Demand in Cork doubled compared to last week.
FREE NOW has reported a huge surge in requests over the past weekend as restrictions were eased from Friday onwards.
The taxi hailing app saw an increase of 22% compared to the previous weekend.
Sunday morning at 2am was the busiest time across the weekend, with 200 requests being placed per minute.
The Cork Jazz Festival had a major impact on the service in the county, with demand increasing by 100% over the previous weekend.
The busiest times for the app have grown later and later going into the autumn and winter months, with 12.30am becoming the average time for people to book.
City centre destinations across the country were the most popular, with nightclubs in Dublin, Cork, and Galway being major hotspots for taxi drivers.
Galwegians were the latest partiers over the weekend, with 3am being the busiest time on Sunday night.
“Taxi drivers play a key role in the late-night hospitality industry and FREE NOW was delighted to see such strong support for pubs and clubs on reopening weekend,” general manager for FREE NOW Ireland Niall Carson said.
“Like the hospitality industry, the transport sector and specifically taxi drivers have been impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic so it’s a hugely positive sign that trips are up 22% during the first weekend of reopening and we are hopeful that this will continue as we head into the busy festive season.”
This sharp increase in demand for taxi services following the easing of restrictions is similar to the increase when international travel was reopened in the country.
FREE NOW saw an 80% rise in demand in taxis to Dublin Airport in the first week since international flights returned.
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