Taxi trips soar by 250% across Ireland last weekend (also known as; Freedom Weekend).
Taxi trips soar by 250% across Ireland during Freedom Weekend.
- 260 ride hailing requests per minute recorded on Saturday night / Sunday morning via the FREE NOW app
- Taxi trips were up 250% last weekend compared to the same weekend in 2021
- 60% increase in ride hailing requests compared to the same period last week
- 6 ride hailing requests per second on Sunday at 1 AM
- Cork had the largest increase in ride hailing demand as requests almost doubled vs the previous week
24 January 2022 – FREE NOW has seen a surge in bookings during ‘Freedom weekend’ with a 60% uplift in ride-hailing requests compared to the previous weekend. The easing of COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday, 22nd January led to it being the busiest day in January on record for FREE NOW with a 250% year-on-year increase.
The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at 6 AM on 22nd January marked the start of what many have dubbed “Freedom Weekend” with pubs and restaurants permitted to proceed with a ‘business as usual’ approach for the first time in 20 months. The celebratory atmosphere in cities all over Ireland and high volume of social gatherings resulted in a record-breaking number of taxi trips using the FREE NOW app throughout the weekend.
Cork experienced the largest increase in service demand with requests for taxis almost doubling in the county last weekend compared with the previous weekend. Corkonians also enjoyed the latest nights with 2 AM being the most popular time for ride hailing requests on the app. City centre nightlife hot spots in Dublin, Limerick and Galway came in just under Cork as the most popular drop-off locations.
1 AM on Sunday was the busiest hour of the weekend with over 6 requests made per second to book a taxi on the FREE NOW app, suggesting that celebrations of a new beginning for many businesses lasted long into the morning.
FREE NOW predicts that bookings will continue to rise as the week goes on and we approach the end of January and first payday of 2022 for many across the country.
Niall Carson, General Manager FREE NOW Ireland commented,
“The past 20 months of the pandemic and national restrictions have weighed heavily on every aspect of life in Ireland – but it is uplifting to see the country opening back up again and regaining a sense of normality. FREE NOW and our driver partners are committed to keeping the nation moving with flexible transport in the coming weeks and months as they get from A to B – whether it’s their workplace, local pubs and restaurants or various other destinations that we will be returning to in 2022.”
