‘Industry-standard…’ mytaxi defends the introduction of a €2 booking charge

Social media was alight on Wednesday evening - with some customers of mytaxi bemoaning the addition of a €2 booking fee.

The charge comes into effect on Thursday, September 21. However, the taxi hailing app - which rebranded from Hailo in March - has robustly defended its policy-change. "The €2 booking fee is an industry-standard fee charged by all taxi providers in Ireland," it said in an email on Wednesday morning. https://twitter.com/action81/status/910516687035863040 "In the past, we've asked mytaxi drivers to discount this fee for our customers. From Thursday the 21st of September 2017, to align with taxi industry standards, we’re no longer requesting that drivers discount the €2 booking fee." The company was active on Twitter throughout Wednesday - furthermore highlighting that the booking charge will remain at the discretion of drivers. https://twitter.com/sinead_ryan/status/910528642219995136 Indeed, in response to consumer expert Sinead Ryan's tweet criticising the move, one taxi driver - who admitted he was "surprised" by the company's decision - stated: "It's up to the drivers Sinead. I won't be putting the extras on. Even though i can in legislation." Meanwhile, many individuals queried whether mytaxi customers would be able to select only drivers who did not include the €2 fee on the final fare.

Hi Gerard - while we've advised drivers they no longer have to discount it, it is at their discretion whether they choose to.

— mytaxi Ireland (@mytaxi_ie) September 20, 2017

Hailo was founded in London in 2011 arrived in Ireland in 2012. Mytaxi is a German company that is currently based in Hamburg.