TAXI REPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22714, 28 April 1937, Page 13

TAXI REPORT

VIEWS OF DRIVERS A MIXED RECEPTION FAKES ISSUE EVADED NEW LICENSING OPPOSED "It says a lot, but it docs not get us very far." J hose words summarise the opinions expressed by several taxidrivers in Auckland yesterday concerning the leport of the special committee get up by the' Government to investigate the conduct of taxi and town carrying businesses throughout the Dominion. , "The committee gives us 18 months jn which to improve, our own internal organisation." said a driver, who is also a director of one of the principal taxi companies in Auckland. "It tells us that we are working long hours for low .wages, and that we arc paying too for finance for car purchases and for insurance. Wo know all those things only too well, but wo do not know, and the committee does not toll us, how an improvement is to be -"effected.'' Chaotic Conditions Denied The licensing proposals submitted by the committee were strongly criticised by this owner-driver. If the proposals were adopted in their entirety, ho said, the issue of licences would bo handed over .from the City Council to the Auckland Transport Board, and the former body would lose the revenue from licence fees. The final position would be that the Auckland Transport Board would' issue licences, the Post and Telegraph Department would , operate the taxi telephone services, and the City Council would issue permits for taxi stands and for the installation of street telephones. Everything would be hopelessly' involved and impracticable. Several owner-drivers stated that the chaotic conditions outlined in the committee's report should not be given a particular application to the taxi business in Auckland. Some of the points raised might have been applicable when the business as a whole was m serious difficulties about five years ago, but since then marked improvements had been carried out. Unremunerative Mileage The opinion was also freely expressed that the committee, in not making a definite and clear-cut recommendation regarding fares, had evaded the main problem in the conduct of ihe taxi business. What was urgently needed was a system of fares which -would do away ;with the great volume of uneconomic •business which had to be performed in existing circumstances. The present ecale of fares was based largely on the assumption that a taxi carried passengers on both outward and inward trips, but in actual fact the great bulk of j the business, was one-way traffic, with much unremunerative mileage. "Fares are the crux of the whole situation," one driver said. "Give us reasonable fares and a reasonable interpretation of the limitation of licences and there will be no cause for complaint."/ ' Finance Companies The sections in the report dealing with the operations of finance companies in the purchase of cars for taxi work are welcomed I»v the majority of owaer-drivers. "We all know of eases where cars have been paid for two or three ,times," one man said. "Some of those cars are still on the load." The proposal that the Auckland Transport Board should issue taxi licences for »the metropolitan area is not regarded favourably by the drivers. They point out that to some extent there is competition between trams and taxis. One man even said that the taxi'companies were at least paying their way, while the Transport Board had not provided any evidence of its own outstanding ability in that direction. / The general view appeared to be that some good -might come out of the re--port, but it would be necessary for the committee's recommendations to be studied fully and, for the views of taxi-owners themselves, to be studied jbefore any definite action was taken. AUCKLAND SERVICE LOCAL ~,BODY ATTITUDE IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAIN The view that Auckland had the most satisfactpry taxi service in the Dominion was expressed yesterday by Mr. W. T. Anderton, M.P., chairman of the Legal and By-Laws Committee ■ J>f the City Council, in commenting on the report of the committee which has investigated the conduct of taxi and town carrying businesses in New Zealand. The organisation, equipment and economic standing of the Auckland taxi companies, Mr. Anderton said, were letter than those of companies in other centres, and already a special sub-committee of the City Council was co-operating with reiiresentatives of the taxi-drivers in an effort to improve the whole service. "The committee's report should have the effect of hastening things up," Mr. Anderton said, "and in all probability Auckland will be the first city ' in the Dominion to carry out that degree ot reorganisation which the committee regards as essential. The suggestion a change in the system ot licensing of taxis can be approached from more than one angle, and 1 hope to have an early opportunity of discussing this matter with the Minister of Transport, the Hon. H. Semple." The chairman of the Auckland Transport Board, the Hon. H. G. II • Mason, said he had not had an opportunity to read fully the report of the committee, ;yid be was unable to discuss how far its recommendations affected his board. "DECIDED IMPROVEMENT" COMPANY CHAIRMAN'S VLK'WS "I think the committee is to hp con- ' gra tula ted on its comprehensive report and its recommendations on the taxi industry," said .Mr. H. McDerniott, chairman of directors of the Checker Taxi Cab Company, Limited. "Nevertheless, the f Auckland City Council, owing to their extensive knowledge and the deep interest taken in the industry, appears to be the most competent body to control the licensing in Auckland." Mr. McDerniott added that several members of the Auckland City Council had made a study of the taxi industry as it operated in Auckland and that fact combined with the local knowledge of the members should enable them to apply such of the recommendations needed in Auckland to the satisfaction oj; the .Minister (Transport* 5