CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1943, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

TAXI CONTROL

"The taxi situation is overdue for an investigation," writes "Equal Sacrifice for All." "The service being given to Wellington citizens is disgraceful. In the last few days alone 1 have come across a dozen cases (people catching trains, a maternity case, a woman with a small baby returning home, etc.) where the taxi service has stranded these people. The companies put up the plea of lack of petrol and lack of drivers, which is sheer humbug, for in each of the above cases the real reason for the non-availability of a taxi was the fact that taxis were at that moment fully occupied in taking Americans on pleasure jaunts or making trips which a normally healthy person unencumbered by luggage could walk in under ten minutes or do by tram. I have also seen a taxi at the railway station refuse a woman with three small children in order to fill up with four separate individuals and collect four times the fare for the trip. I have often seen taxis taken by parties of soldiers and girls, but I have never heard these parties being asked if the trip was to the hospital or station, nor have I heard them advised to walk or take a tram. Why? the citizens of Wellington who have, over many years, supported the taxi companies, have been sold out for other customers who, the drivers openly admit, pay better." The correspondent suggests that the Man-power Office should check on the non-essential trips being made, with a view to culling drivers and transferring them to essential industries.

Another correspondent writes: "It is time something was done about the taxis in Wellington. The/other day I went to order a cab to take myself and luggage down to the south boat. I was told that they could not guarantee a cab in time to catch the boat. Needless to say, I had to struggle with luggage down to the tram." The secretary of the Taxi Control Committee stated that although there are 180 cabs in service—the same number as before the war—they operate on a roster, which means that there are fewer cars available at any given time. The petrol allocation is about half the pre-war consumption and permits of approximately five hours' running a day, and the demand for cabs has doubled. It is admitted that most of the cases cited by the correspondent do occur with a small minority of drivers, but surprise is expressed at the reference to a maternity. case, as the committee has never received a previous complaint of that nature. Most drivers, it is stated, fulfil their essential obligations and then- feel themselves free to undertake " other engagements. If they were restricted to essential work only it would mean; in the great majority.of instances, that cabs, would, have to remain empty on the way back to the base, with a consequent waste of petrol and rubber. Even in peacetime it was impossible to meet the demand at peak periods such as the early evening, when the steamer express leaves and there are rail departures and arrivals. The correspondents' main complaints, said the secretary, are directed at breaches of existing regulations and rules of the committee, and he would have noted that the Minister had expressed his intention of taking remedial measures.

"Disgusted' 1 gives particulars of a case in which an old lady, deaf and dumb,. was disappointed of making a prearranged Sunday rail journey through the inability of'the company, which had previously given service, to send a car. The correspondent holds that there is an obligation on the taxi companies to perform this service. "The taxi trade is given a petrol allowance ;to enable it to cater for all essential traffic and for its members to make a reasonable living, and not for pleasure driving, or other more lucrative kinds of traffic. The trouble, according to the taxi company's office, is that many drivers will not ring in for instructions when it does not suit them. If they are to be allowed to operate without the slightest regard for essential civic needs, then such drivers are, in my opinion, just as culpable as the holder of a business licence who uses his allotment for pleasure purposes, and should be dealt with accordingly." (To the Editor.) Sir, —May I be permitted to reply to the article in your paper on Saturday ragarding taxi control. We are already ] well controlled by the City Council traffic department, Transport Department, Taxi Federation, and the general public; now we are to have further control. The Transport Minister is keen on stopping joy riding, but what is this joy riding? If a serviceman misses his train back to camp we are allowed to take him provided he is inside a stated limit, but if he is outside i that limit we are forbidden to take! him, for that would be joy riding, so he is penalised because his camp is a bit outside, but when that man misses his train there is not much joy about it. The real joy riding is inside the limit, such as taking people to dances and pictures, etc., also taking them home after.

I have a telephone at home and I am open for call at any time from my company, and I get them at awkward times day or night. For instance, I am wakened up at night and have to get up to do a job, then get growled at I for taking ten minutes instead of five. Would someone explain what this joy riding really is? Just recently a driver was prosecuted for refusing to take someone home from a dance, then another was prosecuted for taking a serviceman back to his camp. I seem to get in a muddle with these different controls and would be very pleased if we. could- be run by one official body, the Taxi Federation and the City Council.—l am, etc., IN A FOG. ,