The lack of taxi rank space in Castlebar is causing a number of operators of taxis into the town to face severe financial hardship according to one taxi driver who spoke to the Mayo Advertiser this week.
The taxi driver told the Mayo Advertiser: “There is not enough space on the ranks on Main Street at the top or the bottom of the town, you can only fit three or four cars in each rank, and when you have over 160 taxis in the town it’s nowhere near enough. Now you also have Main Street being done up and it’s causing further problems.
“You can come around the corner of Linenhall Street and not know if you are going to find a space or not. There needs to be more spaces provided for the taxis in the town.”
He went on to say that the lack of spaces is causing a number of taxi operators to not be able to be unable to make a living. “You can be out there for three or four hours and only make €15, you can’t make a living off that, apart from Saturday nights it’s very difficult to make a living.”
Castlebar town councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who raised the issue of taxis parking illegally around the town at a recent Joint Policing Committee meeting, told the Mayo Advertiser that when the works are completed on Main Street there will be a number of spaces allocated to the taxi rank.
“Part of what is being done will be the allocation of a number of spaces for taxi parking, and when it’s completed it is imperative that they use the taxi ranks and not park illegally, there is no taxi rank on Linenhall Street. There will be spaces provided for disabled parking and for every other car user. You can’t provide spaces for every taxi in the town, you’ve also got to look after everybody else who uses the roads and wants to park.”
