My 20 year-old daughter leaves next month for a semester of study in Dublin. She will be travelling alone internationally for the first time, and is both excited and nervous. Mom and Dad are pretty much just nervous.

I'd prefer not to have her searching for a cab upon arrival. Can anyone recommend a dependable and reputable car sevice that will pick her up at the airport and take her to the campus?

Thanks,
Larry

Larry I know this is not the answer you want but there is a great bus, straight out of the airport, straight down to the front of the college. Very cheap, very friendly, very clean.

Limo sorry I no nuthin'

Thanks bbb.

She is going to Dublin City University, is that the college you are referring to?

I'd still prefer a car, but will check out the bus. Do you happen to know which bus to look for, route #, etc?

Larry, the first thing to do is adjust vocabulary: in Ireland, a limo means a stretch limo, a special occasion transport; the word we use for a car service such as you have in mind is "hackney".

Second, trust your daughter to have some basic sense, and to look after simple business for herself. She is a third-level student and you trust her to be away on her own.

Forget the bus. It does not serve DCU. She would need to change buses, and with baggage for a semester's stay, that's too much bother.

Taxis can be engaged just outside the arrivals hall in Dublin Airport. This is where you daughter needs to take charge of her life: the run to DCU is short, about half the distance to the city centre; some drivers are ungracious about getting what they consider a bad fare; she should have a rough idea of the route (towards city centre, then a right turn, travel about half a mile, and there it is on the left) and be aware that the fare MUST be metered and she should be given a receipt.

I presume she is staying on campus.

Padraig ... I appreciate you pointing out the vocabulary snafu on my part.

Engaging a car for my daughter's trip to school is as much for my own peace of mind as it is for her convenience. I am certain she could negotiate her way to a taxi and then to campus, she is very intelligent. You tell me I should allow her to do that, and then go on to say that she needs to be wary of unscrupulous taxi drivers who may drive her around town in order to artificially escalate the fare. That doesn't make me feel more comfortable.

I am looking only for assistance in locating a "hackney" service, not for guidance on how to raise my kids.

TTT

Your daughter will have much more difficulty finding her designated "hackney" driver than she will stepping outside the front door of the airport and standing in the taxi queue.

Taxi drivers in Ireland are reputable. She will have no problem.

Sorry Larry thought you meant Trinity. No she would need to muck about changing

Taxi services outside Dublin airport are well managed and efficient. There is no question of "searching for a cab" - there is a managed queue where the official will tell you to go to a numbered spot to wait, then a cab is allocated to go to that spot for you. The cab arrives within seconds.

I would be happier in that system than to have a potential situation where she arrives and the car that is supposed to meet her may not show up and she is left confused and wondering what to do next.

I would tell her to come through arrivals, go straight out through the exit and over to the right to join the taxi queue.