Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
GETTING IN AT the last second before the Dáil was suspended for its summer recess, the Legal Metrology (Measuring Instruments) Bill passed through the house.
It’s a short piece of legislation, but it aims to, as Minister Frances Fitzgerald put it, allow the public to know “that there are penalties for those who mess around with” measuring instruments such as taxi meters.
Just a week before, the National Transport Authority announced that it had been recommended that taxi fares increase by 3%. This comes after a review which said that the costs of operating a taxi had increased by this amount since the last price rise in 2015.
Some taxi drivers that TheJournal.ie spoke to, however, said the fare increases will act as a deterrent for people to get taxis and that the cost of recalibrating the taxi metre means that it’s not worth the hassle.
So for your journey into town, or into work, that costs €18, will soon cost around €18.70.
Here’s a breakdown of how it’ll affect your journey:
For the taxi driver though, the cost of this rise can be high.
Once the fares go up, all taxi meters will need to be recalibrated to adjust to the new fare system.
Getting that done can cost up to €100, some taxi drivers told us.
Furthermore, the devices need to be checked by the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s Legal Metrology Service. This costs a further €86 to be done by the NSAI’s chosen “accredited verifier”.
The penalties for not changing over can be costly.
If a taxi meter is not calibrated correctly, the driver is liable to a fine of €250. And if the device is not “sealed” by an accredited verifier, then a fine of €80 applies.
Bill McSweeney, from Irish Taxi Tours, told TheJournal.ie that while the cost of operating a taxi is indeed rising, a rise of 3% is “totally negated by the cost associated with having to recalibrate and reseal the metre”.
“People wonder why taxi drivers are cynical,” he said. “We’re required to get the meters recalibrated every few years anyway.
So we could go get it recalibrated as we’re required to do, and then have to spend the same money when the NTA raise the fares a few months later.
That sentiment was echoed by taxi drivers we spoke to at ranks on O’Connell Street and Dame Street in Dublin.
One said: “My insurance went through the roof this year, with no real reason given. It’d put you off getting into this game.”
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for mytaxi, formerly Hailo, said that while it welcomes increases, measures were required to encourage more people into the profession.
The final decision to raise the prices rests with the board of the National Transport Authority. The earliest that the new fares will apply is the beginning of 2018.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
My wife bought me a ticket as a Crimbo present I won €500 yay!! She has just spent it in Ikea!!! now I’ve to put all these flat packs together!!
Clever woman!
Congrats! And jealous of your wife’s lkea shopping spree :) happy flat packing!
Ah I’m happy for them…..but am so jealous!
I know I will get a lot of red thumbs for this. The only reason people go public after winning the lotto is to gloat to the rest of the country. I have more respect for people who dont go public
No I think you get less money if you stay anonymous.
I dont think its true graham. You dont have to go public. I know I wont even if they offer an extra, lets say 10k, to the 1M won.
How’s that?
Sorry you get an extra €20,000 for going public. Stand there for a few photographs for an extra 20k. I’d do it.
No way would I go public if I won it. I don’t want the papers harrassing me or my family
But what about the begging letters? I’d keep sending them if I won.
Jaysis that jokes so old it doesn’t have ancestors
Complete myth you get more for going public. National lottery confirmed it, pretty sure the journal had an article about it a few months ago
You get exactly the same money. Only difference is if go public you get the champagne day with the handing over of the cheque and photos shoot etc
I’d be fairly raging if I was the aunt….. Hope the throw her a few quid.
Why are media outlets so obsessed with the fact “the winner has yet to come forward”? The same in that rag, the independent. The draw was less than 48 hours ago! Give them a chance. And congrats to the winner and to this couple. Great start to their life together!
No i didn’t win but it’s my near year’s resolution to do just that.
“This will definitely help with the wedding” …. wedding of the decade there id say if that will just “help” :-) And as for the €1mill I suppose I should have bought a ticket! maybe Next time!!
how many tickets went into the drum on the night of the draw looked nothing like 300000 tickets we all sat looking and waiting and over 90% didn,t make it into the drum {ripped again}
Dave i think i read somewhere that only a certain amount of them go into the draw for the million…..they are all supposedly put in for the other draws. Same as winning streak only 100 tickets go into drum for the following weeks programme. I could be wrong
Money can’t buy happiness !!! Congrats to the winners !!
True, money can’t buy happiness, but it makes the search for it much more comfortable.
True that money can’t buy happiness But I’d rather cry in a bentley continental that on the 54A Bus.
If I did I will be shovelling the cocaine into my gaf!
No.
Id love to be at that wedding if it only going to help. I’d go collect me million if it would only stop raining.
Quite like the blonde in the green dress in the lotto crimbo
Draw ad..
The only way to positively guarantee winning the lottery is to get the numbers on your ticket to match the actual drawn numbers. Pity it’s so hard to know that in advance! I have a little just-for-fun page which generates my own personal random quick pick numbers. As I say, it is strictly just for fun, but you never know your luck! Look out for VillaLibra if you want to see if you can locate it.
have your say