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Rider Terms of Service

Last updated: 25 August 2026

Version: 2026-08-25. Effective date: if you accept this version, it takes effect for you on the date you accept it. This version rewrites clause 5.2 (the Cancellation Fee) as clauses 5.2, 5.2A, 5.2B and 5.2C, rewrites clause 5.3 (the No-Show Fee), and rewrites clause 8.1 (the in-app Safety button). Clauses 5.2, 5.2A, 5.2C and 5.3 only narrow the circumstances in which a fee is payable, so they take effect on publication. Clause 5.2B states in these Terms, for the first time, the Cancellation Fee for a trip booked in advance and cancelled in the last 60 minutes before its scheduled pickup; our Fee Policy, published at https://fairtaxi.ie/fee-policy on 24 August 2026, sets that fee out in full and states the date from which it applies. Clause 8.1 is rewritten to describe what using the in-app Safety button actually does, and it withdraws an undertaking the previous version gave about what happens afterwards. Clauses 5.2B and 8.1 are material changes, and each takes effect for you as set out in clause 1.3; until then the version you last accepted continues to apply to you. Clause 5.5 (an unpaid No-Show Fee) was added on 26 July 2026 and applies only to rides you request after you have accepted a version of these Terms containing it. If you accepted an earlier version and we cannot obtain your acceptance of this one, this version takes effect as set out in clause 1.3.

1. About these terms

1.1 These Rider Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a legally binding agreement between you (“Rider”, “you”) and Upstart Forge Limited, trading as FairTaxi (registered business name RBN 786959), a private company limited by shares incorporated in Ireland on 28 May 2026 (company number 817002), registered office at 22 Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Co Dublin, D13 P652, VAT number IE 4744030VH, holder of National Transport Authority (NTA) dispatch operator licence DH12674 (“FairTaxi”, “we”, “us”, “our”). Contact: complaints@fairtaxi.ie (general and complaints), privacy@fairtaxi.ie (privacy enquiries), support@fairtaxi.ie (support), +353 89 965 3357.

1.2 By creating an account or using the FairTaxi mobile application (the “App”), you confirm that you accept these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the App.

1.2A When you tick the acceptance box, we record your authenticated account, the document version, published URL, document hash, acceptance wording and server timestamp as evidence of that acceptance. Our handling and retention of that record is explained in the Privacy Policy.

1.3 Changes to these Terms. We may change these Terms only for a valid reason: a change in law or regulatory requirement, a security or fraud-prevention need, a material change to the App or the booking service, or the correction of an error. We will make a change only where it is reasonably necessary for that reason, and no change reduces your statutory rights.

For a material change, we will ask you to accept the updated Terms in the App, and we will specifically draw any new or onerous term, and its financial consequences, to your attention. A material change takes effect for you when you accept it. If we cannot obtain your acceptance - for example because you no longer use the App - the change takes effect 14 days after we notify you by email or by in-app notice. A change takes effect immediately only where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to address an unforeseen and imminent security or fraud risk.

Where we have asked you to accept an updated version, you need to accept it before you request further rides or otherwise use the booking service. That requirement never affects your ability to log in to your account, to close your account under clause 13.1, or to exercise any data-protection right (access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, portability, objection, withdrawing a consent, or complaining to the Data Protection Commission); those are always open to you and are never conditional on accepting new terms. A change never applies to a ride you have already completed.

If you do not want to accept a change, you can stop using the App and close your account under clause 13.1. Nothing in this clause affects your statutory rights.

2. FairTaxi is a platform, not a transport provider

2.1 FairTaxi provides a software platform that connects Riders with independent licensed taxi and hackney drivers (“Drivers”). FairTaxi is a technology intermediary and licensed dispatch operator only.

2.2 FairTaxi is not:

2.3 The contract for the journey is made directly between you and the Driver. FairTaxi is not a party to that contract. The Driver is responsible for performing the ride, including compliance with the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 and applicable NTA regulations. This does not exclude any responsibility FairTaxi has for its own App, booking, payment-facilitation, complaint-handling, or dispatch-operator services.

2.4 FairTaxi may display an estimated fare in the App before you book. This estimate is for convenience only and is not binding. The final fare is determined exclusively by the Driver’s licensed taximeter (or, for hackneys, the fare agreed between you and the Driver) and must comply with the maximum fares set by the National Transport Authority.

3. Who may use the App

3.1 You must be at least 18 years old and reside in Ireland. The App and the FairTaxi service are not directed at, or intended for, anyone under 18.

3.2 You must use a lawful payment instrument (card or other payment method) for any rides paid via the App.

4. Account creation and security

4.1 You create an account by verifying your phone number via a one-time passcode (OTP) sent by SMS. You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date.

4.2 You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. If you suspect unauthorised use, you must notify us immediately.

4.3 We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if you breach these Terms, engage in prohibited conduct, or if we reasonably believe you pose a safety or fraud risk.

5. Booking a ride

5.1 When you request a ride through the App, nearby Drivers may accept the request. A booking is formed only when a Driver accepts. The App will show you the Driver’s name, vehicle registration, and estimated arrival time.

5.2 Cancellation by Rider (the “Cancellation Fee”)

You may cancel a ride at any time before completion. A fixed Cancellation Fee of €3.00 applies only to an App-card booking, and only in the two circumstances set out in clauses 5.2A and 5.2B. Cancelling is free in every other case.

Cash and pay-in-car bookings never incur a Cancellation Fee. If the conditions cannot be verified from the available data, cancellation is free. The fee is paid to the Driver; FairTaxi receives no part of it. The €3.00 is a genuine pre-estimate of the Driver’s loss from a wasted approach and wait, not a penalty. Clause 5.5 does not apply to a Cancellation Fee: an unpaid Cancellation Fee never restricts your ability to request rides. Our Fee Policy, published at https://fairtaxi.ie/fee-policy, forms part of these Terms and states these rules in full.

5.2A Cancelling a ride booked for immediate pickup

A Cancellation Fee applies to a ride you booked for immediate pickup only when all of the following are true at the moment you cancel:

A Driver who accepts and then makes no real progress towards you earns no fee.

5.2B Cancelling a trip booked in advance

A Cancellation Fee applies to a trip you booked in advance only when all of the following are true at the moment you cancel:

This clause does not measure distance or time travelled. A Driver who holds a booked slot turns other work away whether or not they have set off, and that is the loss this fee is a pre-estimate of.

5.2C The arrival-estimate exemption

No Cancellation Fee is payable where the Driver’s current arrival estimate has slipped to more than 1.2 times the estimate you were given when the Driver accepted. This exemption applies in every case and overrides clauses 5.2A and 5.2B, including where the Driver has reached the pickup point and the platform has confirmed the arrival.

5.3 No-show (the “No-Show Fee”)

If you do not appear at the pickup, a fixed No-Show Fee of €4.00 may be charged to you, and only where all of the following are true: the Driver has marked arrival in the App; the platform has recorded at least 5 minutes of waiting from that arrival; the Driver has submitted a no-show claim; and a member of our team has reviewed the evidence and confirmed that the Driver did arrive and did wait. A Driver cannot charge this fee. A Driver can only claim it, and no No-Show Fee is charged on a Driver’s word alone or automatically. The waiting period is measured and enforced by the platform, not by the Driver.

The fee applies only to App-card bookings, is paid to the Driver, and is separate from the Cancellation Fee; only one may apply to a booking. The €4.00 is a genuine pre-estimate of the Driver’s loss from a wasted approach and wait, not a penalty. Where a No-Show Fee is notified to you and not paid, clause 5.5 explains the only consequence - a temporary restriction on requesting new rides, not suspension of your account access or of your data-protection rights - and how to dispute the fee without paying it.

5.4 When neither fee applies (exceptions)

No Cancellation Fee or No-Show Fee is payable where the cancellation or no-show is attributable to Driver fault, including where the Driver is late beyond a reasonable time, the Driver does not show, the Driver goes to the wrong pickup location, the vehicle is unsuitable or not accessible as required, or there is a genuine safety concern. Where a Cancellation Fee or No-Show Fee has been captured, FairTaxi may reverse it to you after review under the dispute process in Section 7 if the capture was not justified (for example, where the evidence does not place the Driver at the pickup point for the wait window, or the Driver’s location data was flagged as unreliable). Any such reversal is made on the platform and is without prejudice to your separate legal remedies.

5.5 A No-Show Fee that has not been paid

This clause applies only to a €4.00 No-Show Fee under clause 5.3. It does not apply to a Cancellation Fee, and it is always subject to clause 5.4: where the no-show is attributable to Driver fault, including where the vehicle is unsuitable or not accessible as required, no fee is payable and nothing in this clause can be applied to you. It applies only after a person on our support team has reviewed the ride and we have told you our platform decision, and only where the fee has not been charged to your payment method under clause 6.3.

What we will tell you, and how you can pay. We will tell you - by email and in the App - the amount, the Driver to whom it is payable, what it is for, the facts and evidence our decision is based on, how to pay it, and how to raise or continue a dispute under Section 7 without paying it. We will ask whether you agree to that specific fee being charged to your selected payment method. We will never charge your payment method for a No-Show Fee without your fresh, express agreement at that point; clause 6.3 does not authorise that charge. If you pay it, the fee is paid to the Driver and FairTaxi receives no part of it. If you do not agree to pay it, FairTaxi will not charge, pay or advance the fee to the Driver, and will not carry it forward to another ride. We will not add interest, an administration fee or any other charge to it.

When we may restrict ride requests. If, within 7 calendar days after that notice, you have neither paid the fee nor raised or continued a dispute under Section 7, we may restrict your ability to request new rides through the App. Telling us that you will not pay is not by itself a ground for a restriction. We do this only to keep the platform workable for the Drivers who accept your requests, only where it is reasonable and proportionate in the particular circumstances, acting fairly, in good faith and with regard to your legitimate interests, and never for longer than is needed. Before applying a restriction, a member of our support team will record that it is reasonable and proportionate in your particular circumstances. It is not a suspension or termination of your account. We will tell you when we apply a restriction and how to remove it, and if you think one was applied in error you can contact us and a person will look at it.

What the restriction does not affect. It applies only to requesting new rides. You keep your account, your ability to log in, your ride history, and your ability to close your account under clause 13.1. It never affects any right you have under the GDPR or our Privacy Policy - including access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, portability, objection, withdrawing a consent, and complaining to the Data Protection Commission - and none of those rights is ever conditional on payment.

Disputing. You do not have to pay before disputing. If you raise or continue a dispute under Section 7 at any time, we will not apply a restriction while it is being reviewed, and we will suspend any restriction already in place until the dispute is decided. A restriction is lifted automatically as soon as the fee is paid or the dispute is decided in your favour. A dispute does not affect your right to complain to the CCPC or the NTA under clause 7.4.

Six-month longstop. If you have neither paid the fee nor disputed it six months after we applied a restriction, we will lift the restriction and will not again restrict your ability to request rides because of that fee.

This is not a breach of these Terms. Not paying a No-Show Fee to which this clause applies, not agreeing to it being charged, and disputing it are not breaches of these Terms. We will not suspend or terminate your account under clause 4.3, 9.2 or 13.2 for any of those reasons.

6. Fares and payment

6.1 Fare determination. The final fare is set by the Driver’s taximeter (or, for hackney journeys, by prior agreement). Fares must comply with NTA regulations, including the maximum fare order. The App may show an estimate; it is never a guaranteed price.

6.2 Payment methods. You may pay for a ride in one of three ways:

6.3 Authorisation. You authorise the Driver, acting as merchant of record via Stripe Connect, to charge the final fare and any applicable Cancellation Fee to your selected payment method. A No-Show Fee may be charged to your selected payment method only after your fresh, express agreement under clause 5.5. FairTaxi does not charge fares or fees on its own behalf.

6.4 No 14-day withdrawal right for a booked ride. Under the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 484 of 2013), regulation 6(2)(l), passenger-transport contracts are exempt from the usual 14-day withdrawal right. This applies to a booked ride, not to any statutory right that applies separately to FairTaxi’s App or other services.

6.5 Receipts. For App card payments, Stripe will issue a receipt on behalf of the Driver. FairTaxi may also provide a summary in the App. For cash or Driver-terminal payments, the Driver must provide a receipt on request.

6.6 FairTaxi does not receive or retain the ride fare. The fare goes directly to the Driver. FairTaxi handles complaints about its own services and administers the review process in Section 7; this does not make FairTaxi the carrier or merchant of record for the ride.

7. Ride disputes and refunds

7.1 If you believe that a fare was incorrect or have a complaint about the journey (for example route, vehicle condition or Driver conduct), you can raise it through the App or with FairTaxi Support and attach up to 5 photos. The Driver is responsible for the ride and fare. FairTaxi administers the complaint process and may request evidence from either party. You can also raise a dispute under this Section about a Cancellation Fee or No-Show Fee, whether or not it has been charged to your payment method, including a No-Show Fee notified to you under clause 5.5.

7.2 FairTaxi’s role in disputes. We decide what action to take on the platform, including whether to facilitate a card refund under clause 7.3, restrict a Driver’s account, or restrict a Rider’s ability to request rides under clause 5.5. We do not decide civil claims between you and a Driver and are not an arbitrator or a court. Our platform decision is without prejudice to your legal rights or to any responsibility FairTaxi has for its own services.

7.3 Refund policy by payment method:

7.4 Complaints. If you have a complaint, contact us first at complaints@fairtaxi.ie and we will try to resolve it. If your complaint as a consumer is not resolved, you may refer it to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) at www.ccpc.ie. You also have the right to escalate any complaint about the Driver’s conduct, overcharging, vehicle condition, or other regulated matters directly to the National Transport Authority (NTA). The NTA consumer complaint form is available at: https://forms.nationaltransport.ie/en/consumer-complaint. We will clearly signpost these routes in the App. Filing a dispute with us does not affect your right to complain to the CCPC or the NTA.

7.5 Any refund or other platform action is without admission of liability by FairTaxi or the Driver, unless we say otherwise. Nothing in this Section limits your statutory rights.

8. Safety

8.1 The App provides an in-app Safety button on the active-ride screen. Using it records your ride details and your last known location and raises a high-priority report for FairTaxi to review. It does not call the emergency services (999 or 112), and no call is placed for you. FairTaxi gives no undertaking that a person will read that report at any particular time, and gives no response time for it. The same screen has a one-tap button that dials 112 from your own device. In any situation involving immediate danger, a threat to life, or a crime in progress, you must dial 999 or 112 directly yourself.

8.2 You may share your live trip with a trusted contact via the in-app “Share Trip” feature. You are responsible for choosing whom to share it with.

8.3 You must not use the App to engage in, facilitate, or plan any illegal activity. Any misuse may result in immediate termination and referral to An Garda Síochána.

9. Acceptable use and prohibited conduct

9.1 You must not:

9.2 We may suspend or terminate your account for any breach of this section. This does not affect any refund or other remedy that applies under law.

10. Privacy and data

10.1 We process your personal data as described in our Privacy Policy, which is available in the App and on our website. The Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why, how long we keep it, and your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

10.2 In summary, under GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your data, as well as the right to object to processing and to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission. Full details are in the Privacy Policy.

11. Limitation of liability

In summary: The Driver provides the ride and is responsible for the fare and vehicle. FairTaxi remains responsible for its own App, booking, payment-facilitation and dispatch-operator services. Nothing here limits a liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

11.1 This section sets out the entire financial liability of FairTaxi (including any liability for the acts or omissions of its employees, agents, and subcontractors) to you under or in connection with these Terms.

11.2 Driver-provided rides. To the fullest extent permitted by law, FairTaxi is not responsible for loss or damage arising from:

except to the extent that the loss is caused by FairTaxi’s own breach of these Terms, negligence, payment-facilitation, booking or other platform service.

11.3 Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for:

11.4 FairTaxi is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit, revenue, business opportunity or data, to the extent permitted by law.

12. Indemnity

12.1 You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FairTaxi and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

13. Termination

13.1 You may stop using the App at any time. To close your account, contact us via the App or at support@fairtaxi.ie. We will process the closure in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

13.2 We may terminate or suspend your account immediately, without notice, if:

Clause 5.5 sets out a narrower restriction that applies to an unpaid No-Show Fee. Not paying such a fee, not agreeing to it being charged, or disputing it is not a breach of these Terms and is not a ground for termination or suspension under this clause.

14. General

14.1 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and FairTaxi regarding the use of the App.

14.2 Severance. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force.

14.3 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver.

14.4 Governing law and jurisdiction. These Terms are governed by Irish law. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts. Nothing in this clause deprives you, as a consumer, of the protection of any mandatory provision of the law of the country in which you are habitually resident, or of your right to bring proceedings in the courts of that country; and we may bring proceedings against you only in the courts of the country in which you are habitually resident.

14.5 Contact. For questions, contact us at support@fairtaxi.ie.

14.6 Your statutory rights. Nothing in these Terms affects your non-excludable statutory rights as a consumer under Irish or EU law. Where any provision of these Terms conflicts with such rights, those rights prevail.