Pretty solid way to take advantage of the taxi shortage to be fair, when you’re cold in town you’ll pay whatever for a taxi to pick you up.
Does anyone know if “Bolt” is a decent alternative here?
I wonder if this should be reported to the regulator , it is allowed and normal to charge for booking but I thought that would be by the driver .
They’re surely going to have to change their company name?
Possibly from ‘Free Now’ to ‘Free Before’
ireland salary is surely a illusion, it is one of the highest in europe, but at same time every little service is more expensive.
and taxi services here in ireland are only good if you are lucky to get an irish cab, no racism involved but had some unpleasant experiences with a well known stereotype of the taxist here in ireland. (oh yeah and this suckers wont accept your ride unless you wanna go to the airport)
Absolute wankers
NTA need to allow new taxis and hackneys onto the road. Crazy what they’re doing.
This sounds wildly illegal in an industry where charges are strictly regulated.
All of these apps work on the same principle. They are start ups burning through investors cash to get market share. Once they have it, they have to figure out how to become profitable. Thats when the fees go up.
Why isn’t Uber in Ireland? In Wexford it is impossible to get a taxi on a Saturday night
Taxi is a premium way to travel.
Opulence.
But technology fee .
Never heard of it untill now.
The taxi regulator is to blame.
Greed …. sick of it.
I booked a cab on Friday evening with them.
Driver that accepted was really far away.
Then got further away and stopped in a car park for 5 minutes.
I cancelled as he wasn’t moving.
They charged me €5 as he had “started his journey”. What a scam.
This is a tad wierd, install.
That’s why we need good competitor apps. They run almost a monopoly, that’s why they get away with such shenanigans
Try out Bolt. Much better value and drivers get a bigger cut.
Any alternative apps running in cork that are good ?
Why they call it “Free Now” then?
Wtf are these new mobility services and what have they to do with getting a taxi ? Are they renting them through the app or something.
This is on top of charging the driver 15% of the fare
Boycott these cunts, always take you a different way than you ask them too.. Rob you blind
Are Free now doing electric scooter rentals?
I remember when we used to pay taxes and then it would go to the government rather than a tax haven.
I booked a taxi with them Wednesday morning for Saturday cos there was a big group of us and they cancelled it at the time it was supposed to arrive as they didn’t have any available
And now they’re gonna charge you for a booking that they may cancel as you need it?
I have to say the addition of e scooters to the free now app will be great if it comes to Ireland.
We were riding them in Barcelona during the summer, fun and a convenient way to get around when public transport let’s you down. Very easy to book with the app, and let’s you see the closest available scooter / bike, whatever the company (so you don’t need a tonne of apps).
Maybe sometimes it’s worth paying a little more for the service to get even better overall? That’s what this technology fee is for, if I’ve read the notice well… pay for nothing and all you get is crap.
If this app worked it could be concerning. I gave up and uninstalled. It’s faster to go to the road and hire the cab as it used to be in the old days.
What’s with restaurants now charging service fees for both card and cash? I can understand that card machines are expensive to run but don’t charge me 50c for the inconvenience of having to count my change.
Time for us all to update to the new taxi app so
They should change the name to “No Longer Free Now”
The only thing that really makes this funny to me is the times I actually need to get a taxi is after a night out, and trying to use Free Now at night in Dublin is impossible. You’re better off going to Dame Street near Trinity or Christchurch.
“Technology fee” I’ve heard it all now
Free now has been awful for the past 6 months, better off using cash and picking up a taxi the old fashioned way.
Fuck them. I would rather take 33 bus for 1.5h
Aaaaand it has been deleted.
FreeNow is an ironic name
To be honest, the problem here is that these businesses are fundamentally unsustainable. The ones that have been able to provide good service at low cost have been doing so by burning through VC money in a push to establish a dominant position in the market. Eventually they come under pressure to turn a profit, at which point they need to squeeze passengers (through additional fees like this) or drivers (by taking bigger chunks of the fare). But squeezing drivers just leads to driver shortages and drivers doing shitty things like taking bookings then not showing up because a better fare came along, etc.
There might be another app out there that’s better than FreeNow at the minute but it won’t be for long. And Uber isn’t the cure either, in cities where it operates (not just as another taxi app), prices have gone up and it’s become much harder to book a car at peak times.
So every booking you make via Free Now will be used to further enable the company to turn people away from taxis and payment to cabbies in favour of other transport? Don’t get me wrong, sustainable transport is important, but it’s a kick in the teeth for the cabbies if my understanding of this is correct.. A surcharge to help get people away from using cabs and in the long run cut the number of cabbies required in the city.
Ffs im sick of all these extra fees for everything now a days
Record profits at the same time I’m sure
Fee Now
Imagine this. The NTA develop their own app, run it at cost and get rid of the greed that ruins these apps in the first place.
You could even allow private companies to compete with it.
They’re exploiting their position as market leaders. So let’s exercise our rights as consumers to put our business elsewhere.
What are the best alternatives to FreeNow?
That’s insult to injury. The app is a joke the whole, never taxis available. Sure taxis drivers are just using sumuo devices now as they have no problems picking people up on the streets and can avoid the freenow commission
This is why I just ring the local Taxi Co-op
Got an email from them today on that. Immediately closed my account.
I drive an Uber Black and even when it’s busy on the weekend, I could be sitting there for ages waiting on a fare through the app.
Is Lynk good? It’s Irish as far as I know.
Also Bolt just launched in the market.
If you want the price to go down, use the competition.
Had 4 taxis cancel on me on the weekend out with my girlfreind even had a prebook that was never accepted but if I cancel on them then I have to pay them money?
Theyre offering ebikes and scooters now? Like Europe does or?
50 comments
Bastards
There’s already a booking fee, isn’t there?
Pretty solid way to take advantage of the taxi shortage to be fair, when you’re cold in town you’ll pay whatever for a taxi to pick you up.
Does anyone know if “Bolt” is a decent alternative here?
I wonder if this should be reported to the regulator , it is allowed and normal to charge for booking but I thought that would be by the driver .
They’re surely going to have to change their company name?
Possibly from ‘Free Now’ to ‘Free Before’
ireland salary is surely a illusion, it is one of the highest in europe, but at same time every little service is more expensive.
and taxi services here in ireland are only good if you are lucky to get an irish cab, no racism involved but had some unpleasant experiences with a well known stereotype of the taxist here in ireland. (oh yeah and this suckers wont accept your ride unless you wanna go to the airport)
Absolute wankers
NTA need to allow new taxis and hackneys onto the road. Crazy what they’re doing.
This sounds wildly illegal in an industry where charges are strictly regulated.
All of these apps work on the same principle. They are start ups burning through investors cash to get market share. Once they have it, they have to figure out how to become profitable. Thats when the fees go up.
Why isn’t Uber in Ireland? In Wexford it is impossible to get a taxi on a Saturday night
Taxi is a premium way to travel.
Opulence.
But technology fee .
Never heard of it untill now.
The taxi regulator is to blame.
Greed …. sick of it.
I booked a cab on Friday evening with them.
Driver that accepted was really far away.
Then got further away and stopped in a car park for 5 minutes.
I cancelled as he wasn’t moving.
They charged me €5 as he had “started his journey”. What a scam.
This is a tad wierd, install.
That’s why we need good competitor apps. They run almost a monopoly, that’s why they get away with such shenanigans
Try out Bolt. Much better value and drivers get a bigger cut.
Any alternative apps running in cork that are good ?
Why they call it “Free Now” then?
Wtf are these new mobility services and what have they to do with getting a taxi ? Are they renting them through the app or something.
This is on top of charging the driver 15% of the fare
Boycott these cunts, always take you a different way than you ask them too.. Rob you blind
Are Free now doing electric scooter rentals?
I remember when we used to pay taxes and then it would go to the government rather than a tax haven.
I booked a taxi with them Wednesday morning for Saturday cos there was a big group of us and they cancelled it at the time it was supposed to arrive as they didn’t have any available
And now they’re gonna charge you for a booking that they may cancel as you need it?
I have to say the addition of e scooters to the free now app will be great if it comes to Ireland.
We were riding them in Barcelona during the summer, fun and a convenient way to get around when public transport let’s you down. Very easy to book with the app, and let’s you see the closest available scooter / bike, whatever the company (so you don’t need a tonne of apps).
Maybe sometimes it’s worth paying a little more for the service to get even better overall? That’s what this technology fee is for, if I’ve read the notice well… pay for nothing and all you get is crap.
If this app worked it could be concerning. I gave up and uninstalled. It’s faster to go to the road and hire the cab as it used to be in the old days.
What’s with restaurants now charging service fees for both card and cash? I can understand that card machines are expensive to run but don’t charge me 50c for the inconvenience of having to count my change.
Time for us all to update to the new taxi app so
They should change the name to “No Longer Free Now”
The only thing that really makes this funny to me is the times I actually need to get a taxi is after a night out, and trying to use Free Now at night in Dublin is impossible. You’re better off going to Dame Street near Trinity or Christchurch.
“Technology fee” I’ve heard it all now
Free now has been awful for the past 6 months, better off using cash and picking up a taxi the old fashioned way.
Fuck them. I would rather take 33 bus for 1.5h
Aaaaand it has been deleted.
FreeNow is an ironic name
To be honest, the problem here is that these businesses are fundamentally unsustainable. The ones that have been able to provide good service at low cost have been doing so by burning through VC money in a push to establish a dominant position in the market. Eventually they come under pressure to turn a profit, at which point they need to squeeze passengers (through additional fees like this) or drivers (by taking bigger chunks of the fare). But squeezing drivers just leads to driver shortages and drivers doing shitty things like taking bookings then not showing up because a better fare came along, etc.
There might be another app out there that’s better than FreeNow at the minute but it won’t be for long. And Uber isn’t the cure either, in cities where it operates (not just as another taxi app), prices have gone up and it’s become much harder to book a car at peak times.
So every booking you make via Free Now will be used to further enable the company to turn people away from taxis and payment to cabbies in favour of other transport? Don’t get me wrong, sustainable transport is important, but it’s a kick in the teeth for the cabbies if my understanding of this is correct.. A surcharge to help get people away from using cabs and in the long run cut the number of cabbies required in the city.
Ffs im sick of all these extra fees for everything now a days
Record profits at the same time I’m sure
Fee Now
Imagine this. The NTA develop their own app, run it at cost and get rid of the greed that ruins these apps in the first place.
You could even allow private companies to compete with it.
They’re exploiting their position as market leaders. So let’s exercise our rights as consumers to put our business elsewhere.
What are the best alternatives to FreeNow?
That’s insult to injury. The app is a joke the whole, never taxis available. Sure taxis drivers are just using sumuo devices now as they have no problems picking people up on the streets and can avoid the freenow commission
This is why I just ring the local Taxi Co-op
Got an email from them today on that. Immediately closed my account.
I drive an Uber Black and even when it’s busy on the weekend, I could be sitting there for ages waiting on a fare through the app.
Is Lynk good? It’s Irish as far as I know.
Also Bolt just launched in the market.
If you want the price to go down, use the competition.
Had 4 taxis cancel on me on the weekend out with my girlfreind even had a prebook that was never accepted but if I cancel on them then I have to pay them money?
Theyre offering ebikes and scooters now? Like Europe does or?