There were record numbers of taxi complaints in 2022 following the introduction of mandatory cashless payments.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) received 1,625 complaints in 2022 – a three-fold increase from 2021 (560).
That is a 17% increase in complaints from the previous annual record in 2019 when 1,383 complaints were made.
Taxi driver James Cullen told The Pat Kenny Show these complaints represent a small number of drivers.
“We look at it in context, it's less than 1% of the entire industry,” he said. “In Dublin alone... taxis are taking between 22 and 25 million trips for the whole year for the whole industry.
“It's still too many, but it's still not bad.”
Some 793 complaints were made specifically about “overcharging and other matters relating to fares” - and many suspect cashless payments are the biggest drive behind these complaints.
Card payments
Mr Cullen said many passengers are now using card payments to get out of paying for the taxi altogether.
“What they're doing is they're paying by credit card, that's fine,” he said. “[But] within a week or two later, drivers are receiving emails from companies processing credit cards saying a customer has contacted us to say they never took this journey with you.
A taxi driver accepting a card payment. Image: Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg/Alamy Stock Photo“Now it’s down to me to prove that journey - if the journey was done by tap, I have no way of proving that the trip exists. They could simply say somebody else used their cards.”
In many situations, card companies will then simply refuse to give the taxi driver any fare, putting many drivers off using cashless payments.
This has likely discouraged many taxi drivers from accepting card payments altogether, Mr Cullen said.
“We've noticed a lot more of this now over the last couple of weeks,” he said.
'Make sure the card machine is charged'
Despite fear of scammers, taxi drivers must still comply with the law and offer card payments.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t - but when taxi drivers are refusing cards, they’re breaking the law,” Mr Cullen said.
“If the driver can facilitate the credit card, that's the driver's problem and not the customer's problem.
“One thing I always do in the morning, I make sure my credit card machine is charged and I do a one-euro transaction every morning to make sure it's working fine.
“The vast, vast majority of my colleagues do the same but unfortunately... there are still the illegal operators who will not just accept card for whatever reason.”
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