TAXI FARES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 14

TAXI FARES

' V to rise With price of petrol. and oar proprietors > state that if the increase of 4d. per gallon on motor spirits holds,;_it is inevitable that there must he a rise in the fares throughout New Zealand. They state that whatever the increase is, *it must be passed' bii to the public. This will ill duo course be a matter for consideration by' the City Council, which fixes tlie' fares, and insists on each 'car being equipped with a printed scale of the same. ; Tho, ordinary runabout fare in the City is at present .Is. per mile per •passenger, with ® minimum fare of '2s. By time the. charge is 15s. per hour and 3s. : for every ...additional quarter of an hour, whilst special orders (an 1 appointment job) ..is' ss. Most of the cars 'available for hire in the. streets consume about a gallon of petrol -for every 14 or 15 miles travelled, whilst, the lighter cars can mil anything between 18 aaid 25 miles on a gallon, but there are comparatively few of the latter class on the streets. . • At this computation the trip' to Petone-and back should only cost an added 6(1. at .the outside oil tlie present fare as far as the increased cost of petrol is concerned, and, for an ordinary fare; in • town the added cost would be almost invisible, when measured at 4d. per . fifteen miles. So that .any, increase likely to.be made in fares is more likely to benefit tho taxi-proprietors, .providing; there is no falling off in business. Whilst they complain that the . duty is a stiff one, the taxi people thought that if it were deduced to 2di per 1 gallon: they would be doing their share, and the public would not come to much harm by it. \ ■