Commuting around Ireland has proven quite difficult amid today’s Irish rail strike, but Hailo has managed to turn this into a major win for the taxi service.
Public transport strikes are crushing to commuters. We rely on trains or buses for one sole purpose, getting to and from places. Once that is removed, the to and from places still exist, but our ways of navigating are restricted and, ultimately, costly.
I was cycling through Dublin city at 7am and traffic was already noticeably up on the usual Friday levels.
So today, amid stories of unfortunates turning up at train stations unaware of what was advertised as impending doom for so long, Hailo has been working overtime.
Full steam ahead this morning in the @HailoIreland office #RailStrike Send coffee please. pic.twitter.com/Hb9B3yZ8vK
— Kevin Clarke (@kevjclarke) October 23, 2015
Thanks to modern forms of communications, we can just tap our phone once or twice and a taxi is on it’s way.
The mobile-reliant Hailo platform has been growing for a number of years in Ireland but, occasionally, business spikes.
At this stage the train strike is over, and Hailo operators can finally take time for a cup of tea, safe in the knowledge that business has never been bigger.
It's getting busy out there! #Railstrike https://t.co/RhznnhR59b
— Hailo Ireland (@HailoIreland) October 23, 2015
During the bus strike in May, Hailo recorded a 56pc increase in passengers using the service that morning. Double the number of drivers worked that Friday and, one would assume, even bigger numbers were operating today.
Of course that is not to say people got to where they wanted too fast.
Main image via Mario Cutroneo on Flickr
