In Ireland there are two types of cab.
The Taxi - can be hailed in any public place, requested at an office, rank, or by phone.
The Hackney - cannot be hailed, must be requested at an office or by phone.
Taxis are found in the large cities; Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway etc. but for the rest of the country, and here I’m talking about both provincial towns and villages a Hackney is yer only man.
A Hackney licence or “plate” is cheaper to buy then a Taxi so in these areas of less business where there is only weekend and occasional demand it allows an enterprising local man to have a side business. He can use the car as a daily driver when not on duty as - and this is a key point for non-Irish readers - the car only displays a small yellow badge on the front and rear bumpers, this is discreet, it does not have to have disctinctive paintwork as in London, or New York.
The Minister for Transport established the Commission for Taxi Regulation - which now seems to call itself the Taxi Regulator - this is yet another Independent Public Body established by the current Fianna Fail government, in a move to shift work away from Departments and thus named Ministers, so that should trouble arise it will be a faceless body that is blamed and not a named Minister or party, although I am taking the most negative view here there are doubtless some benefits to be had.
Returning now to the Hackney badge, while it was discreet is was a symbol that waiting passengers could easily see, assuring them they were indeed getting into a licenced hackney and not some strangers car. It also had a real-world function of alerting other road users that the car was a Hackney, and thus likely to drive in a rather fluid manner - pulling in to a curb without indicating, racing to traffic lights, and driving in a manner that we all would if our incomes depended on constant punctuality. However the Taxi Regulator has decided to replace these bumper plates with yellow windscreen stickers. These are not easily seen as in Ireland cars already display a myriad of stickers on their windscreens; Tax Disc, Insurance Certificate, National Car Test Certificate, and often a strip of advertising text above the three part holder for the aforementioned, also an awaiting passenger cannot scan the windscreen of passing cars for the presence of this sticker without inadvertently making eye contact with a person therein - a definate faux pas in undesirable areas.
* the word man is used above for the sake of previty to refer to a homo sapien of either sex. Continue reading ‘Taxi Regulator’
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