Mayor calls for cap on taxi licences to curb numbers

By Dara Bradley

The Mayor of Galway City, Cllr Mike Crowe has called for an immediate cap on the number of taxi licences being issued and says more rigorous ‘local knowledge’ tests for drivers must be introduced to improve the quality of service to customers.

Mayor Crowe, a member of Fianna Fáil which earlier this year introduced a regulation that all taxis must be less than nine years old to have their licences renewed, welcomed his party’s u-turn on and abandonment of the controversial policy.

Fianna Fáil Minister for Transport Pat Carey last week wrote to the National Transport Authority supporting the immediate suspension of the nine-year-rule on  replacing taxis, a policy that was recently introduced under the watch of another Fianna Fáil Minister for Transport, the retiring, Noel Dempsey.

Mayor Crowe says he has been consistent in his stance on taxis for several years now and this week welcomed Fianna Fáil’s decision to scrap the nine-year-rule policy.

The Galway West General Election candidate said he supports an immediate cap on the issuing of new taxi licenses, until such a time as the problem of an over-supply of taxis is sorted.

Any new taxi licences that are issued after the cap is lifted must only be given to drivers who have a proper knowledge of Galway City. This would be achieved through a local knowledge test for those wishing to get a licence.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.