trip, before deciding if they accept. Our fares are based on real-time information and data from millions of trips to reflect taximeter prices.”
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