TradeNames:A Dublin taxi firm has seized opportunities arising from deregulation to grow its business, writes Rose Doyle

One of the capital's largest taxi companies has travelled a long way in its nearly 50 years.

Remembered by the faithful and those with long memories for the late 1950s statement yellow of their 72222 number, digits which increased to 772222 as the city and taxi numbers grew. Today you'll have to dial 6772222 to get hold of a National Radio Cab (NRC) and, in the process, become one of the 4,500 calls they get every day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year.

The company wasn't always NRC Plc, as long-memoried taxi users will also remember. Today's 860-strong fleet, housed in an under-construction state-of-the-art James Street building in Dublin 8, was Ryans taxis when Dermot Ryan founded the company in Pearse Street in 1958. It had a fleet of 12 cars.

Dermot Ryan, founder of Ryans hotels, car hire entrepreneur, part-time poet and one time Fianna Fail candidate, had already made an impact on the tourism/business scene. "They say he started the taxi company with his tips," jokes business development director Liam Brady.

Quips like this are legion as the story unfolds, all of them coming from a decently proud sense of NRC's role as a quintessentially Dublin company and service.

Liam is one of three running today's company, all of them bred in NRC and the taxi business. Dubliners all, Michael Branagan is director of operations, Peter Kelly is fleet manager and, with Liam, they've between them got a total of nearly 50 years service with NRC.

Liam B and Michael B were on hand to tell the tale, an upwardly spiralling one with a nerve-testing leap or two along the way. The original 12 taxis were Ford Zephyrs, Michael reckons, the operation a simple one "in and out of the depot on a job. Ryans and Blue Cabs were the only companies at the time."

Ryans kicked off the 1960s by becoming the first radio controlled taxi company in Ireland. "A big deal at the time," Liam assures, "even if the two-way radios were like big concrete blocks sitting beside you in the taxi!"

Dermot Ryan's taxi company soon moved to Townsend Street, thence to Marlborough Street and, in a nail-biting move, became a co-operative four years after it was set up. "The drivers decided to buy from Dermot," Liam explains, "who was concentrating more on the hotels, and to set up the co-op. Some of them re-mortgaged their houses. The industry was very highly regulated in those early years, with only so many licences issued by Dublin Corporation."

The co-op, Michael says, "was owned by about 80 shareholders and run by a committee which changed every year. It was a one man, one vote system and moved along nicely during the 1960s with a fleet of 60 to 80 cars which, by 1978, had become 92 cars."

In 1982 NRC moved to their present landmark address at 40 James Street. The co-operative way of running things went on until 1999 when, with a fleet of 208 cars, the company became a Plc.

The down-side of the continually changing committee, Liam explains, "was that you never saw directed leadership or growth". Michael, a committee member himself for years, agrees: "People who were volunteers didn't want to make decisions they might not be there to see through. When we became a Plc anyone who was driving and wanted to invest was given the opportunity to do so. The minimum investment was £250, the maximum £5,000. It meant no one would come in and take over."

The trio running NRC have been on the board of directors since 1999: Michael Branagan and Peter Kelly made the move from being members of the co-op committee at the time of the changeover; Liam Brady from being "just a driver, which was a great help in relating to drivers".

NRC moved into the new millennium in the midst of "huge change" and with "a lot of history. It was fairly tumultuous and there was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth," says Liam, "but the lads realised the move to a properly constructed company, as opposed to the outdated co-op idea, had to be made. The company was plodding along, literally, when Michael and myself and a few more of the lads felt we could bring it to the next level if we could instal new technology and bring in more people."

The NRC vision of becoming "the biggest and best, not just as a taxi company but for customers too" came about, Michael reveals, "over a few pints".

And Liam Brady reveals himself as a Liberties boy, an ex-pupil of James Street CBS who "used scud the barley trucks around the back of Guinness. The streets around here were covered in miniature single gauge tracks for the trains carrying barley and hops at the time."

In 2000 NRC became the first Irish taxi company to install a full Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) taxi management system. "A big decision and a big risk," Liam says.

Deregulation of the industry, when it came in November that year, worked in their favour. "It freed up entry to the market," Liam explains, "and companies like ourselves which had growth potential could take fellows on. More drivers meant more clients - with the biggest plus the fact that drivers could come to work on a daily basis and get a fair share of work."

Michael agrees: "A driver doesn't mind having a bad day once things are fair, once he knows he's getting a fair crack of the whip."

By 2001 the company had a fleet of 300 cars; it's increased by about 100 a year since then. In 2003 NRC introduced the country's first internet booking system, the same year it became the sole taxi provider for the Special Olympics.

The company's James Street headquarters was once an abattoir. "It had been converted by the time we came along but we came across a few skeletons anyway," Liam says, swearing this is the truth. "It was a very higgledy-piggledy building, and the staircase was dangerous, so a decision had to be made about what to do with it," Michael adds. They could have moved but "the location is very handy from the perspective of the staff - it's on main bus and Luas routes. We've literally everything we want at our door and the staff are delighted not to have to move out to somewhere on the M50."

The work, started in April 2006 on the building's conversion to what will be a state-of-the-art administration headquarters, is impressive and painstaking in its detail. Pains have been taken to comply with planning and conservation laws and there will be an apartment and retail outlet to the front, light and airy (already up and running) administration offices covering 850sq m (9,149sq ft) and a call-centre staffed by 30 telephonists.

They're going to need it all. NRC Plc now provides call centre facilities for three other companies - Co-op Taxis, Trinity Taxis and Direct Cabs.

"Calls come in here and are directed to the appropriate fleet," Michael explains. "If there's none available in the system the call is despatched to the nearest cab/provider. Though each company is owned by a group of shareholders - one owner in the case of Direct Cabs - drivers all own their own cars and basically we're running the company for the drivers, providing a service for customers and drivers."

As a self-consciously Dublin company they pride themselves "in getting the customer where he/she wants to be in 15 minutes", Liam says. Most drivers are Dubliners and so, too, until recently, were call centre staff. "We've got three Indians in the call centre now, two girls and a fellow. They're great."

The offices look out over the city, staff filling them with an air of camaraderie. Plans afoot include city "gardens" on roof-high decking areas.

"This is a decent environment with the minimum of stress," says Liam, "and it'll be our home for the next 20 years or more."

A secure future then, for NRC plc taxis.