TAXI INQUIRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 28 April 1937, Page 7

TAXI INQUIRY

REPORT OF COMMITTEE DRIVERS’ CONDITIONS CONDEMNED ADVANTAGE SEEN IN STATE REGULATIONS [United Press Association] WELLINGTON, 26th April. The working conditions of a large number of nten engaged as taxi-drivers are strongly criticised and condemned by the committee which inquired into the taxi and town-carrier businesses. Particular reference is made to the owner-driver system, under which no award conditions apply, and the men are forced to work long hours for rates of remuneration which compel some of them to seek sustenance or hospital board relief. "It is estimated that during the year ended 31st March, 1936, the public spent approximately £850,000 in taxi transport, and during the same period taxis carried approximately 10,000,000 passengers,” states the report. A comparison between service car and bus businesses, which are subject to the national system of regulation provided under the Transport Act, and the taxi business, which is subject to control under local body by-laws, reveals some striking differences. The former services are generally in a much healthier financial position than the latter, and provide better rewards for both the capital and labour employed. There is practically no overlapping and duplication in service cars and buses, whereas cut-throat competition is rampant among service cars and buses. Drivmore frequent among taxis than among service c ars and buses. Driving hours are generally much lower in the latter than the former, and there appears to be much better utilisation of vehicles in the case of service cars and buses than in the case of taxis. Service cars and buses are required to measure up to a much higher standard of mechanical fitness than taxis. Own-er-drivers in the service car and bus businesses are required to observe the same conditions in respect to driving hours as employee-drivers, and their licenses are in peril if their earnings fall below the standard wages set by industrial awards. In the taxi business the owner-driver or commission-driver is subject to no control in respect to both these matters. “ORGY OF FAREtCUTTING” “It seems clear that the taxi business, as it exists to-day, has outgrown the present system of local body licensing and control.” The report referred to arrangements that were made to circumvent awards, and went on to say that the result of the abrogation of award conditions was more intensive competition. “All regulations regarding fair wages were razed. An crgy of fare-cutting, unfair practices, tampering with vehicles, false telephone calls, touting, misleading advertising, and practices of a more sinister character was indulged in, with the result that when the committee commenced its investigations chaos was generally rampant from one end of New Zealand tc> the other, with fares in many cases cut below economic operating costs, and fixed payments of interest and principal to be met. The only available unit left to be attacked was the cost of labour and service.” ‘The committee was astounded by the conditions of labptir existing in the 'industry. Ip many cases the hours of work were as high as 120 a week, rates of remuneration as low as 4d an hour and in some cases even less. Some drivers were obtaining sustenance from public funds and relief from hospital boards. The industrial conditions have all the aspects of a sordid gamble. Drivers operate blindly to obtain a portion of the available work in order to eke out an existence. The waiting rooms which were sometimes used as

sleeping compartments were in some places crude, and of a most elementary nature. In one case, that of a large concern employing commission drivers, they were definitely filthy, with restricted air space and meagre sitting accommodation. In some instances the committee saw waiting rooms of a reasonably clean and decent nature.

UNIFORM CONDITIONS SOUGHT “Requests were received from commission drivers, representatives of drivers’ industrial unions of workers, and from employers employing drivers on wages that all operators should be made subject to uniform working conditions. wages, and hours, irrespective of whether such operators were ownerdrivers, commission drivers, or concerns or individuals employing commission drivers. The committee has given full consideration to these requests. and is of opinion that uniformity of working conditions, wages, and hours should be effected respecting all drivers of taxi-cabs. Wc recommend that such uniformity be a condition of licenses, and the basis of such uniformity should be the award affecting employers employing wages drivers. The success of this recommendation depends on the existence of an award. It may happen in the future that an employer as now defirfed under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act may disappear from the taxi business. Should this eventuate, there would be no industrial award to serve as a basis for the licensing authorities. To guard against such a possibility we recommend that the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act be amended in order to prevent such an eventuality. We consider that all operators engaging drivers in any capacity should be made subject to industrial legislation as it affects employers as defined under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. LONG HOURS DANGEROUS “Having regard to the fact that a taxi is a form of public transport which operates over fairly densely trafficked roads, and that fatigue on the part of the driver is always a potential menace to the safety of passengers carried, as well as to pedestrians and other motor traffic, the committee is convinced that the present long hours on which many taxi drivers are on duty is inimical to the publie interest. In many instances taxis are competing on a widespread and growing scale with electric tramways and regular motor transport services. The lack of limitation on the hours of work of taxi drivers is therefore not only a real peril to the public safety, but is also the cause of unfair competition with other forms of transport which are required to observe standards that have been adopted not only "for the safety and welfare of the workers engaged, but also in the general interests of public safety. “The present qualifications of a taxi driver fall under three headings—character, physical ability, and driving ability. The custom is for local authorities to refer applications for taxi drivers’ licenses to the police for a recommendation as to whether the applicant is a suitable person to hold a license. The police say that they recommend or do not recommend as the case may be without details. Instances were quoted where an applicant who had been refused a license in one town on account of an adverse police report had proceeded to another town where he was not known, and procured a license. The committee considers that this is most undesirable. A taxi driver is in a position that requires a high standard of probity, and it is very desirable that it should be impossible for anyone of even doubtful character to secure a taxi driver’s license. A satisfactory medical certificate is an essential qualification of a taxi driver’s license. Most local authorities require the production of a satisfactory medical certificate before a license i 3 granted. but the evidence in some towns indicated that this matter does not receive the consideration its importance warrants. It was clear from the evidence that the testing of applicants for taxi drivers’ licenses was not universally carried out in a thorough and satisfactory manner.

“The committee emphasises the desirability for ensuring that only drivers who measure up to a high standard of driving ability should be able to secure licenses.”

The Minister’s comments on the recommendations were published in Monday’s issue of “The Mail.”