KEY POINTS:
Nearly 180 taxis have been ordered off the road as part of an undercover bid to clean up the industry.
A Government taskforce was introduced to crack down on rogue operators last year after the Auditor-General slammed "inconsistent and inadequate monitoring" that allowed "unfit" drivers to stay in
the industry.
Members of Land Transport New Zealand's taxi enforcement hit the streets last July.
They checked more than 4500 cabs in 26 stings around the country, 17 in Auckland and the others in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, Napier and Tasman.
In the four months to January 31, they issued more than 500 infringement notices, ordered 94 cabs off the road for repairs and reinspection, and another 23 were taken off the road for serious safety defects.
People had to be confident cabs were a safe way to travel, said John Doesburg, LTNZ national manager of commercial road transport.
In the most serious safety breach, a driver was caught putting good tyres on his car when being inspected for a warrant of fitness, before replacing them with bald ones.
Common problems included worn brake pads, oil leaks and broken windscreens, wipers and headlights.
"Many of these Auckland cabs travel to and from the airport at 100km/h in a city which is known for its downpours," said Doesburg.
The enforcement officers also uncovered numerous cases of expired registrations and certificates of fitness, broken meters, unlicensed drivers and missing logbooks. Dozens of licences were revoked for taxi drivers who ran red lights, failed to obey stop signs and drove the wrong way up a one-way street. Others were prosecuted in court.
A number of cabbies had neither a licence nor an endorsement to carry passengers, said Doesburg.
"We haven't had the chance to make sure they're fit and proper to be a driver. As far as the records show, they don't exist."
Logbooks were audited to ensure drivers were not exceeding their 13-hour shift restrictions, although many had falsified entries.
"Hopefully the public will have more confidence in the industry. A lot of passengers accept a standard they shouldn't but they need to make complaints if they're not satisfied."
In June 2006, LTNZ ordered Economy Cabs - Auckland's second biggest company - off the road. Doesburg said more rogue operators would follow.
"A number of operators have disappeared. Others we have taken out, I should say removed, from the industry by the law. We won't eliminate them overnight but we will get there."
Since the enforcement unit began its work, the New Zealand Taxi Federation has reported that some drivers' revenue has risen by almost a third - possibly because of less competition from poor operators.
Federation head Tim Reddish said the organisation lobbied hard to get the enforcement team, which worked well with tough new LTNZ rules for operators.
"There were a number of unsafe, dodgy operators at the bottom of the market who are now off the road because they've run foul of the law."