James Lawless, who started out driving a taxi in 2012, has maintained a 5-star rating with Uber since he joined the app 10 years ago.
He believes “being courteous and friendly” is the best way to keep customers happy, and insists he’d “never allow” an elderly person or tourist to put their own luggage into the car.
“I’d always engage with the customer, and 95pc of the time, you can have a good conversation with them. But you know straight away whether they want to talk or not,” he said.
“The car is my office, so I keep it clean so that passengers feel comfortable.
“My only bad experience was when I used to work nights, and on weekends, the biggest problem would be people getting sick in the car.
“That is something I don’t miss whatsoever, and COVID taught me that I had another life and a much better quality of life not working nights. For that, I will never go back.”
Unsurprisingly, the number one question James gets asked as a driver is: “How busy are you tonight?”
“I suppose, with tourists, a lot of their questions will be using the taxi as a source of information, so they’ll always ask for recommendations for restaurants and attractions,” he said.
“I would normally recommend Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol, St Patrick’s Cathedral, and Christchurch. For the museums, a good one for Americans is always the EPIC Museum.”
In his ten years driving with Uber, Mr Lawless has had a couple of A-list celebrities in his car, as well as many actors from Fair City.
“I think the most famous person I had was a guy from Vikings, the main actor in that was an Australian guy called Travis Fimmel,” he said.
“I’ve also had Bono’s daughter, Eve Hewson, who is doing very well for herself now.”
He said that with the introduction of apps like Uber, the industry has changed significantly.
“The apps have certainly been a big bonus, especially with the likes of Uber,” he said.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary since arriving in Dublin and Ireland, Uber is launching a competition whereby one customer will have a chance to win 10 years of free Uber rides
