Achill taxi drivers fear TFI is putting them out of business

Taxi drivers providing a service to the Achill area feel they are being put out of business following the introduction of the new TFI Anseo bus service in the summer. The TFI Anseo bus service for the parish of Achill was launched in July by Minister Dara Calleary as Ireland’s first ever Smart Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) pilot initiative to run over a 12-month period.

The service operated by TFI Local Link Mayo allows passengers to book on-demand rides seven days a week using a new ‘TFI Anseo’ app and be dropped off anywhere within the region. While the service has been deemed a success, the four taxi providers currently operating in Achill believe that the subsidised service is putting them out of business.

Speaking to The Mayo News, two of the taxi drivers, Colum Ginnelly of Wild Atlantic Way Travel and Anthony Noel Lavelle of Keel Cabs say that they face a bleak 2026 and cannot see how they can remain in business. “When this started first we felt it mightn’t affect us too much but the day business is completely gone,” explained Colum Ginnelly who operates out of Mulranny.

Bleak

“It is hard to know where it is going to go. It is looking very bleak,” echoed Anthony Noel who says that they cannot compete with the fares offered by the subsidised service. “I cannot see any future for myself and the other taxi drivers are also in the same position,” he added. Both men stressed that the TFI Anseo service is an excellent service for the community but feel it should not be at the expense of four local businesses who had been offering a loyal service to the people of the parish.

“I know a person who said they went from Tonragee to Mulranny for €3 and said it is a great service but it should not destroy four businesses on the island in the process ... people who have served and looked after the customers here. It should not have been pushed in like that,” said Colum. “If it was operating at like for like costing that would be no problem at all because it is fair competition but this is not fair competition. I cannot compete with a €3 fare from Tonragee to Mulranny. That is our taxes going against us there and going to subsidise a pilot scheme against us. That is the way it is. We have serious concerns.” Both Colum and Anthony Noel said that John McGinty of Achill Taxi and Ozzy of Achill Cabs hold similar views as them when it comes to the viability of their business into 2026.

The taxi drivers feel that they have to take a stand and voice their grievances and have called for changes to be made to the service to make it more inclusive of the existing taxi drivers in the area. “We should have been consulted one way or another before the service was introduced. It is like Tesco coming up against a shop in Keel. It is a juggernaut and will push everything in its way. We just cannot compete,” Anthony Noel commented. Colum said that the four taxi drivers have all invested in their fleet in recent years and they believe they have the vehicles to be part of the service.

“We are all above board and all have wheelchair accessible taxis and bigger 16 seater buses and we should have been consulted,” he said. “The four of us have agreed we are not against this but it could be tweaked in which we could be involved some way or another. We were providing that service beforehand but it is very hard to compete with a state funded juggernaut which it is. “It is a pilot scheme which means it is not set in stone. I have been involved in pilot schemes for farmers and they can be tweaked. There are only four taxi drivers operating in Achill and we should not have been overlooked. At the end of the day TFI is contributing to the downfall and closure of our businesses,” Colum added.

In October the operating hours of the service was extended by five hours and now operates from 7am to 8pm which the taxi drivers believe is another nail in the coffin of their business. “They went from 5pm up to 8pm which is like getting your dinner and looking at the person beside you and saying I’ll have a bit of that as well’. That is what it has done,” said Colum. Anthony Noel added that they are actively discussing withdrawing their night time service because it will not be viable even if it leaves the island without taxis at night. The two men described working late at night as working for ‘blood money’ due to the hassle they face.

“The late night work which we call the blood money is left to the likes of us. We don’t mind because we have done it for a long time but if the day trade is gone then what is the point of doing it,” said Colum. “Why don’t they [TFI] go out to two or three in the morning and deal with all the people and the harder work. They won’t because this work is totally different compared to day time work.”

Similiar issues

Similar TFI Anseo pilot schemes have been rolled out in Limerick City and Killarney and Colum says that feedback from taxi drivers in those regions suggests they have similar issues if not on a different scale to the Achill taxi drivers. The intention following the end of the 12-month pilot scheme is to roll it out in other rural communities and the Achill taxi drivers have warned that other taxi operators need to be aware of what they will be facing. “It is bigger than Achill because it will be rolled out into other rural areas,” explained Colum.

“It will probably back fire on TFI because going forward who is going to let this go into their area when they see the damage it’s done here. I have seen below in Killarney where they say their day work is gone. They have a better advantage than us because they have a site of hotels where it doesn’t get as quiet as it does here in Achill.

“When this was promoted in October on Mid-West radio I was getting calls from taxi drivers in other areas saying they could not get over how we allowed it to come into the area. I said it will be coming into your area too. “It is a great service but we should have been consulted and going forward we want to be involved. We are not asking for anything out of this world but for us to be involved to keep us ticking over otherwise our future is very bleak.”

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