PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT TD Paul Murphy has called on the National Transport Authority to set up its own “not-for-profit” taxi app. 

It comes in response to Uber’s decision to introduce so-called ‘fixed fares’ on its own platform, a move that has been widely condemned by taxi drivers in Ireland. 

Proposing the app today, Murphy said taxi drivers, who have been protesting against the “uberisation of taxis”, are being left in a terrible situation as a result of Uber’s decision, which he described as a “race to the bottom”. 

Murphy, a TD for Dublin South West, said Uber is attempting to circumvent the basic regulation that exists for taxis in Ireland, whereby meters that are regulated by the National Transport Authority (NTA) set the prices.

Uber’s new optional fixed fares model shows customers a maximum price upfront that will be guaranteed. If the final price on the meter turns out to be lower than the maximum given, customers will pay the lower fare.

Uber has over 6,000 drivers in Ireland who use its app, but many are deeply unhappy with the change, with over 1,000 participating in a protest earlier this month.

Speaking to The Journal at the time, one taxi driver in Dublin said Uber’s plans give the company an “unfair advantage”.

“They are playing as the good guys and saying that they are making pricing consistent, but they use surge pricing and charge people more when it’s busy. They give drivers and customers less control,” he said.

Paul Murphy Leah Farrell / Rollingnews.ie Leah Farrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

Likewise, Murphy said today that the model hurts taxi drivers and will hurt consumers, given that Uber gets to set the prices.

“So sometimes taxi drivers will get absolutely ripped off, other times, users of taxi drivers will see prices extremely, extremely high.

“The answer to this, what the taxi drivers are calling for, is for the NTA to have a not-for-profit app, which all the taxi drivers are able to use,” he said. 

Raising the issue in the Dáil this afternoon, People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett also stressed the need for such an app. 

Responding to him, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said it was an issue he was looking into.