Northern Ireland down 2,000 taxis since December 2020 but stats don't paint full picture warns cabbie boss

There are more than 2,000 fewer taxis operating across Northern Ireland since December 2020, according to the Department for Infrastructure. That means one in five of the 9,164 registered just three years ago are now longer offering the service.

The Minister was asked to detail the number of operational taxi licences in Northern Ireland, broken down by council area over the past 10 years. But according to DfI, they only hold that information going back to 2020.

According to the figures, Belfast's registered taxis fell from 3,597 to 2,854 in June this year, while Derry & Strabane's taxi numbers dropped from 1,294 to 929 over the same period. Each of the other nine council areas also saw a drop in the number of registered taxis.

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The SDLP's Matthew O'Toole posed the question to Minister O'Dowd. The South Belfast MLA said: "The fall in the number of taxi vehicle licenses across every single council area from December 2020 is cause for serious concern and has been evidenced in the struggle that many people have reported in obtaining a taxi when they need one.

"Whether it's to get to work, to a hospital appointment or at the end of a night out, many people rely on these services and the problem is particularly acute in Belfast where we have seen the biggest drop in licenses.

"There are many reasons for the fall in license holders, with many drivers leaving the profession during the coronavirus pandemic, while others have cited the difficulty in obtaining licenses, alongside the cost of vehicle upkeep, pay, and safety concerns. It's clear the lack of available taxis is having an impact on our economy, putting people off going into the city and also on the lives of many people who struggle to access other forms of transport, including the elderly and those with disabilities.

"I would urge the Infrastructure Minister to revisit the application process to examine ways the profession could be more accessible, without compromising on the rigorous vetting process needed for taxi drivers. The Minister and his department should work with the sector and listen to the concern of drivers and businesses to ensure we have the drivers we need on the roads."

Belfast taxi boss and Licensed Taxi Operators Association spokesperson, Stephen Anton, told Belfast Live that while taxi licences have roughly halved in the last 10 years taxi - they don't paint the full picture in terms of available taxis with the number of active drivers being the real canary in the coalmine.

He said: "Over the last 10 years or so they have probably dropped about the guts of a thousand a year - with 1,200 leaving the industry and 200 coming into the industry each year."

Stephen says Fonacab has had some success attracting new drivers through their academy but he warned that while the number of active licences was around 7,000 last year - "the number of active drivers was 5,791".

"That's to cover the whole of Northern Ireland, seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

But Stephen said around 300 of those are limo drivers, while holidays and sick days need to be factored in - so in reality you're left with around 4,750 drivers operating over a week which translates as "1,500 drivers operating across Northern Ireland at any one time" when shifts are factored in.

"The number of active drivers is the problem," Stephen added.

"The stats are bad enough when when you look into the actual reality of how the system works, in terms of active drivers and what they have to cover, the numbers aren't actually that big."

Operational taxi licences in each council area of Northern Ireland:

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