Callum Brown, managing director of Green Cabs nominated for Wellingtonian of the year in the TAWAs.

 

http://wellingtonista.com/the-tawas-wellingtonian-of-the-year

Traders hang on to fuel savings.

Cash-strapped consumers continue to pay premium prices for goods and services, despite tumbling fuel prices.

 

Fares for public transport, taxis and airlines have risen in the past year because of the cost of fuel, but an immediate cut has been ruled out now that prices are dipping.

The freight industry also says it cannot pass the fuel savings on because it has had to contend with other rising costs that have cancelled out the fuel decrease.

But Consumer NZ says the excuses are not good enough and has called for the various industries to pass on the savings.

“We are very concerned with the situation and have voiced our disapproval to the industries. It’s not good enough and we will continue to keep an eye on things,” chief executive Sue Chetwin said.

On Monday, petrol dropped to $1.43. It was the 16th consecutive price fall since July 17 when petrol cost about $2.17 a litre. Diesel, however, has been slower to drop, but at $1.21 is still much lower than its record high of $1.92 reached in July.

Foodstuffs spokesman Steve Anderson said fuel costs were a main contributor to grocery prices but it was too soon to tell if the drop in fuel prices would result in cheaper food. “We would need to see the fuel price become more stable before we consider dropping prices, but if that happens they could drop within the next two months.”

Road Transport Forum chief executive Tony Friedlander said the price of fuel was only one factor for the freight industry to consider. It was also battling increasing wages and compliance costs, and the weak New Zealand dollar had pushed up the cost of importing vehicle parts. “The fuel decrease has taken some pressure off the industry, but it needs to drop even further before we can even think about passing the savings on. It’s not as simple as people think.”

Freight operators had been copping plenty of flak from customers since fuel started dropping because they expected the savings to be passed on immediately.

“A lot of clients are under enormous pressure with the way the economy is and they’re looking to make savings wherever they can. It does cause some tension, but there’s not a lot we can do.”

Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson said any gains retailers made from easing fuel costs would help reduce the stress on their bottom lines, rather than being passed on to customers. “The transport industry is quick to put prices up, so I hope they bring them down just as fast..”

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe has previously said that, to recover the full cost of fuel, fares should go up another 20 per cent but that would cause people to stop flying. As a result, fuel prices would have to reduce further and for longer before fares were cut.

The rising cost of diesel contributed toward bus, rail and ferry fares rising by an average 10.2 per cent in September. Greater Wellington regional council will review the fares till March, but it could bring another increase.

Spokeswoman Philippa Lagan said fares had to cover at least 50 per cent of the public transport costs. “Therefore, a fare increase could be triggered if it is found that fares are covering less than half of the cost of the services.”

The cost of catching a cab has also crept gently up in the past two years, but the industry said it was unlikely fares would come down.

Wellington City Cabs increased its prices by 8 per cent in April, the first time since late 2006.

Arthur Attrill, former general manager of Wellington City Cabs – which is now in receivership – said that in nearly two decades in the taxi industry, he had never seen fares decrease and doubted he ever would.

Taxi companies were at the mercy of drivers over fare decreases because they paid for the petrol and other expenses.

There were also costs involved with reprinting fare schedules and regulatory processes, he said.

 

NZPA

Cab firm heads for receivership.

 

A WELLINGTON taxi company has shut down after 15 years in business.

Wellington City Cabs stopped operating at 5pm on Tuesday, with its 20 drivers told they would have to find new jobs.

Founder and manager Arthur Attrill told The Dominion Post that he would soon move to place the company in receivership. At its peak, the company had almost 60 cabs.

‘‘Fifteen years’ hard graft down the gurgler,’’ he said. ‘‘The feeling is indescribable, absolutely indescribable, and it’s probably the toughest thing I’ve ever done. It has cost me everything.’’

He claimed his company had been killed off by the New Zealand Transport Agency’s failure to ensure all taxi companies in the capital offered a 24-hour service, as required by law. He said that, while his company always ran a round-the-clock service, others did not, saving themselves thousands of dollars in costs.

Wellington City Cabs paid about $14,000 in extra wages to maintain its 24-hour service. Mr Attrill claimed it often took calls from customers dialling other companies, whose phones were either diverted or not working.

‘‘You can put it all down to one thing — Land Transport not doing their job,’’ he said. ‘‘They take an active blind eye. All these other taxi companies seem to be excused.’’

Transport Agency spokesman Andy Knackstedt said no Wellington taxi firms were exempt from the round-the-clock requirement.

Companies were monitored by an enforcement team, and no ‘‘consistent pattern’’ of non-compliance had been found. ‘‘We hold them all to the same standard.’’

However, one company is being prosecuted by the agency for not complying with the rules. It was warned but continued to breach the law.

The agency would not say which company was being prosecuted, but said it was a smaller firm.

Mr Attrill said the failure of his company had left him $100,000 in debt.

‘‘I have propped the company up by spending all the cash I had. I’ve lost my house to it. I just kept borrowing and borrowing.

‘‘You keep telling yourself that it will be sorted out … and we’ve reached the end of the line,’’ he said on Tuesday. ‘‘I can just about — maybe, perhaps — pay my staff wages up till now, but at 5pm there is no more.’’

 

The increasingly ubiquitous Toyota Prius taxicab.

The increasingly ubiquitous Toyota Prius taxicab
Nov 5, 2008 at 1:14 AM 2 comments

Prius taxis
I know some cities are seeing these Toyota Prius taxicabs. Wellington started off with Green Cabs, but now the main firm, Combined, is getting them, too. On the left is a Green Cab; on the right, a Combined Prius being tailed by a Combined Nissan Teana—badged Maxima here.
I prefer the days when our cabs (and many of the New Zealand private fleet) ran on good, clean natural gas—they could claim to be zero smog then. Even Priuses have petrol engines pulling around hundreds of kilograms of batteries. But the Prius is better than the Teana: a lot of Wellington cabbies are turning Japanese, after decades of buying Australian full-size sedans. It’s a pity, since the Australians put out cabs with factory natural gas options. Even on environmental cleanliness, I’d prefer to see diesel Mondeos before all these petrol Teanas and Aurions.

Source: 

http://jackyan.vox.com/library/post/the-increasingly-ubiquitous-toyota-prius-taxicab.html?_c=feed-atom