Taxi drivers face English and local area tests

Taxi drivers will be taken off the road if they cannot understand their passengers or know where passengers want to go, under new rules.

The changes will mean taxi drivers have to sit more stringent area knowledge and English language tests, enforceable under the new Land Transport Amendment Act.

Taxi drivers who do not make the grade will be taken off the road.

The legislation, passed last year by Parliament, followed complaints about taxi drivers' abilities.

High-profile incidents of taxi troubles have included that of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who refused to pay Somali driver Muhiyadin one night in 2003.

Mr Peters insisted he had to walk the last section of his trip home in the Wellington suburb of Ngaio after a late night out because the driver didn't know the way.

"If you ask for something to be done and it's not done, why pay for it?" Mr Peters said at the time. "He couldn't get me home so I had to walk home."

Muhiyadin, who had been through school and university in New Zealand, said there was nothing wrong with his English but a lot wrong with Mr Peters' attitude.

New Zealand Taxi Federation executive director Tim Reddish today said the organisation had lobbied for the proposed changes, which it believed had been necessary to make the industry "more professional" since being de-regulated in 1989.

The new Land Transport Amendment Act provides for the development of an "Operator Licensing Rule" on English language and area knowledge, which is expected to be released for public consultation in February.

Mr Reddish expected the rule could come into force later this year, possibly by September.

He said the Taxi Federation believed some providers now testing area knowledge and English skills were "a bit dodgy".

"In other words if you could turn up at the test provider's address, you were deemed to have passed it for a certain amount of money," Mr Reddish said.

Taxi companies will be responsible for making sure their drivers meet the necessary standards and will be audited by Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) for compliance.

As well as improved enforcement of area knowledge requirements, drivers in major metropolitan areas would need to know their way round the city as a whole. This would apply in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Currently, taxi companies are responsible for ensuring their drivers have both English and area knowledge, but Mr Reddish said the companies' compliance was not monitored effectively.

LTNZ spokesman Andy Knackstedt said he believed it was more likely the rules would come into force in 2007 rather than later this year.

LTNZ receives about 100 complaints about taxi trips in Auckland last year -- from a total of about 10 million trips taken.

"But I think a lot of people don't necessarily go as far as to complain," Mr Knackstedt said.

Mr Knackstedt said it was unlikely that all current drivers would be tested retrospectively, but if there was reason to doubt their competence -- such as a complaint being received -- they could have to re-sit their tests.

- NZPA