Galway taxis appeal to city Gardaí for a freeze on ticketing

 Galway’s taxis have appealed to Gardaí: ‘Stop ticketing us for parking illegally’.

 A Galway taxi representative group has appealed to Galway Gardaí for leniency when it comes to ticketing taxis and hackneys who are parked illegally in the city.

Taxi Drivers Galway makes the call in a submission to the Galway City Joint Policing Committee, circulated to City Councillors.

“We would ask that no more parking fines be issued by Gardaí or traffic wardens unless an SPSV (Small Public Service Vehicles) vehicle is deliberately holding up traffic. We have a situation where taxi members are getting fines on a weekly basis and are unable to pay due to very little income,” the submission states.

The drivers’ group complains that there are just 68 spaces available for taxis in the city yet there are almost 960 taxi licences issued for Galway. Due to the lack of taxi rank space, the group has proposed that a bye-law be introduced that would allow taxis to ply for hire in the city after 10pm or 11pm “as long as they do not inconvenience any other road user”.

“This would give all parties concerned time to fix the problem that has been created,” it said.

Now that the work is complete at Ceannt Station, taxis are still not happy with the amount and positioning of the rank space for the bus and rail facility.

“The redevelopment works are now completed but the situation is still unacceptable. The drop off point for two taxis is not enough. We feel the provision of a taxi rank at Fairgreen is rarely going to be used as it’s too far away from Ceannt Station.

“The taxis dropping off customers have more of a chance of getting another fare due to the Fairgreen taxi rank being so far away. Walking up to the Fairgreen taxi rank with luggage is unacceptable for any member of the public and reflects poorly on Galway City.”

The submission is to be discussed at the next city JPC meeting in the New Year.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel