A comparison of taxi fares has found them to be as much as twice as high in London as in Dublin. Some London fares were more than double those in Dublin.
The survey, carried out by the Dublin-based Marketing and Strategic Management company for the National Taxi Drivers Union, looked at two-, five- and 10-mile taxi journeys, by day and by night, in the two capital cities.
"Nightime", or unsocial hours, are from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., as well as Sundays and bank-holidays,
The comparison, carried out on Tuesday, found a two-mile journey in Dublin cost €4.95 by day and €6.85 by night. In London, the fares were €7.68 and €10.94 respectively.
A five-mile journey cost €10 by day in Dublin but €15.84 in London. The same journey at night cost €12.25 in Dublin and €24 in London, the survey found.
The 10-mile journey cost €16.25 by day in Dublin, compared with €34.88 in London and at night cost €21.25 in Dublin and €44.69 in London.
Describing the survey as a "simple, straightforward comparison" of the fares published on the respective city's taxi fare-cards, Mr Jerome Casey of Marketing and Strategic Management, said it showed fares in Dublin were "about half those in London".
"But of course London is a large, world-class capital city," he said. "Unless we get notions like that the fares should not be as high as London's."
Mr Vinnie Kearns of the NTDU, said the survey showed that, "in spite of the fare increases around Christmas, Dublin taxi fares compare favourably with other European capital cities".
The industry has been criticised since it was granted two fare increases in just over a month - a 27 per cent hike for night-time and 15.4 per cent by day for five-mile journeys.The increases for longer journeys have been even higher, with 10-mile journeys at night costing almost 39 per cent more than they did last November.
Mr Kearns said some fares had gone down under the new fare structure. "A journey of less than two miles at night is now cheaper than it was," he said.
While the average person would say taxi charges here were far higher than in London, "this survey shows that is absolutely not the case", he said.
