A NEW service for Dublin commuters offers shared taxi rides and car journeys as an affordable and quicker alternative to driving your own car to work.
Dublin Commute claims it can take the stress and anxiety out of the daily commute by grouping together commuters with a shared destination in the same taxi. The service is also being provided to ferry second- and third-level students to school and college.
Because the taxis can use bus lanes, it says the service is quicker than driving a private car into the capital.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary famously bought his own taxi licence in order to be able to avail of open bus lanes but the users of this scheme will have to share their cab.
Costs are minimised by filling each taxi with three commuters who have to commit themselves to use the service at least five times a week.
In addition, the company is offering a “tunnel buddies” service that matches up commuting drivers who use the Dublin Port Tunnel with passengers willing to share the cost of the toll.
It has also installed park-and-ride facilities at the fringes of the city, where longer-distance commuters can leave their cars and continue their journey by shared taxi or public transport.
Car-pooling schemes have been tried in Dublin before without any success but Dublin Commute’s business development manager Ian Graydon believes this is an idea whose time has finally come.
“We’re committed to try and ease the stress of the daily commute,” he says. “With overcrowded trains and buses where most don’t even get a seat, why shouldn’t we look at affordable taxis using the bus lanes?”
The scheme, which has a dedicated website dublincommute.ie, takes inspiration from commuting solutions in place in Asian cities such as Bangalore and, nearer home, from the long-running black taxi service in Belfast.
