Mathew Dearnaley in the NZ Herald reports:

Taxi passengers’ privacy concerns have scotched a plan to add voice recordings to new legally-required cameras in cabs.

Wellington Combined Taxis, the capital’s largest company, has decided against recording conversations after many of its passengers became alarmed at the idea.

Their fears have also prompted Corporate Cabs, with fleets in Auckland and the other main centres, to issue an assurance it will not install microphones.

Just as well. I am a regular and large user of Combined. If they had gone ahead with their plans to audio record conversations in taxis, and keep them for a month, I would have blacklisted them. No way would I take a taxi where a recording is made of what I say.

The only people allowed to listen into my phone calls are the GCSB!

Tags: CGSB, taxis

Tim Donoghue at the Dom Post reports:

A taxi driver stabbed seven times in a frenzied attack has called for all cabs to be fitted with protective screens around the drivers.

Shlemon Yako, 60, was stabbed three times in the stomach, once in his left side and three times in his arms, as he dropped off a front-seat passenger at the bottom of Shropshire Ave in the Wellington suburb of Wilton about 12.15am on Saturday.

The Kiwi Cabs driver picked the man up from the Bay Rd taxi stand in Kilbirnie and drove him across town to Wilton via Aro St.

He said the sustained attack, during which he fought with his assailant, had convinced him protective screens should be compulsory.

I feel very sorry for the driver. Sounds horrific what happened.

But I am bemused why people keep calling for certain things to be made compulsory in taxis such as video cameras and safety screens.

There’s nothing stopping taxi firms or drivers doing so themselves, if they deem it desirable. But why call for it to be compulsory?

Tags: taxis

Dave Burgess in the Dom post reports:

Intoducing legislation to reduce or cap the number of taxis in Wellington would be a move back to the bad old days of the 1970s and 1980s and will not happen, Transport Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Government’s position goes against that held by Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, who has said that limiting taxi numbers was an area for lobbying the New Zealand Transport Agency, which issues taxi licences.

The Taxi Federation also supported a cap on the 1237 taxis licensed for Wellington.

“The Taxi Federation regularly is nostalgic for the good old days and periodically says it wants to restrict the number of taxis,” Mr Joyce said. “I notice they never volunteer to reduce the numbers in their own fleets.”

A good point, and nice to see the Minister resisting a step back in time.

The lack of action in cutting cab numbers may disappoint a significant number of Wellingtonians, if a poll on dompost.co.nz is anything to go by. Three- quarters of the 664 respondents said they believed there were too many taxis in the city.

“At different times there can be too many, but I notice that whenever you are looking for a cab you are never too worried about the number of taxis,” Mr Joyce said.

“You get more concerned if you aren’t looking for a cab and you see them around.”

Also often you don’t just want any old cab, but one from a company you trust. Some taxi firms are very much a matter of using only as a last resort.

Tags: Steven Joyce, taxis

Dave Burgess in the Dom Post reports:

There are too many taxis in Wellington and it is time to put a limit on them, the mayor says.

The taxi industry agrees and has called on the Government to introduce legislation to cap or reduce numbers in the city.

It is no surprise the taxi industry wants a cap – because that would protect incumbents and lead to higher earnings for current drivers.

It does not mean it will be a better service for those who want to hire taxis.

There are 1237 taxis licensed for Wellington City. About 400 were on the road before deregulation. This tripling of taxis in the past 20 years has led to overcrowded taxi stands and dubious parking practices as drivers clamour for business, especially in the late-night Courtenay Place party zone.

I regard it as a good thing that when you want to go home from Courtenay Place at 2 am, you can easily find a taxi.

I’d support tougher tests for becoming a taxi driver – both in English skills and location knowledge. But I don’t support an arbitrary cap on cab numbers.

You know what would be useful though – a website showing each taxi firm, and what their fares are.

Tags: Celia Wade-Brown, taxis, Wellington

The Dom Post reports:

Taxi price wars are erupting in Wellington as small companies try to stay afloat after being shunted out of the lucrative airport trade.

Two companies have cut their prices in the past two weeks and more are promising to follow suit.

The companies are angry about a Wellington Airport decision to allocate a priority taxi spot to market leader Wellington Combined, relegating competitors to an outer lane where business is scarce.

“This is a retaliation,” Kiwi Cabs spokesman Logan Pithyou said. “We’re fighting back by lowering our prices. If this doesn’t work out, the company will go bust and many other small companies will too.”

I always use Wellington Combined, unless I am in town and can’t find one. The reasons I do are:

1. Quality of cars is good
2. Drivers speak English and know where common locations are
3. They use an electronic payment system, so easy to pay with taxicard
4. They turn up fairly quickly when called

I will use Corporate Cabs also, but avoid almost all other firms.

Having said that, I can be price sensitive like most people. I would like to know how much I could save if I used another firm.

It would be a great public service if someone created a page showing all the firms in a city, and their tariffs. Ideally an average rating from users also – but just a price comparison would be really good.

Tags: taxis, Wellington

The Herald reports:

The Transport Minister is pushing for security cameras in all city taxis and the taxi federation hopes they will be in place by the middle of next year.

Steven Joyce announced this morning that he would put to Cabinet the recommendation in May.

The move follows recent attacks on taxi drivers: on Saturday, two men held a knife to an Auckland cabbie’s throat for $30 in coins, and in January driver Hiren Mohini was stabbed to death in Mt Eden for a $15.20 fare.

Many Auckland cabbies have since said that they are now scared to work at night.

NZ Taxi Federation executive director Tim Reddish said the federation had been pushing for a Government mandate for security cameras for three years.

“We’re just delighted to achieve our objective and the fact that it will save lives,” Mr Reddish said.

If the recommendations gets through Cabinet, he expects the first cameras would be installed toward the end of the year and be complete by the middle of 2011, Mr Reddish said.

He expected a 24-hour distress alarm – that would let cabbies call for help – would also be part of the new legislation.

I’m confused.

The taxi federation say they are delighted and have been advocating cameras for years, as a safety measure.

So why haven’t they just gone ahead and done it themselves?

Why in God’s name do we need a special law for this?

It is a good idea to get the support of the Minister, sure. But why not just have the Minister write a letter to all taxi companies saying he supports cameras in cars.

Mr Joyce said the industry would pay for the cameras – a cost expected to increase fares by about 30 cents.

So why would individual taxi firms not decide to do this for themselves, without coercion? Wouldn’t drivers be demanding cameras be placed in their cars if the cost averages out to only 30c a trip.

And even if a few companies don’t implement cameras, then their drivers can choose to work for another company.

It’s sad that the NZ Taxi Federation thinks it needs a law passed, to be able to put security cameras into cars. Why don’t they just get on and do it.

Tags: Nanny State, Steven Joyce, taxis