Taxis must take card payments from next week as fares to increase by 12%

The changes are coming very soon.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has said it will be mandatory for taxis to accept credit and debit card payments from next Thursday, 1 September. Also, on that date, fares for taxis will increase by an average of 12%. Appearing on RTÉ News at One, the NTA's Director of Public Transport Regulation Wendy Thompson was asked about the basis for approving the rise in costs. "Our role as taxi regulator is to ensure that the consumer gets a high quality modern affordable and accessible service but while striking a fair balance with the self-employed taxi drivers nationwide," she explained. "NTA reviews the maximum fare every two years. "The full fare review examined all the running costs and fixed costs that a driver has to pay to give a taxi service in today's economic environment. "So, that includes... the fuel prices, the energy prices, the cost of vehicles and so on and then we look at that together with [the] macro environment and the cost of living changes for both drivers and passengers. "This time, because of what was going on in the post-pandemic era and the socialising that had been taken up again, we also considered very strongly the passenger demand and how that's changed since pre-Covid times, particularly for the nighttime trips and the socialising trips." Thompson said that such trips have risen by about 45% in Dublin as the restrictions eased. "We also have to remember that taxi drivers were due to get a 5% fare increase in 2020. They decided not to take that given the situation the country was in," she added. "So, this increase is to include all the cost changes from before that, that 5%, and everything up to now." Thompson also told the programme that it is hoped the increase in costs will help to recruit and retain taxi drivers. "We weighted the increase heavily towards the nighttime economy where demand has started outstripping supply... and to incentivise more drivers to work the nighttime periods," she explained.