Taxi-drivers unhappy with airport facilities

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 3

Taxi-drivers unhappy with airport facilities

By

CHRIS MOORE

Christchurch taxidrivers are unhappy with taxi facilities at the Christchurch Airport international terminal. For. passengers from overseas flights, hailing a cab means pressing a button and sounding a bell — a system one taxi company manager described yesterday as horrible. With the main taxi rank placed outside the domestic terminal, drivers are unable to see waiting fares outside the international building. The buzzer is designed to alert taxis to prospective fares, but according to the chairman of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Taxi Proprietors’ Federation, Mr Kevin Murphy, the system does not always work. Noise at the airport often drowns the buzzer, and with passengers out

of sight from the existing rank, drivers often fall victim to false calls.

“We often have a situation where the first driver in the line hears the bell and drives to the international terminal — only to discover that it’s a child or a larrikin. He has to then drive back to the end of the line,” Mr Murphy said yesterday. “The whole system has been operating for at least eight years, and continuing to be an enigma to us. The airport authority doesn’t seem to be able to come up with a simple solution.”

He suggested that the main rank could be shifted to an area by the domestic terminal wall — allowing a' clear view of the international building. "Tourists often press the bell but there are sometimes no taxis available — especially after

several overseas flights have arrived. The buzzer system often malfunctions.

“It is not a very good situation for any international airport — and certainly not a good one for overseas passengers, tourists, or the taxi companies.” The manager of Gold Band Taxis, Mr Ivan Ward, said that congestion and the design of the airport building had caused big problems. “It is a horrible situation for both taxis and customers. But the lay-out of the airport means that taxis cannot park outside the overseas terminal,” he said. Both men claimed that the taxi companies had approached the airport authority in an unsuccessful attempt to improve the situation. The chairman of the

Christchurch City Council’s airport committee, Cr Morgan Fahey, agreed the existing situation was “terrible.”

“But the congestion will exist until the new terminal is under way. The new plans will change the whole concept of -taxi and bus parking at the airport. The taxi service at the airport is excellent, but the congestion concerns me especially when large numbers of passengers are coming through the international terminal.” He will discuss the taxidrivers’ concerns with airport’s director, Mr Hugh McCarroll. “Overseas experts with wide experience in providing facilities for taxi and bus services are involved with plans for the new terminal — and the taxi-drivers will certainly be involved in any discussion of these plans.”