HIGHER TAXI FARES

Southland Times, Issue 23026, 21 October 1936, Page 4

HIGHER TAXI FARES

NEW SCHEDULE ADOPTION FOR THREE MONTHS DEPUTATION FROM OWNERS A schedule of new taxi prices to be given a three months’ trial was put before the City Council last night by the Invercargill Taxi Proprietors’ Association. The schedule had been submitted to the council and force was added to it by the spoken word of three members of a deputation from the association. After a long discussion it was agreed to put the suggested scale of charges into operation for a period of three months. The scale of charges is as follows: — No. 1 Area—l/6—To foreshore, Ettrick street, Ness street, Don street, Thames street. No. 2 Area —2/ To foreshore, Biggar street, Princes street, Ettrick street, Nelson street, Tweed street, Lindisfarne road, Antrim street, Newcastle street, Elies road, Hensley street, Lewis street, Grey street, Kelvin road. No. 3 Area—2/6—To foreshore, William Street, Manse street, south terminus', Elies road, Martin street, Pomona road, Centre street, Conyers street, Isabella street, eastern boundary, Herbert street, Windsor street, Layard street, Duke street, Grey and Albert streets, River road, North road, Arthur street (Collingwood) and the railway line. No. 4 Area—3/ To foreshore, Kew road, and Kew Hospital, Elies road, Nelson street, Brown street, railway crossing, Tramway road, Saturn street, Heidelburg, Oteramika road, Inglewood road, Pankhurst’s corner, Eastern Cemetery corner, Herbert street, Salford street, Layard street, High street, and Wilton streets, Elies road, Thomson’s bush, River road, North road, Waikiwi terminus, Cemetery road, and railway line. Special Trips. No. 5 Area —3/6 —To Rosedale mill, power sub-station, Racecourse road, Elies road to Bainfield road, Oteramika road and the Eastern Cemetery road. Early Morning Fare.—3 a.m. to 7 a.m., minimum 4/- within the city boundary. Wedding Cars—First hour, 15/- a car, thereafter 10/- an hour. Car Hire City Area.—By the hour or for waiting, such as funerals, 10/- an hour, or 2/6 a quarter-hour. Country Work.—To be at the rate of 7d a mile each way. The above rate a mile is for cars that carry up to five passengers. Country work is to be outside of special runs and No. 5 area. When over five passengers are carried the rate to be Id a mile each way for each extra passenger. Standing Time, For Country Work — 4/- a hour or 1/- a quarter-hour. Empty Returning Cars.—6d. Animals.—The existing by-law to be enforced so that no animals are to be carried in taxis. Special Runs.—The following special taxi rates were also fixed. -Karitane, 3/6; store and golf links, Otatara, 4/-; Makarewa freezing works, 9/-; Woodend store, 6/6; Lorneville Hotel, 6/-; Oreti Beach, 6/6; Wallacetown Hotel, 9/-; Makarewa School, 6/6; Clifton Store corner, 4/-; Clifton (top of Avon road), 4/6; Kennington, 6/-; Lome Farm, 6/-; Aerodrome, 6/6. Owners’ Deputation. Mr W. R. Ronald, who headed the deputation, said that the matter was one of urgency for the association. Since the committee of inquiry had sat in Invercargill the drivers had approached the association with demands, considered reasonable, for wages and conditions. These could not be granted without an increase in tariffs. He did not claim that the schedule was perfect, but at the end of three months the ’ finding of the inquiry might be made known and some permanent, better system could be adopted. Taximeters were really the best way of controlling prices, he said, but the cost of them was £4O. If the council passed the schedule, he would ask for protection against price-cutters, whom he termed the curse of all attempts to fix reasonable wages. Mr G. E. Fisher said that as the biggest employer he could definitely say that the present fares were an impossible basis from which to pay higher wages when shorter hours were also worked. The new fares had aimed at a rise of 6d in each area.

Cr G. E. T. Dorman said he thought that a mileage basis was the fairest computation and he suggested that the basis be 2/- for the first mile and lOd for each mile thereafter. Cr G. J. Reed suggested that the use of taximeters be made compulsory, and there was a long discussion on whether speedometers, which would be checked for accuracy, could be used to mark fares on a basis of actual mileage. Mr W. H. Stopford, the council’s traffic inspector, said that the proposed schedule was not the first that had been put forward. It was full of anomalies and in his opinion the mileage basis was the only satisfactory one. He discussed systems in use in Christchurch and Wanganui. There was a further discussion on the use of speedometers or taximeters, and when it was finally decided to approve the schedule for three months, a suggestion was added that the traffic inspector make inquiries about the possibility of the taxis being fitted with taximeters. Further Licences. The Works Committee reported that it had also received advice from the Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, stating that it had come to the knowledge of his department that a number of applications for taxi cab licences were being made in anticipation of the committee of inquiry’s findings. The Minister was somewhat apprehensive that this would add to any difficulties that might be experienced in giving effect to the committee’s recommendations, and he asked that no further licences be issued in the meantime except in such exceptional eases as would justify the issue of additional licences.

The committee recommended that the letter be received and the traffic inspector informed accordingly. The committee reported that it again had before it the question of licensing and limiting the number of carriers’ vehicles as raised by the Invercargill Master Carriers’ Association, and approved by the Southland Drivers’ Union. It had received letters from the Associated Freight Service, Dunedin, and Foote & Co., Ltd., Dunedin, both letters being in opposition to the requests made by the Invercargill Master Carriers Association, particularly with reference to the delivery of goods in the city from a central depot. The committee, in view of the investigations being made by the Government into the whole question of transport, recommended that consideration be deferred, and the parties advised accordingly.