Taxi driver shortage hitting hard in Donegal

The number of taxis registered in Donegal has fallen by almost 25 per cent since the end of 2019 - and commuters have been warned of a further dramatic drop.

At of the end of September this year, there were 283 small public service vehicle (SPSV) licence holders with addresses in County Donegal. That figure is down from the 349 at the end of 2019.

There are a total of 476 SPSV driver licence holders licensed to operate within County Donegal - down from 564 at the end of 2019.

“The county is based on the licence holder’s address and as a result, it is not possible to provide where these SPSVs operate within the State,” a spokesperson for the National Transport Authority told Donegal Live.

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The number of taxis has fallen from 140 to 106, while hackney numbers are down to 86 from 121.

“The number actually working would be much less than that,” says Shaun Gallagher of Letterkenny Cabs. “The licence is issued for a five-year period, but that doesn’t mea the holder is actually working in the industry.”

Anecdotally, there are stories of revellers in Letterkenny having long waits for a taxi home.  Those wait times are expected to increase as a high volume of Christmas partygoers coincides with a drop in available cabs.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 saw a stream of drivers leave the industry. Many have not returned and the volume coming in is not as plentiful.

The NTA told Donegal Live: “In the period between 1 January and 30 September 2022 a total of 13 new SPSV driver licences have been granted by An Garda Síochána, the licensing authority for the drivers of SPSVs.”

Earlier this year, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar suggested that Uber and Lyft could be brought in to aid Ireland’s shortage of taxis.

However, Gallagher believes there is a simpler solution.

“This is all about supply and demand,” he says. “The demand is there, but the supply isn’t. Lats weekend, we had four of our six vehicles parked up for the whole weekend. We want to get people into the vehicles. We would go out and buy more vehicles, but what’s the point we we’re sitting with four parked up.

“A lot of people were getting towards a certain age and getting ready to retire anyway and the Covid thing sort of pushed them over.

“Some went to do courier work and then we had the problem where the licensing closed down for early a year.

“Varadkar mentioned Uber and the whole licensing thing, but why can’t I go and get someone say for a Saturday night?  I have tried to push it to boys, but the licensing thing is difficult too. They ask for industry knowledge and area knowledge; they’ll ask for you to know the street the Post Office in Lifford is on for example, when we can just use Google Maps anyway.

“Even then, when you pass the test you could have a six-month wait for the vetting to go through from the guards.”

Gallagher was in Letterkenny on Thursday evening and at 8.30pm noticed that there were no cars at any of the ranks.

“The traffic is starting to get to me too,” he says. “You used to be ready for it to be heavy from, say 4-6pm and it would ease off, but you just expect it to be heavy now all the time.

“The shortage of taxis has to be putting people off going out but give it another year or two: It will get worse before it gets better.”