The issue of finding a way home in Dublin after midnight is causing outrage as many share their stories of being left stranded after a night out.
From the Luas ending its service at midnight to late-night buses at capacity and taxis nearly impossible to come by, FreeNow is calling on the government to address the transport shortage ‘in a proactive and integrated manner.’
The taxi-hailing app has come under intense pressure as a result of the widespread transport issues facing the capital and is reportedly dealing with thousands of requests in short bursts of time - which they simply cannot meet.
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Twitter has been alight in recent weeks with many people saying they have had to resort to making the long journey home by foot from whatever late-night venue they were at due to the sheer difficulty in flagging down a taxi or an available bus.
One person wrote: “Another night in Dublin having to walk home. Two taxis refused me. 45 minute walk home and hated every second of it. Town was not a nice place to walk through last night. Sort it out. It’s a joke and it’s not safe.”
In response to this, another person tweeted: “This has happened to me about three times in the last twelve months. Simultaneously no taxis in the centre of Dublin, and as you start walking north of the river, taxis with their lights on *that are empty* pass you by and won't take you.”
A third person said: “Between airports, taxis, buses, there is no decent travel infrastructure in Dublin after Covid.”
As frustration grows among the public, Niall Carson, General Manager of FREE NOW Ireland told the Irish Mirror: “Since the start of the pandemic we have added an additional 1,000 driver partners to our existing fleet, with over 14,000 drivers now registered with the Free Now mobility app.
“Although our overall driver fleet has grown, the active driver base has been affected and has only recently returned to 2019 levels of approximately 10,000 active drivers per month.
“These active drivers are now completing more trips than pre-pandemic and are servicing around 35% more taxi journeys than they provided prior to 2020.
“Despite our active driver numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels in recent months, we have experienced exponential growth in passenger demand particularly at peak times since the start of 2022.”
Although the shortage of taxis is causing anger among the public, Mr. Carson insisted that the government needs to do more to improve Ireland’s transport sector ‘as a whole,’ so that the pressure doesn’t solely land on the taxi industry.
“This is not just a taxi shortage issue,” he said, “this is a transport shortage issue that needs to be addressed by the transport sector as a whole, in a proactive and integrated manner.
“This will in turn help alleviate the pressure currently placed on the taxi sector to cater to the enormous need of passengers at peak times.”
Putting figures on the sheer magnitude of this pressure, Mr. Carson revealed that on Saturday, June 11, the app received a whopping 17,000 requests between midnight and 1am.
So although they are seeing more drivers completing work at peak times and the levels of work being completed by drivers on the app is increasing significantly, they simply do not have the supply of drivers to meet this knock-on demand.
“At peak times, we don’t currently have the supply to meet the levels of demand that we are currently seeing, despite the incentives we have in place for our driver-partners,” he said.
“For example on Saturday night, 11th June, we received over 17K requests from midnight to 1am.”
In terms of advice for anyone headed out this weekend, FreeNow’s General Manager says the only thing you can do is book well in advance, make sure you know all of your travel options, and avoid peak times.
“Our active driver base has been affected over the past two years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that it has been more challenging to book taxis,” Mr. Carson reiterated.
“To limit booking delays or long waiting times, we advise passengers to plan their journeys in advance, consider multiple transport options, and try to avoid peak times where possible.”
In the meantime, they’re doing all they can to increase their fleet by encouraging drivers to come on board in the coming months with their new training programme, as well as incentivising their existing fleet "on a rolling basis in line with peak demand periods - providing financial rewards to encourage more drivers to supply rising demand.”
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