By Eamonn Sullivan
Angry and worried, taxi drivers in Ireland are getting organised. On 4 November, Uber – the world’s biggest digital taxi platform – introduced a new pricing model. Previously, when a passenger opened their app to book a taxi, they would be shown an estimated fare based on real-time data like traffic conditions and the time of day. However, because the final fare was calculated by a taximeter and not Uber’s algorithm, the actual cost could be higher if traffic was worse than expected.
Dynamic pricing
Fixed price fares are a sophisticated form of dynamic pricing. International evidence suggests that this model systematically increases prices for passengers while simultaneously decreasing driver earnings. Traditionally, dynamic pricing was a supply and demand calculation. However, AI technology has radically altered dynamic pricing. Uber’s dynamic prices are determined by analysing the behavioural data of both drivers and passengers. In 2024, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained: “I think what we can do better is targeting different trips to different drivers based on their preferences… offering the right trip, at the right price to the right driver”. Khosrowshahi is outlining how Uber will use drivers’ behavioural data, such as working patterns, preferred areas, and earnings targets, to manipulate the fares they are offered, and ultimately increase Uber’s profits.
Under the new model, passengers are quoted a fixed price upfront. Uber argues that this new system gives passengers ‘cost certainty’, which encourages more bookings and results in more work for drivers. What Uber is not saying publicly is that this fixed price often bears little resemblance to what they offer the driver for the trip.
This model allows Uber to sell a driver’s time to a passenger for the maximum that they can get, while paying the driver the minimum rate they will accept. Consequently, while Uber previously extracted a commission of 12% from the work that drivers carried out, this new system allows them to capture the entire difference between the passenger’s fixed price and what they pay the driver, sometimes more than 30%.
Impactful actions
In the weeks since the introduction of fixed fares, taxi drivers have organised an unprecedented boycott of Uber and held three major protests that caused significant traffic disruptions across the capital. Similar actions have been taken by drivers in Cork and Limerick. Thousands of drivers have played an active part in these actions, with many more choosing to play a more passive role in the resistance by joining the boycott and deleting the Uber app. Drivers have been sharing car stickers among each other as a visible sign of solidarity.
Late last Thursday night, it was announced by the drivers’ organising committee that this week would see a major escalation of the protests, with actions planned for every day, including a permanent vigil outside the department of transport. This announcement was rolled back on Friday afternoon, when the Government agreed to meet with drivers representatives in government buildings this Wednesday, 10 December. It is not known what the outcome of those talks will be, but I suspect there will be an unceremonious kicking of the can down the road.
Migrant drivers mobilise
I took part in the first two protests, alongside thousands of other drivers, by driving my taxi in a slow-drive convoy into Merrion Square in the centre of Dublin. I took a more active role in the third protest by marshalling the drivers as they arrived at the square. Unquestionably, the standout feature of that protest was that more than 95% of the attendees were from minority backgrounds. I spoke with Kurdish, Palestinian, Pakistani, Indian, Nigerian, Chinese, and Bengalese drivers.
This reality flies in the face of the often repeated line in some of the taxi driver social media forums that it would be impossible for taxi drivers to organise collectively, as we are too disparate a group, and the “new-Irish” drivers wouldn’t stand with the Irish drivers – that they would instead choose to work and capitalise on an opportunity to increase their earnings while the Irish drivers were out striking. The reality is that these drivers have invested huge sums of time and money into becoming Irish taxi drivers, and they are mobilising against Uber’s latest attack on livelihoods with an energy not seen in the Irish taxi industry for well over ten years.
