Lack of cabs beyond joke - bar owners

Northland does not have enough taxis available.

Central Whangarei bar owners are up in arms over what they say is an acute shortage of taxis in the early hours of the weekend and claim the one-way door policy has made the situation worse.

During peak times, people can wait for up to half an hour for a taxi to turn up - a situation Kiwi Cabs says is no different to any city in the country.

A1 Cabs and Kiwi Cabs pulled out from servicing the CBD in the early hours of weekends in early 2009 because they said the trips were no longer viable.

A Nite Flite service used to offer transport out of Vine St between midnight and about 4.30am on Saturdays and Sundays for a flat $5 fee.

The boundaries were limited to Blue Goose, Kamo Brickworks, Beach Rd, Onerahi and Cemetery Rd, Maunu.

Des Wallace, director of Bacio on Bank St, said the lack of taxis was getting to an unacceptable stage.

"If taxis are prepared to bring people into town, they should be prepared to take them home. This can put a real dampener on people's lives," Mr Wallace said.

A lack of taxis when licensed premises closed had always been a problem and it seemed the problem had become acute since the introduction of a one-way door policy last month, he said.

Under the policy, patrons who leave a licensed premises in the CBD after 1am cannot re-enter that premises or enter any other licensed premises.

Mr Wallace said longer waits for taxis meant a greater risk to patrons' safety.

Trevor James, owner of Shotgun Betty's on Vine St, said the service was bad at all times. He had called a taxi at 4pm and waited half an hour before ringing back.

"Maybe the taxis feel safe picking up one or two people walking home than picking up a carload of patrons coming out of bars."

He said it should be easier for cabbies to pick up people trickling in small numbers out of licensed premises after 1am since the one-way door policy had come in.

Kiwi Cabs director Paul Cafferkey said though his company continued to grow its fleet there would never be enough taxis at peak times. The situation in Whangarei was no different to a bigger centre such as Auckland where people could wait half an hour or even an hour.

"It's a question of keeping the taxi drivers employed from Monday to Sunday. We can have 50 cars in Whangarei running at peak times but come Monday morning there's no work for these guys," he said.

"It's always a balanced argument. We want to make sure there's sufficient work to make a good living."

Mr Cafferkey said Kiwi Cabs had 15 taxis in Whangarei but there was potential to increase that to 25.

Paul Dell, Whangarei District Council group manager district living, said: "We have voiced our concerns to the taxi companies, as have the licensees."