TAXIS AND FARES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 26, 30 July 1924, Page 8

TAXIS AND FARES

A SUGGESTED REVISION OF SCALES

TYPES OF CARS ON STANDS

BUSINESS IS NOT BRISK,

Requests have recently been made to taxi-car proprietors and carriers to appoint representatives from each stand or garage to meet officers of the Traffic Department of the City Council to discuss an alteration in the present scale' of charges, : which were drawn up in 1919 when peak prices ruled, and which, moreover, in the opinion of the general public (judging by the very frequent complaints made) are unsatisfactory in that they are most difficult of understanding, particularly when the "fare" is in a hurry, after the manner of most taxi fares, and is, perhaps, moreover, annoyed at what lie or she considers a charge that is rather stiff as postwar charges go. It 13 admitted by certain of the proprietors that the scale is sadly in need of revision, and, further, it is admitted that over and above that taxi business has fallen away to a very marked extent recently on account of the fact that certain drivers or owners are not content with the fares which they may legitimately demand under a peak-time scale, and so drive custom away, not from their own cars alone but from the stands generally, by destroying the confidence of the public in the whole taxicar business. On the other hand, no doubt, there are many owners who maintain that unless the charges holding at the present time are maintained they will simply have to go off the stands altogether—that they will not be able to make their business pay. There, again, the question resolves itself into a consideration ■of whether it is more profitable to deal in many transactions with a small profit percentage or to enjoy few j with a wider margin. J The fact certainly is that the taxi -business is not. brisk at present, as one may observe by noting the time that any one car may wait on the stand without moving up the line to next o£ call, and aleo by the fact that a number of cars on many days of the week wait between .train arrival times at Thorndon. THE BEST OF GOOD CARS. There is much in the argument that high fares are necessary, if owners are , to recsive anything but a .bare living from their trade, for Wellington taxicars are for the most part highly finished and expensive cars. In many cities thero are strict limitations as to what type of par- may be uced for taxi work (quite distinct from private hire work, of which Wellington has no true example), the horse power, seating capacity, chassis measurement, weight, adequacy of provision for the carriage of passengers' luggage, and so on; but Wellington has no such set of regulations. Any v car which is thoroughly safe as a car is, generally speaking, allowed upon the stands upon payment of the license fee and compliance with the requirements of the city bylaws relating to cars plying for hire.

Competition, being the very soul of trade, led to Mr. Jones placing upon the stand a rather better taxi-car, or, rather, car for hire, than Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith then went one better than Mr. Jones ; Mr. Robinson improved uoon the effort of Mr. Smith, and so ~on, until to-day one may find upon almost any stand, in the city some of the finest care one might wish to ride in. Fram comfort's point of view nothing cou ld bo more pleasant, but, unfortunately expensive cars must be paid for, and as many of the cars-for-hire in the city were secured by their drivers, upon the hue-purchase system, often with a SfS f m rtlal payment' the Payment is still further an expensive business.

HIGH-PRICED MACHINES LEAD. | A glance along any of the city stands will show that cars of low or moderate price are in a minority. Of one wellknown type 01 car, there is but one in the whole of Wellington, yet such cars are tremendously popular with private i owners. Of one make o f car, which, in irbm C°t£ £1450) and t°-da >r c°sts i.i<TO, there are two, so that the race for something better" plainly has some limitations, but of cars which cost £925 m 1919 and £595 to-day there are over 20, of £550 in 1919 and £435 to-day }HIZ are, five> of £70° and £450, 16, £660 and £515 8, £650 and £340 3 £750 and £595 14, £595 and £450 6 £650 and £350 3, and, so, the majority remaining on every stand on the side oi the expensive car. "THE OLD-ESTABLISHED BUSINESS." It will be noted by a comparison of the prices .of 1919 and those of to-day that there has bean a particularly sharp tall, in car costs, and it is this fact which places the taxi man, who has been established for some years, at a: disadvantage, as compared with the man who bought his car or secured a car under the hire-purchase system only yesterday. His interest charges may be no heavier as regards percentage but he pays upon a bigger figure. ' It is admitted freely, but not cheertully, by many taxi proprietors, that by the time interest and running charges have been met there is very little over to carry on house and home. Fares, in some cases, are placed as high as they may be without undue complaint, in order that interest and running charges shall not swallow up the whole of the week s receipts and—the public doe's not use a ready and quick means of transport as it would otherwise do. SCALE TOO COMPLICATED.

. The difficulty met by the taxi-owner in convincing the passenger that the fare demanded is legitimate—and the majority of proprietors are content with the legal fare— must be extreme. The driver, from constant working acquaintance, may understand "the'complications and ramifications of the present scale, so much additional for hill work, for late hours, fo r Sunday runs, for inward runs to the stand, and so on, but the fare certainly does not, and, not understanding, very often suspects a driver who has charged precisely what the 1919, scale lays down. This, again, is bad for the taxi business,.and one of the main points to be considered, no doubt, at the proposed conference, will be the dra'w-ing-up of a simplified scale which every tare, whether a citizen or a visitor to Wellington, may understand and check off on the spot. PRIVATE AND PUBLIC HIRE SYSTEMS. Judged by taxi-car standards elsewhere, W«llington's cars are practically all m the private hire class; they are not taxi-ears proper at all. Great firms, lillings, Daimler, and others in London operate as one of their important departments the private hire system. A car may there be hired from a garage by arrangement with the management as to time and price, so much for an hour, so much for a year, two years, or longer, and with. that system the municipality has no direct concern. The cars

may be of any type, and, catering as they do for a rather exclusive clientele, the'firms supply cars of the front rank. Taxi-cars are cars which may be hired from a stand, and here the municipality (through Scotland Yard in the case of London) has very direct control indeed. A standard is set, and taxi-cars must be within the limits both up and down the. scale. Wellington's system is to insist upon the licensing of each and every ca, r "lat ,ls at any time used for hire, whether from a garage or from a recognised taxi stand. fa

•J 01?!1; U pv the Bylaws Committee and the City Council considered the question of drawing up regulations govoffTi f °f Car which m!'eht bo f, ed ,f, or hlre UPM city stands, but thrown out PrOPOSaI 3 PUt f°nVard Were