Editorial: Late night tricky taxi challenge

There are not enough taxis in Northland.

The "we're no worse than anywhere" line gets trotted out occasionally. I'm not a fan of it.

It was bandied about a local body politician or two when sewage used to pour into the Whangarei Harbour on a regular basis. "We're no worse than anywhere else".

Luckily, the reaction from locals was "So what?"

The sewage problem was fixed. We still occasionally leak a bit, but nothing like the 23,000 cubic metres that the regional council - caretaker of the environment - graciously gave our district council permission to spill each year. A "we're no worse" scenario has popped up again. It's a lot less messier than raw sewage. Apparently, the 30-minute wait for a taxi at peak times in Whangarei is no worse than Auckland.

It's been difficult getting a taxi at peak times in Whangarei for a long time. But I don't accept that a Whangarei punter should have to wait 30 minutes for a taxi, just like Aucklanders. Whangarei district has about 77,000 people living in it. There are 1.4 million people Auckland.

I do accept that taxi companies are in a bit of a bind. Whangarei could have more taxis on the road but there isn't enough work throughout the week to sustain them. The taxi problem seems to be a partial symptom of our binge drinking culture - except that punters who "go hard and go home" can't get home.

The tighter drink-driving laws are a factor too, along with the one-way door policy in Whangarei.

So what to do then about getting punters home after a night out on Whangarei streets. Perhaps an extra taxi or two could be justified if there was a premium on fares after 1am? The onus is on the taxi companies to come up with a creative solution - otherwise bars might pool their resources and come up with an alternative solution, that ultimately takes business away from the taxi companies.