Press Release - 29th Nov 2013

Striking Taxi Drivers at Auckland Airport

I have been following the Taxi dispute at Auckland Airport with great interest. I have also been following the reporting of the dispute.

The crux of the problem is that the drivers in question don't feel they are making enough money. They are trying to put the responsibility for this onto the Airport when the responsibility is theirs and theirs alone. The trip from Auckland Airport to the CBD is already one of the more expensive airport to CBD fares worldwide. The striking drivers fares are up to 60c per kilometer higher than other companies like Green Cabs are charging. It should be noted that in terms of taxi fares in the New Zealand Taxi industry, a 60c per kilometer difference is a significant amount and is likely to result in the customer paying nearly $15.00 more for a trip into the CBD and nearly $25.00 more for a trip to Albany (and yes people often take taxis to Albany).

The fact that these drivers are not getting enough fares is simply the market in action and customers are simply voting with their feet. To try and lay the blame at the feet of the airport in this instance is simply ridiculous.

Think about like this, if you had to take a taxi from Auckland Airport to the CBD and one company was nearly $15.00 more for the same journey or you could simply walk across the road and get a cab where the fare would leave that extra $15.00 in your pocket.. which would you choose. The thing that these striking taxi drivers need to understand is that.

By charging significantly higher fares these striking taxi drivers have no one but themselves to blame for the situation they are in. It has nothing to do with the airport. If that alone wasn't enough they even have prime position closest to the terminal. This alone in spite of their high fares, gives them unsuspecting customers taking their cabs every single day. But customers aren't stupid. You might fool them into getting into a cab and charging them a significantly higher fare once but don't expect them to use you again, ever.

The things that customers need to understand is that all of the freeflow taxis (that's currently the first rank at the airport) at Auckland Airport have higher fares than the more well known brands. You only need to look at the fare schedule and as a general rule you need to look at the 'per km rate'. and the 'waiting time'. These are the two rates that will have the biggest impact on a taxi fare in Auckland traffic

Callum Brown
Director
Green Cabs Limited

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