GIVING THE PUBLIC A CHANCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 42, 19 February 1943, Page 2

GIVING THE PUBLIC A CHANCE

THE effectiveness of the plans for reform of the taxi service in the Auckland area will depend to a very great extent upon the measure of support given by the drivers themselves. It has been asserted, during the period of difficulty and annoyance which the shortage of petrol inaugurated, that the large majority of the drivers have played the game, and that any abuses of the proper use of the licenses have been confined to a few who have disregarded the convenience of the general public to seek engagement only in the most lucrative quarters. It will not take long to prove or to disprove this contention. If it be well grounded the effect of the tentative reforms now put into operation will be immediate, but unless there is an earnest determination by the drivers to co-operate to the full it will be as easy to drive a taxi-cab as the proverbial horse and cart through the new regulations. In their own interests, therefore, as well as those of the public, the taxi-men who are willing to comply with the regulations should see that the rest follow suit. If they do not, the plan will fail and something very much more drastic will take its place. The enlargement of the committee of control to include a' City Council member and a representative of the general public is a step in the right direction, but it is open to the criticism that it continues a system which needlessly adds to the number of organisations in, the city concerned with transport. Is not the Transport Board competent to control all the transport services and to develop a pattern which would ensure the maximum benefit for 'each? The compulsory clocking-in now provided for is on the face of it a needed reform; it should enable the operating companies to maintain a fairly complete plan showing where the units of the fleets are moving or on the stand. It has the weakness, however, that the centre is controlled by the radius —that the men who are taking its orders are to a large extent the owners of the service, and that if their ideas are at variance with the instructions from the control room they are in a position to assert their own Vi.ews very strongly, either at the time of receipt or later.* An independent controller, with plenary powers, would perhaps be more effective. However, it is stated that the reforms now introduced are preliminary. - They can thus be amended at any time, and if experience does not prove that they have radically increased the opportunities of the public to hire taxis when they are needed, then failure must be promptly admitted and a better system devised.