Official Report Warns Of Auckland’s ‘Dangerous Chaotic” Taxi Drivers

in General by Jon C — April 5, 2010 at 12:10 am | 4 comments

The Government needs to clean up the taxi industry before the RWC or give NZTA, the regulatory body, more extensive powers and/or more resources to police it.

It’s alarming to see the Auckland City Council now confirming how bad the problems are and officers suggesting the council needs to lobby the government itself for change because the council’s  hands are tied, not being the regulatory body.

The city council’s transport committee will be considering the state of Auckland taxis later this week and will consider a report which talks of “concerns about the on-road behaviour of many taxi drivers, who are perceived to be regularly driving in an unsafe manner, driving vehicles that are not roadworthy, and parking illegally. “

Elsewhere, the report talks of previous public complaints of both ‘dangerous’ and ‘chaotic’ driving.

So how come you and I can easily get pulled over for doing 55k  by police but NZTA authorities are not cracking down enough on those who are putting members of the public at risk – an experience I myself had recently.

I wrote recently about a taxi company being ordered off the road and said a bigger clean-up of the industry was needed:

I recently had one of the scariest car trips of my life when I grabbed a taxi in Victoria St.

The driver roared down the road at a ridiculous speed and then had no idea where to go ignoring my instructions and going on the wrong motorway.

He told me had just arrived that week from Afghanistan and was here on a visitors permit and a relative was running a taxi company.

He then started telling me about how his brother was killed by the Taliban and he began to get very emotional about how he had to pay the local police for his brother’s body.

At that point, I demanded to get out of the taxi even though it took me two hours to walk home.

I can’t understand why it has taken this long. It has got worse by the year ever since Labour’s Richard Prebble deregulated the transport industry in 1989, which abandoned restrictions on  the numbers of taxis and their fares.

For years, everyone I know has had a scary story.

It seems only the likelihood of  bad international publicity thanks to bad experience by RWC media, visitors and tourists is finally meaning that someone may pull their finger out.

The only government action so far has been about taxi drivers security - an important issue. But where is the concern about passengers safety?

The report says that the problems with the taxi industry in Auckland stems from a lack of regulation at a central government level.

“Until additional regulation occurs there will continue to be problems with the oversupply and poor quality of cabs.”

The report suggests the new Auckland super council would be in a good position to exert pressure on central government to address taxi related issues. It could consolidate regional organizations views and present a consolidated case. Addressing taxi issues via the Auckland Council would have the added advantage that any measures taken could be consistently applied across the region.

The council report admits its last attempt  hasn’t worked. In September 2009, the council’s transport committee endorsed the concept of taxi stand permits to increase the effectiveness of taxi parking enforcement, improve taxi operator adherence to parking road rules and aid taxi management .

It said the proposal was a response to:

• Frustration expressed by local residents and other road users at the council’s perceived lack of effective taxi management
• Dangerous driving behaviour from taxi operators, particularly around taxi stands and in entertainment precincts
• Chaotic taxi driving behaviour at major event venues such as the recent Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park and the Big Day Out 2009 at Mt Smart Stadium
• Taxi driving behaviour causing congestion and restricting traffic flows
• Illegal parking from taxi operators being a nuisance for local residents and businesses
• Taxi stands attracting illegal parking in adjacent restricted areas such as bus stops and mobility spaces
• Significant parking enforcement resources required for enforcing taxi parking non-compliance
• Better quality operators being reluctant to use Auckland City Council taxi stands

The concept involved changing the traffic bylaw to allow only taxis who obtain a vehicle permit from Auckland City Council to use Auckland City taxi stands.

The scheme was based on the introduction of two types of taxi permits, a vehicle permit and an organisation permit.

The report admits the reasons the scheme hasn’t worked are:

• It only targets taxis that use Auckland City Council taxi stands
• Many of the worst offending taxi organisations are made up of part-time night operators
• Suspending taxi permits may encourage a higher level of parking non-compliance as taxis that have had their permits suspended or those whose organisation chooses not to take part in the scheme would no longer be able to use taxi stands
• Taxis operating primarily outside the Auckland City Council area but who come into the CBD for major events would be able to purchase permits and operate without Auckland City Council having any controls on them because parking officers will not be able to issue enough parking infringement penalty points to suspend their permit.
• The council scheme is not allowed to manage taxi standards such as vehicle age, vehicle appearance and colour, vehicle cleanliness, vehicle safety ratings (low emissions, passenger airbags), driver friendliness, driver route knowledge because that’s NZTA’s job

The council will consider some shorter term measures:

• Dedicated council taxi parking enforcement officers, possibly with additional taxi enforcement powers delegated from the NZTA
• Greater use of the new NZTA form that parking officers use to report bad driving behaviour and other NZTA regulations (set up recently)
• Council parking officers to start enforcing K-code offence notices. These are used for offences such as blocking traffic and are used primarily for taxis. These are offences that council officers can legally enforce, but do not do so at present.
• Reviewing taxi stand locations in the CBD and establishing a central point that can be easily communicated to the public on where to get a taxi.
• Temporary taxi ranks during events or busy weekends in the CBD (eg. RWC)

That’s a start but let’s start pressuring the government for action now.

I have had some wonderful drivers in the past, and it’s unfair not to acknowledge that, but shaken by this recent incident, I have vowed never to use an Auckland cab again.

The urban legend story is that Labour’s Richard Prebble had trouble getting a cab late one night and he was so angry, that caused him to bring in the changes to Transport Services Licensing Act allowing anyone to set up a cab company, so long as it had a number of vehicles and a booking system.

That may have been a good idea but not policing any standards has now got us into a scary situation.

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Tags: Auckland City Council Auckland city transport committee NZTA Rugby World Cup RWC 2011 RWC 2011 taxi drivers