There are now 61 fewer taxi operators and 1,895 licenced taxis on Northern Ireland's roads compared to two years ago, new figures show
There are now 61 fewer taxi operators and 1,895 licenced taxis on Northern Ireland's roads compared to two years ago, new figures show.
The LTOA, which represents a group of mainly large private hire taxi operators here, says there are simply now too few taxis and taxi drivers to meet passenger demand across Northern Ireland especially during anti-social hours at evenings and weekends. "Drivers have decided it is not worth their while driving the extra hours especially evenings and weekends on the current DfI fare structure when there are additional challenges for working these hours."
Currently only around 22% on average are passing the theory element, which the LTOA says "remains unacceptably low compared to other licence types". "Taxi operators have a business model where their income increases when the number of drivers they have increases . In other words, it's in our interest to have more drivers and address these problems, but there is only so much we can do within the current legislation and in the absence of an Assembly
“The taxi industry operates within the wider context of the existing economic situation and there are many factors that contribute to the current shortage of taxi drivers. In November last year, Mr O’Dowd's predecessor Nichola Mallon announced a 7.6% increase in the maximum fare as part of a post-Covid support package for the industry, and to encourage new drivers.
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