Taxi complaints: Cowboy cabbies, exorbitant fares and journey refusals – what are your rights?

Ben Humphrey challenged a taxi driver after he was charged twice the price of the typical fare for the distance he had travelled. Photo / Dean Purcell

Stella Lorkin had saved for weeks for a special trip to Auckland for the Listen In festival. After eight hours at the concert at Mt Smart last weekend, her soul sated by the likes of Mark Rebillet and Jpegmafia, she was ready to call it quits and return to the CBD.

The Hawke’s Bay early childhood teacher, 23, was staying centrally and, knowing the hassle of trying to get an Uber at that time along with hundreds of others, she caught a taxi from the pick-up area.

Cabs were plentiful and the drivers were touting: “Do you need a ride? Do you need a ride?”

As she hopped into one of the cars, the driver said something along the lines of, “We’ll go by the meter rate.”

She saw $4.99 on the meter already and assumed the per-kilometre rate would be similar. Even if that was the rate – and $4.99 a kilometre would be expensive – the 11km trip to Britomart might be expected to cost $60-$70, depending on traffic.

“I just needed to get home safely. I noticed as we started driving, the driver had an earpiece in, so it was quite hard to communicate because he was talking to someone … but the price just went up and up and up.

“Like by tens; it just kept going, going, going, going, going ...”

The driver was also doing his best Max Verstappen impression, reaching speeds of 110km/h on the motorway.

By the time they arrived at Britomart, the fare was an eye-watering $126.69. She had no option but to pay, leaving her upset and frustrated.

“I only get paid fortnightly; I cannot be spending that much on a taxi, for a 20-minute ride.”

Ben Humphrey had a similar experience outside Go Media Stadium at Mt Smart.

After the final whistle at the sold-out Warriors-Knights NRL semifinal last month, the Auckland man and a mate jumped into a taxi to Grey Lynn.

“We were alarmed as soon as we got on the motorway; the meter was up around $40 already. We were in free-flowing traffic, with no hold-ups or delays, and then going at 100km/h into town. We watched and the meter kept going and going and going.”

They asked the driver about the charge, but he tried to change the subject. When they pushed him on it, he referred them to “tariff number four” on the windscreen – $3.99 a kilometre.

By the time they arrived in Grey Lynn, the fare was an astronomical $160.

According to Google Maps, the distance between Mt Smart and Grey Lynn is 17km, meaning a $3.99/km tariff should have been about $68.

Humphrey and his friend refused to pay the $160 fare. When the taxi driver threatened to call police, Humphrey said he would do the same. The driver asked for $100 instead. Humphrey countered with $60; they settled on $70.

Humphrey was in no doubt it was a “dodgy meter” and said he was sharing his story “because taxis should be a safe place”.

“If my mum had jumped into this taxi, she would have paid it.”

Ben Humphrey challenged a taxi driver after he tried to charge $160 for a 17km journey. Photo / Dean Purcell

Those two stories don’t come as any surprise to Warren Quirke, executive director of the Small Passenger Service Association (formerly the Taxi Federation). His organisation looks after well-established, well-branded operators such as Corporate Cabs in Auckland and Blue Star in Christchurch.

He gets five or six similar calls a week about small independent operators that are not part of his organisation.

He received an email last month, in which an Australian businessman was charged $196.20 for a trip from his Viaduct hotel to Auckland airport. Another passenger reported being charged $96 for a journey of around 2km.

It’s not just happening in Auckland; Queenstown is particularly bad, with drivers targeting unsuspecting tourists.

Often, rogue operators based in Auckland and Christchurch will drive into towns and regions such as Taranaki or Queenstown when major events are on, sleeping in their cars, says Quirke.

Since the loosening of rules covering taxis in 2017, some parts of the industry have been more akin to the Wild West. Where once a driver was obliged to take a passenger, no matter the length of the journey, now some small, independent cabbies are price-gouging and refusing to take passengers if they don’t agree to the fare.

Under the law, all taxi drivers must have an ID card and a camera – although the ID card is often hidden or missing and the camera non-existent. Since 2017, drivers don’t need to display any company signage, apart from a generic rooftop light.

Waka Kotahi (the NZ Transport Agency) tells the Herald it is “aware that some independent taxi operators are refusing short fares or charging potentially excessive fares for rides – in particular these operators target major events where demand will be higher, and supply of transport options may be at a premium”.

It says it will act “when evidence of non-compliance is available, and our regulatory staff can also attend events to monitor operators and discourage non-compliance”.

Yet it appears the cabbies are getting away with it.

The agency’s statistics show it receives about 25 complaints a year about poor service or overcharging.

The number of cases is likely to be far higher – partly because, as in cases like Stella and Ben, consumers don’t take it any further and partly because of a lack of identification of a driver/company to proceed with a complaint (the bank account receipts of Stella and Ben refer to names of businesses that do not exist).

“They’re just untraceable,” says Quirke. “You just cannot find these operators.”

Taxis need a roof light but no longer need to display company names.

Waka Kotahi’s advice is for consumers to contact the taxi firm directly in the first place. When people go to the agency with complaints of overcharging, most are referred to the Disputes Tribunal.

In other words, complaints are time-consuming and cumbersome.

The agency investigated five cases of driver dishonesty, poor service or overcharging in the financial year 2022-23. Two drivers received a warning; two were entered into the agency’s system for a “compliance review”, a spokesman said.

Another issue is trying to negotiate a fare in the first place.

Under “normal circumstances”, says Waka Kotahi, “taxi drivers may only refuse to carry passengers if, on reasonable grounds, they consider their personal safety would be threatened or endangered”.

But this runs counter to another rule – drivers and passengers have to agree on the scale or the basis of the fare before the trip.

So, unless you agree to, say, being fleeced for $50 for a 4km trip, the driver can refuse the journey.

Either that or – as in Stella’s and Ben’s cases – agree to “go by the meter” and end up being a victim of a possibly tampered device.

So what are passengers’ rights?

A big issue seems to be the number of agencies overseeing the industry, and the different paths that aggrieved customers need to take, depending on the issue.

Waka Kotahi says passengers should call the police immediately in cases of violence, assault, sexual offences or suspected drink-driving or drug-driving.

However, for less serious complaints, the process seems confusing.

For example, if a driver refused a hire, didn’t issue a receipt, the fare wasn’t charged as agreed, the route wasn’t advantageous to the passenger, or the driver’s behaviour was poor, Waka Kotahi says passengers should approach the taxi company in the first instance.

Putting aside the difficulty of actually trying to find the company, only after that – if you’re unhappy with the response – should you then speak to the transport agency.

If the fare charges are too high, passengers are told to complain to the Commerce Commission’s consumer protection website.

If the driver doesn’t have a P endorsement, or an ID card or the car doesn’t have a certificate of fitness, then contact Waka Kotahi directly.

Waka Kotahi has received a total of 1251 complaints about taxi and rideshare drivers in the past seven years, for a range of complaints. As we report today, the number of sexual complaints has jumped significantly since 2017.

Meanwhile, in the five years between May 2018 and May 2023, the Commerce Commission received 235 complaints.

Of the 235 complaints, the commission determined “no further action” in 186 cases. In a further 40 cases, information was passed to the trader. In four cases, all in 2020, the commission took litigation action, and another five cases were at the assessment stage as of July 2023.

Most complaints to the commission were about rideshare companies such as Uber and Ola, followed by a smaller percentage of well-known taxi firms.

Quirke says that’s another indication that passengers simply can’t identify the small, independent operators to proceed with a complaint. Some, he says, won’t even be registered. The number of complaints about independent operators is “woefully under-reported”.

A Commerce Commission spokeswoman said the commission was “not currently investigating any businesses within the taxi industry under the laws that we enforce, and therefore cannot comment on current areas of concern, the state of the taxi industry and the specific matters in your query”.

However, she said all complaints to the commission were valuable.

“We assess everything that we receive. However, we do have to make some hard choices around what we prioritise, and how we direct resources for the greatest benefit for New Zealand consumers. We are unable to investigate everything, in the past year the total number of inquiries to the commission is in excess of 14,000.”

She said the commission might decide not to take further action with a complaint for a number of reasons – for example, it might be better suited to a private action or it was subject to the jurisdiction of another agency.

Will this ever change?

Warren Quirke, the executive director of the Small Passenger Service Association.

Quirke admits it’s strange for an industry to be calling for more regulation – but that’s what he and his association want to create an even playing field.

A good first step, in his mind, is more oversight of drivers, with Waka Kotahi or an industry body being given the mandate and resourcing.

The Ministry of Transport confirmed it was looking at a review of the legislation related to the Transport Services Licence system, which applies to taxis but also all use of a motor vehicle for commercial purposes.

“The scope and timing of this review has yet to be confirmed,” a spokesman said.

“We’ll work with Waka Kotahi to determine where this will fit in our wider work programme for the coming year. We hope to have a clearer understanding of this by the end of 2023.”

In the meantime, Quirke has advice for passengers.

After a major event, look for a reputable taxi firm, with its signage clearly marked. Members of his association will have its logo on the left rear quarter-light window.

If that’s not an option, negotiate a fair price and understand the basis of the fare beforehand. If you do get to the end of a trip, and you feel you’ve been overcharged, try to get as many details of the driver as possible, including, for example, the ID card, any name of the company and the car’s registration plate.

• Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including managing editor, NZ Herald editor and Herald on Sunday editor.