€15,000 in wheelchair and electric vehicle incentives now available to mytaxi drivers

mytaxi drivers can secure wheelchair accessible and electric vehicle grants in excess of €15,000 as part of a range of new incentives now available, Ireland’s leading taxi e-hailing app has announced.

mytaxi is offering a €1,000 commission rebate to drivers who avail of the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Grant Scheme for 2018, which offers financial assistance of up to €7,500 per vehicle. The move looks to further upgrade the company’s fleet, which has seen an 54% increase in the number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV) since July 2017, with 100 added in the past three months alone.

mytaxi is also to offer the €1,000 commission rebate to drivers who avail of the electric vehicle incentive scheme that has been introduced by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, which offers a €7,000 grant towards the purchase of an electric vehicle for those with a small public service vehicle (SPSV) licence.

Drivers availing of both these schemes on the purchase of a new vehicle can enjoy over €15,000 in reliefs in total, and while only entitled to a single €1,000 commission rebate from mytaxi, are able to take passengers who use the wheelchair facility without having to pay a commission to the company.

Minister Shane Ross, welcoming mytaxi’s announcement, said: “My department is committed to the electrification of the national SPSV fleet as part of our transition to a cleaner and greener Ireland. With the NTA, we are also pushing hard to increase the number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles in the fleet as part of meeting the needs of a diverse, modern society. mytaxi is supporting these initiatives with its own measures, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the company in the national drive towards a sustainable, modern public transport system. Taxi drivers should look into these schemes and to avail of all the incentives on offer.”

Stephen Cluskey, Mobility Mojo CEO, said: “Taxis are a very important door-to-door public transport service for many people in Ireland, that need to be inclusive of all members of our society. It is vital we move towards a taxi industry which supports the diverse and varied needs of our modern, contemporary population. I believe these new mytaxi incentives, combined with recent moves by the Department of Transport and NTA in this area, will go a long way towards encouraging more drivers to opt for a fully accessible taxi and so this is an extremely positive announcement.”

General Manager for Ireland at mytaxi, Alan Fox, said: “At mytaxi, we are continually pushing to upgrade and expand our fleet to ensure Ireland has a sustainable and accessible taxi service that is fit-for-purpose. WAV taxis now make up 10% of our driver fleet in Ireland. However, we still believe there needs to be a step-change in the number of such taxis available to the public and, in partnership with the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority, we are determined to play our part in continuing to boost the number of wheelchair accessible and electric taxis by the end of this year. mytaxi drivers are now in a position where they can avail of over €15,000 in grants and incentives in this respect, and we urge them to get in touch with us now to find out how they can do this.”

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