Taxis

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs

Here is another experience from years ago. This is the late-1970s, I can’t remember the exact year. It was two or three years after the takeaway bar. I was still employed with the NZ Post Office and looking to supplement my income. At the time my father in-law had his own taxicab business. I was aware of his business, but it was not part of my plan to be a part of it.

Getting Qualified

I still did the occasional day at the mailroom, I enjoyed it, and time went fast. The extra overtime didn’t make any difference to our situation. My father in-law persuaded me to put the time in to get qualified to drive a taxi, his taxi. These are the pre-app days, no Uber, no Ola, texting was rudimentary, like a doctor’s pager. Customers phoned into the taxi companies despatch office; the job despatched to the fleet by radiotelephone. There was no Google Maps, you had to study routes using map books. Passing both a practical driving test and a written exam were necessary before a licence was issued qualifying you to transport the public as a taxi service.

My First Day

It was a Saturday, my first day as a taxi driver. By law taxi drivers could not work more than a fixed number of hours in a shift, including mandatory breaks. The shift was busy, before I knew it, I had worked the entire shift. My cut was 40% of the day’s takings, the balance went to the owner who was responsible for the expenses of the shift. By the end of the first day as a taxi driver I knew this work life was for me. In those days, the city centre was the social and business hub for the entire Auckland metropolitan area. On weekends, Queen Street was buzzing with pedestrian traffic throughout the day, especially at night. When you pulled onto an inner-city taxi rank, you expected to move off it within a brief period. I enjoyed watching people walk by, I enjoyed taking people all over the city, I enjoyed the sound of the meter ticking over, I enjoyed driving large Holdens and Falcons. These are the reasons, taxis got in my blood on that very first day. The same reasons that kept me going in the industry for many years.

My Own Taxi

I bought my own taxicab in the mid-1980s. It was a time when the government restricted the number of licences in each suburban area. This restriction on licences meant there was value in every licence. In Auckland, the value of a licence for one company was $16,000, in another company the value of the licence was $20,000 plus. This also meant your business was very good for taxi drivers. The flipside of that, during peak times, the customer had to wait for quite some time before their taxi arrived. On the taxi ranks there were also queues, again in peak times, of people waiting to get cab. I forget how I raised that money to pay for the licence, I owned a property at that time, I probably mortgaged it. Having a licence to operate meant the income for our family was much better than it used to be.

The Effect of Deregulation

Taxis were heavily regulated up to 1989 when the government of the day opened the industry to any taxi company and driver who met legislative requirements. It was the beginning of the free market economy for the taxi industry. Prior to deregulation, there were rumours circulating, the government was planning to deregulate our industry. Looking ahead I thought rather than wait for the date to arrive, I would put my licence up for sale. I recouped my original investment and waited for deregulation to happen. When it did happen, I joined a company established under the new commercial environment. This company sold a licence for $1500.

With such a low price I was able to re-enter the industry with a fully set up taxicab. My time with the company was quite successful and I re sold the licence for more than what I paid for it. Later I joined another company, this new company was also set up under the deregulated environment. The company was able to secure contracts to transport people from the city centre to the airport and return. Another successful venture for myself and the family, I was able to on sell that licence for more than I paid for it.

In a driving sense that was the end of my taxi driving days. It was not however the end of my involvement with the taxi industry. But that's another story for another day.