• Watch the presentation at   http://www.iru.org/index/en_event_2ndTaxiForum
• Presentation by Tim Reddish
  Executive Director
  New Zealand Taxi Federation
• IRU 2^ND INTERNATIONAL TAXI FORUM KÖLN (GERMANY)
• NOVEMBER, 2008

•  

• The New Zealand Taxi Market Structure prior to 1989 Deregulation
• The immediate effects
• The ongoing effects
• The lobbying effort to correct
• The Auditors Generals report & Legislation Changes
• The New Rules, ATO Structure and Self-Regulation
• Summary

• THE STRUCTURE PRIOR TO 1989
• Structure based on licenses, personalised to applicant. Applicants had to meet strict criteria
• 3,500 taxis, mostly owner operator, with operators belonging to mainly cooperative, many owner operators employed part-time/ peak-time drivers
• Cooperatives fought very hard against the supply of new licenses
• Acute shortage of peak-time taxis, long queues on streets, transport terminals and buses
• Industry resisted public and political pressure for more taxis and more competition
• In the end the pressure became too much – the industry didn’t react or compromise and with a newly elected reformist Government the industry was deregulated, almost overnight – no compensation

• Any body with appropriate drivers license could put on a taxi (had to belong to a company)
• Taxis could charge what they liked provided they displayed rates schedule in vehicle
• Despair and despondency
• Flood of new entrants and new taxi companies (by 2005 7,500)
• Returns halved
• Fares dropped or remained
• Debt levels rose with resulting failures
• Lower driver and vehicle standards
• Street confrontations
• Dishonest practices, credit fraud, assaults on passengers, fraudulent practices in driver qualifications and bona-fides and compliance requirements
• Crowding of taxis on taxi stands, illegal parking, frustrated city authorities
• Regulators/compliance officials couldn’t cope

• ONGOING EFFECTS
• Economic Changes
• Tourism/visitor boom (T 439k to1.2M, V 867k to 2.36M
• Drink drive laws severely tightened
• Inner City living
• Demand grew
• Rationalisation and growth within industry
• Smart credit processing and computerised dispatch assisted market growth
• Focus on quality and professionalism
• The best grew and prospered (e.g. WCT)
• Compliance activity got worse – distinctly uneven playing field, vast difference between top and bottom of market

• FEDERATION’S LOBBYING EFFORT
• 5 years of intense effort
• Politicians (all parties)
• City and regional politicians
• Government officials
• Interest groups, disabled organisations, elderly, schools, airports, hotels
• Press/ media campaign
• Culminating in Auditor General
• AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT
  & LEGISLATION CHANGES
• Watershed document in getting industry back under control
• Report condemned regulators performance in nearly all areas of their responsibilities

“Inconsistent and inadequate monitoring and enforcing of compliance by the Authority has led to widespread non-compliance.  As a result, there is a risk that unfit and improper people are allowed into, and remain in, the taxi industry.

The audit identified areas for improvement that are reflected in the many recommendations in this report”

• 132 page report, 61 recommendations that called for improvement/changes in nearly every area, the main ones being to do with proper fit and proper person tests, proper vetting of taxi driver licensing, proper testing procedures and above all  proper enforcement activity that ensured proper compliance
• THE NEW RULES, ATO’s & SELF-REGULATION

• Operator Licensing Rule

–     Everything taxis must have and do: signage, fare schedules, meters, receipts, lost property

–     Everything operators must comply with: licensing, records etc

–     Everything ATO’s are responsible for: heavy emphasis under threat of heavy penalties that they maintain: dispatch records, complaints records/systems, records of their operators compliance re vehicles and legislative requirements and ATO 24/7 service responsibility

• Work Time and Logbook Rule
• Dedicated Taxi Enforcement team
• CONCLUSION
• Deregulation without standards and compliance = disaster, poor quality, lack of professionalism
• Quality and viability go hand in hand
• Free market= even playing field = proper compliance
• As a result of this numbers are shrinking, the small and non-compliant have given up- those that can’t operate honestly have been caught and left the industry

Latest Survey Results

• 94% rated condition of taxis as clean/very clean and reasonable/very good physical condition
• 82% of passengers felt safe and secure using taxis
• 78% felt drivers were professional /very professional

Source:   http://www.iru.org/index/en_event_2ndTaxiForum

New Zealand’s first Taxi organisation to achieve Carbon Neutral Status breaks new ground in another first for the industry.

Wellington Combined is viewed by many in the industry as an innovative market leader, and in their November issue of TaxiChat  promotes English literacy courses. “Tranzqaul has advised WCT that they have successfully arranged for a private provider to take a sample group of our drivers requiring to improve their English literacy skills. This will be done at no cost to the drivers involved….The first session will be for an hour to determine how much English literacy improvement, if any, each driver will require. Follow up lessons will be arranged, again at no cost, but every driver will attend all classes in their own time. These classes will initially be industry based and targeted to the LCP and National certificate courses. But of course, they will also be very useful to improve individual English literacy overall for all participants.”

Wellington Combined Taxis is a member of the New Zealand Taxi Federation.

NZTAXIBLOG

Source:      TaxiChat November 2009

Below is an article posted in October 2008 on nztaxiblog (first published in September 2003) - Blasts from the past pages:

Industry needs revamp: taxi drivers.

October 29, 2008 — nztaxiblog | 

It appears that somewhere along the way during the successive changes in title, from Land Transport Safety Authority to Land Transport New Zealand and now to the New Zealand Transport Agency, that the organization has lost the plot in terms of its responsibility to manage and administer taxi compliance and administration.Maybe the process of continual change in organizational structure and personnel has caused them to lose the thread of understanding and knowledge of what should be their key taxi industry compliance priorities; or simply maybe what should be foremost in their institutional memories has been quickly forgotten in the process of change and reallocation of responsibilities.Whatever the cause, the result is a lack of clear direction and confusion at all levels when it comes to implementing decisions and policies that were actually decided on some time ago.Take for example the approved communications system fiasco (that is explained in full in another article in this issue of “Taxi”); it seems to have been forgotten that the Auditor General sent a clear message to the then Land Transport SafetyAuthority that its compliance measures and policies must achieve an even market playing field; with all in the market having the same compliance costs.Within just a few short years, the connecting thread from the 2005 Auditor General’s report which saw the development of their 2007 Operator Licensing Rule through to the full implementation of the rules provisions, appears to have been broken and the understanding of how it all came about in the first place lost sight of. Why else would silly extensions to comply be granted, or lack of definition on what constitutes an approved communications system be the basis of prevarication/vacillation on achieving the Auditor Generals simple purpose.By not following the simple connecting thread and going back to what drove the changes, NZTA have made the mistake of changing horses mid stream and appear to be now floundering on finding a solution that suits everyone i.e. those that have spent the money and complied and those that haven’t and claim that compliance will send them broke. As a jog to NZTA’s institutional memory it should be noted that the Operator Licensing Rule was developed utilizing industry consultation and that the draft rule went through the full consultation phases. Why then are NZTA so tentative in enforcing the rules provisions and contemplating yet further consultation?The Federation’s view is very simple and logically in sync with the Auditor General.The rule is there to ensure an even playing field and NZTA should simply get on and enforce it. All those in charge of Approved Taxi Organisations knew when they set up of the 24/7 service requirements and the need for an approved communications systems, while it is accepted special arrangements have to be made for taxi companies/operators small rurally based towns, the fact remains that NZTA just need to get on with it and stop being obsessed in covering their butts in the event that some ATO may challenge them in the courts; all they need to be clear on is that they are implementing decisions that the Auditor General wanted – an even market playing field.　　　

Source:   Editorial September 2009New Zealand Taxi Federation Magazine.

At a presentation last week, the taxi company – Wellington’s largest and New Zealand’s second largest – marked the success of 13 drivers, who completed a Limited Credit Program (LCP) training course.

Training and Compliance Manager, Athol Smith, says 260 drivers out of a total of about 540 have now passed the LCP. The remaining drivers are expected to complete the course by June 2010.

The LCP is designed to give taxi drivers confidence in all elements of passenger service, especially those with special needs; occupational safety and health; traffic law and the management of stress, health and fatigue. It is presently a contractual requirement of the Ministry of Education for all drivers of school children and special needs passengers to be formally trained, assessed and qualified to transport all such passengers. The LCP training achieves all these objectives.

Athol says the program boosts driver knowledge so they are even more able to offer excellent service to all WCT customers.

“Also, the LCP course deals with issues that the drivers already understand, and at the same time increases accident and risk awareness. Driving a taxi is already a fully focused professional task, so it is important that we are risk averse and always follow safe driving practices”.

In a move to further boost knowledge and skill levels Wellington Combined is also aiming to ensure all drivers have completed the full National Certificate in Taxi Driving by December 2012.

When awarding LCP certificates to the drivers on Tuesday, Tranzqual CEO, Wayne Smith, said research had shown that the performance of an organisation could improve by up to 20 percent if formal staff training and staff recognition were introduced.

One of the certificate recipients, Kaia Hanna, said that although the course was not difficult, some work was required by trainees, which reinforced the use of existing driver knowledge, when driving their cab, every day.
Kaia added, “The trainers were really helpful and we were supplied with good information so that helped. I enjoyed it. The National Certificate will be good for me. It’s good for my CV, that’s why I’m doing it.”

Members of Parliament appear to be wavering on their generous taxpayer-funded travel perks after decades of closing ranks to defend their right to heavily subsidised overseas travel.

In a sign of the mounting pressure on MPs, Speaker Lockwood Smith asked journalists to his office yesterday in order to defend the system, after acknowledging the strain the publicity had put on MPs and their families.

He insisted taxpayers were no worse off, because the travel perk was considered part of an MP’s pay package.

“The taxpayer is not paying anything for this. It’s taken out of MPs’ salaries.”

A shake-up of allowances and salaries in 2003 had acknowledged that by lopping off the average cost of international travel by MPs from their pay rise, Dr Smith said. The amount was $5000 – a figure that had not changed significantly since then.

But as MPs face public fury over spending on overseas travel by MPs Hone Harawira and Rodney Hide, Dr Smith acknowledged that there were other options.

“Obviously I’m all the time thinking about these things … it could be grossed up in salaries and that’s obviously something that could be considered.”

Asked if he was already considering that option, Dr Smith refused to say.

Labour leader Phil Goff conceded yesterday that it had become difficult to justify why MPs should get subsidised holidays.

“I think what many parliamentarians would say is that they, by virtue of the job they do, they’re away from home a lot, they would like to have quality time with their spouses.

“I’m not sure that New Zealanders would accept that.

“I think New Zealanders feel that if they’re going away, if it’s a holiday, they’re paying for it themselves and so should parliamentarians.”

Mr Goff admitted using the perk to take his wife, Mary, on a trip to South Australia this year at a cost of $907. He defended the spending on the grounds the trip was mostly parliamentary business, but said he had told his caucus to limit use of the perk.

But it appears the edict was delivered after Labour MP Chris Carter racked up more than $57,000 in travel with his partner in the first six months of the year, making him the biggest spender among MPs.

Progressives leader Jim Anderton and Greens co-leader Russel Norman said the perk was hard to justify. An independent review of MPs’ allowances would probably scrap it.

Prime Minister John Key did not respond to questions.

The review, under way now, is done after every election, but it may struggle to be seen as fully independent – it is being overseen by Doug Kidd, a former Speaker and National Cabinet minister.

An outside economist has also been brought in.

The travel perk was introduced during the 1970s in response to relatively low levels of pay for MPs, and allows them to claim travel subsidies worth up to 90 per cent for themselves and their spouses.

But their pay packets have risen significantly since the perk was initiated, meaning a backbencher with no additional responsibilities now earns $131,000 a year.

According to figures in the May Budget, 97 per cent of taxpayers earn less than $100,000.

TAXI BILL NEARS $2M IN A YEAR

Ordinary MPs are on track to rack up nearly $2 million on taxis and hire cars this year.

More than a decade after the furore over Speaker Jonathan Hunt running up a $29,170 taxi bill in 12 months, many MPs are spending amounts that dwarf his total – even accounting for inflation. Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira, who lives in the Far North, has spent $45,094 on surface travel in the first nine months of the year. The category mainly covers taxis and hire cars.

He defended the tally yesterday. “That’s what it costs if you want to get a good MP.”

For the first nine months of this year MPs spent $1,423,483 on taxis and hire cars.

In total, ministers have spent $2,404,267 on surface travel to September 30 this year.

Source:    NZPA

Volume 3
Issue 4
October 2009
NZTA IN FIX IT MODE
Readers of the September issue of “Taxi” magazine will be aware that the Federation has been very critical of NZTA’s performance on a number of important taxi industry “even playing field” issues. These issues were highlighted in a two hour session with senior NZTA management at our recent conference, during which our concern and frustration was expressed by many delegates; the following is an update on NZTA’s “fix it” action so far.
APPROVED COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
Firstly the problem: despite the Operator Licensing Rule stipulating that ATO’s must have an approved communications system, NZTA have discovered that they probably don’t have the legislative authority to enforce or define this provision of the Rule. This belated discovery has forced NZTA to retreat from their earlier instructions to ATO’s and has caused real angst among those member companies that invested in systems that they thought were needed to meet the requirements of the Rule.
NZTA are currently assessing legal advice provided by the Crown Law Office and based on that assessment will attempt to develop a policy position and hopefully a defined standard. We await these developments and expect to be consulted about what is proposed within the next few weeks.
The Federation’s view is that the problem can only be fixed properly with a legislation change or rule amendment; It will be interesting to see if NZTA eventually come to the same conclusion.
The Federation recognizes that economic reality will dictate that there must be differing standards between smaller rural towns and larger cities, however we are adamant that where competition exists, the defined standard must apply to all ATO’s on an even playing field basis and that the only way to achieve this is with a proper legally binding standard that is rigidly enforced.
PRIVATE HIRE
The recent situation in Patmerston North whereby an ATO had its “approval” revoked, yet was seamlessly able to set up as a “Private Hire” provider, has exposed a serious loophole in the current law.
To their credit NZTA has moved very quickly to this instance by using targeted enforcement activity to prevent the new “Private Hire” company attempting to operate as taxis, however the situation has exposed some serious flaws in the Rules governing “Private Hire” which if not modified could potentially be very damaging to the taxi business.
As a result of this and other incidents NZTA accepts that there is a need for urgent corrective action and are currently working on an acceptable alternative that meets the needs of both taxi and private hire operators. Most of this work will be around the definition of pre-booked and what signage Is permitted and what is not. We expect to be consulted about what is proposed in the near future.
ENFORCEMENT CHANGES
The Federation’s President and Executive Director met recently with NZTA’s General Manager (Access and Use) to discuss his plans for reorganising the administration and compliance activity of the passenger transport area.
Although we are supportive of his objective to place more emphasis on the activities of ATOs to ensure they meet their full compliance obligations, we expressed our reservations that any consequent reduction of “on road” compliance activity would be detrimental and result in industry standards receding to previously unacceptable levels.
We accept NZTA’s right to utilise their personnel resources to achieve the most effective results but will be watching carefully to ensure that the hard won gains of the last few years are not eroded by a new structure that may not deliver what the industry needs in terms of compliance.

Source:  Despatch October 2009.

Taxi drivers are being trained as security guards to cut response times to burglar alarms at suburban homes and commercial properties.

The plan has divided the security industry. Some say the idea is innovative, but others are worried about the potential safety risk. First Response New Zealand – a joint venture between security veteran Paul Staples and Alert Taxis – promises to have a driver at the site of a possible break-in within 15 minutes of the burglar alarm being triggered.

Alarm-monitoring firms contract the new company to send the nearest security-trained driver, rather than the traditional security guard, to the scene.

Once there, the driver will search the property and advise whether a burglary has occurred.

If the property has been broken into, the driver will act as “eyes and ears” and protect the crime scene until police arrive, said Mr Staples, who has worked in the security industry for more than 20 years. “

When the alarm goes off, homeowners want to know whether it’s a genuine break or a false alarm as quickly as possible.

“Taxis are everywhere, around every corner. You couldn’t get the police or a traditional security guard to turn up that fast.”

 If First Response was slower than 15 minutes, the $65 call-out fee would be waived.

Mr Staples said cabs carrying passengers would not be sent to check alarms.

More than 100 Alert Taxi drivers had been trained as security guards to a Level 2 Qualifications Authority accreditation and were licensed, he said.

The dual taxi driver-security guard idea has provoked a mixed reaction.

NZ Security Association chairman Peter Freeman said security professionals need to be properly trained to handle high-risk situations, and had to be focused on the job.

Serious risks would be involved if an organisation whose prime role was to pick up and deliver passengers from A to B began attending alarm callouts.

 ”We would be very concerned as to what a taxi driver attending a burglary would be able to do if confronted by an offender,” Mr Freeman said.

“The offender would not recognise the taxi driver as anything but a taxi driver, and the presence of the driver, his car and his cash takings would be more likely to add complications to a volatile situation.” Paragon Investigations co-director Dan Thompson said the concept was innovative.

“There have always been arguments about response times to alarms – it can be anywhere up to 40 minutes in Auckland because it’s a big city.

“This is good for homeowners who want someone at their house quicker.” Matrix Security chief executive Scott Carter said the idea was “peculiar at first glance”. Most alarms were responded to within 15 minutes anyway.

“Put yourself in the shoes of a homeowner or business person. If they’re serious about security, do they really think having a taxi driver turn up to investigate an alarm activation is a good idea?”

 Mr Staples dismissed Mr Freeman’s concerns about taxi drivers being hurt, saying they were vigorously trained, and most burglars had left the scene within 60 to 90 seconds of an alarm sounding. Whenever the guards left the taxi to scour a property, they would carry an emergency remote control which activated a global positioning system (GPS) device and an open communication channel to the control centre if the button was pushed. “In terms of danger, our guys are in no greater danger as security guards than they were as cabbies,” said Mr Staples. “Our guards are on their way to observe, identify and protect the area if there is a break-in. There is no difference between a security guard working for a company like Armourguard or Matrix and us.”

Mr Staples went into voluntary bankruptcy in 2006 as a shareholder in a security firm. Alert Taxi co-director Rob van Heiningen said security training “would hold drivers in good stead” in dealing with drunk or dangerous passengers.

With GPS technology in the taxi, there would be no problems in the driver finding the correct location. Taxi Federation executive director Tim Reddish did not know of the taxi-security venture, but said he had no concerns if the drivers were trained and certified.

 By Jared Savage

A Nelson cabbie has been denied compensation after being stood down for refusing to wear a uniform that reminded him of a childhood spent under Nazi occupation.

Harald Kleiven took exception to a Nelson Taxi Society policy introduced last year requiring drivers to wear black shirts on duty.

All drivers had until February this year to comply with the dress code. But Mr Kleiven refused, as he considered the shirts an offensive reminder of the fascists who controlled his native Norway during World War II.

“We were always conscious that anyone wearing a black shirt was bad news,” he told the Weekend Heraldyesterday.

Norway was occupied by Germany from April 1940 to May 1945.

His father was active in the resistance movement, and as an infant Mr Kleiven had been used to throw German soldiers and Norwegian collaborators off the scent.

Mr Kleiven said he was often left sitting “in soiled underwear” on top of boxes of ammunition, as the Nazis were never keen to have to deal with a smelly, messy infant.

The family were always “very wary” of the Gestapo and secret service, and Mr Kleiven – who moved to New Zealand in 1951 – later vowed never to wear a black shirt again.

But his continued refusal to wear his taxi shirt resulted in him being relieved of his driving duties, prompting the 70-year-old to go to the Employment Relations Authority claiming unjustified dismissal and loss of wages. He also sought a redundancy payment.

He told the authority he considered the shirts an offensive reminder of the “wickedness perpetrated by agents of the Nazi Reich throughout continental Europe”.

But his employment action proved futile, as the authority ruled he had not been sacked.

Therefore, it said, “there can be no issue of compensation because there is no evidence to support a personal grievance in the usual way”.

The court ruled that Mr Kleiven and his employer should try to reach an agreement “now that the claim for significant compensation is no longer to be considered”.

Mr Kleiven told the Herald yesterday that he felt the authority had let him down.

The former public servant said he had been offered two jobs since being stood down in February, and is now working as a school bus driver.

Nelson was a small place, he said, and his disappearance from the taxi business had led to rumours being circulated about why he had been “sacked”.

Mr Kleiven said has was not sure if he would return to taxi driving, and he was reluctant to continue his court battle for reinstatement.

“I am not going to spend $8000 to $10,000 to recoup $2000.”

Source: NZPA

A Hamilton taxi company has been ordered off the road after its cars were found to be in breach of safety regulations.

Freedom Cabs Ltd, which has a fleet of about 15 vehicles, had its Approved Taxi Status (APO) status revoked yesterday following an investigation by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).

NZTA regional director Harry Wilson said all the Freedom Cabs vehicles inspected in a Hamilton taxi enforcement operation in May failed to meet fitness standards.

The issues identified included bald tyres and steering, suspension, and brake faults.

Mr Wilson said in addition to the safety of the vehicles, NZTA’s investigation found drivers were working outside their rostered hours, failing to meet NZTA regulations and leaving logbooks incomplete.

In August, the company was found guilty of failing to maintain a register of owners and drivers, and the judge noted that 25 per cent of the company’s register was either incomplete or contained incorrect information.

The company was also found guilty of failing to maintain a complaints register.

Mr Wilson said the greatest concern was for the safety of passengers.

“These are serious breaches of regulations intended to protect the public. They were detected during our investigation, but were only part of the reason we decided to take this revocation action,” he said.

“Our advisory team provided the company with extensive support for a period of six months to help them improve their safety standards … but they were unfortunately unable to do this. That left us with no option but to revoke their operating licence.”

- NZPA