TAXI FARES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 294, 31 August 1918, Page 8

TAXI FARES

NEW SCALE PROPOSED BY TAXI PROPRIETORS' ASSOCIATION The special committeo set up by tho taxi proprietors of Wellington met the By-Laws Committee of the City Council in conference yesterday morning, and submitted what they deemed to be sound proposals for a reasonable tariff. In these proposals, which were voiced by Mr. .1. J5. Fitzgerald (as chairman of the Taxi Proprietors' Committee), it is proposed that engagement by which has been a source of dissatisfaction both to owners and the public, be abolished, except as regards shopping engagements within a radius of one mile from the General Post Office. In place thereof tho owners proposed a tariff based on a charge of Is. fid. per passenger per mile, with a Is. per mile hack to tho place of engagement. That would moan a minimum fare of 2s. Gd. per mile per passenger, with Cd. per mile for each additional passenger. As an illustration of how this would work out the run to Petone (over seven miles) for a single passenger would work out at 14s. Gd., with an added 3s. Gd. (at (id. per mile) for two passengers, or 18s. for two passengers. That calculation provided for the Is. per mile hack to the place of engagement. An important proposal was the one regarding runs to the hill-top suburbs —Brooklyn, Northland, Karori (as far as the tunnel). Kelburn and Eosenentb. For such journeys double rates are proposed for the np-.iourney, with a minimum of 7s. Gd. for one passenger, and 2s. each for all passengers ovr one. In years past tho City Council used to discriminate between night and day work, but some little time ago the ByLows Committee struck out that provision. The new proposals of the taxi owners include a clause by 'which', ordinary fares shall he charged up to fl p.m. From fl p.m. until midnight they suggested that fares he increased by 50 per cent., and from midnight to G a.m. by TOO per cent. An illustration was given as to how. this would work out with a theatre party going from Wellington Terrace to a city theatre. The fare would ho 2s. fid. each way (os.), and'an added Is. 3d. for the return journey (after 9 p.m.), in all 6s. 3d. for four or five passengers. The faros for children up to 12 years of age were to be half-rates, and for those under three years of age free. In speaking for the owners. Mr. J. &;■ Fitzgerald Stated that a Taxi Proprietors' Association was in process of formation, and he pointed out that one reason for the lack of confidence, in taxi drivers.-on the. part of the public was the lack of supervision over drivers on tho part of owners. The association was being formed for the nurposo of assisting the City Council to safeguard the interests of tho travelling and general public, and the trade generally. Among tho suggestions made by Mr. Fitzgerald to the ByLaws Committeo Was that tho association would co-operate with tho council in taking an interest in tho applicants for taxi licenses, co-oporate with the municipal authorities in preventing .the misuse of stands, and assist in supervising tho behaviour of drivers generally. Tho chairman of the By-Laws Committee (Mr. W. H. P. Barber) expressed bis gratification at the action of the taxi owners in their proposals to place the taxi business of Wellington on a better footing than heretofore and their efforts to formulate a reasonable tariff. Ho expressed a willingness to co-operate with tho new association, and to obtain tho assistance of the City Solicitor in drafting a by-law which will have for its object, the checking of offences by defaulting hirers of taxis. ■ • '

Speaking to a.Dominion reporter on this latter subject, ■ Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald said that at present there were frequent cases where a person would hire a taxi, and after the run would then tell the driver to call at such-and-such an hotel for his fare, and when the driver went to collect, either there was no one of tho name there or he had gone away. In other instances passengers would pay short, and tell the driver to whistle for the rest. Tho driver had no redress, savo prosecution in the Court (over a matter of a few shillings), which took time, and caused trouble and expense. What they wanted was tho power to call to their aid the services of a constable who would insist on the defaulter paying the corroot legal fare. -Drivers, he maintained, were entitled to protection from such people, as were tho public to protection from drivers who wantonly overcharged, and the taxi owners wished to gain that protection without having recourse to the clumsy and expensive processes of the Court.