Taxi survey report

Perceptions of personal safety and security amongst taxi users

Print version: Taxi survey report (PDF, 1.08 MB, 28 pages)

1.   Executive summary

82% of the sample of 810 felt ‘reasonably safe and secure’ or ‘very safe and secure’ when rating the overall safety and security of using a taxi.

Respondents rated the overall professionalism of the driver highly (39% professional and another 39% thought the driver was very professional).

The ‘mean’ values to the following statements also generally support the findings above. They also attest to some aspects of driver professionalism and the taxi experience.

A sizable proportion (42%) of the sample cited the main reason to use a taxi was before/after alcohol consumption, including ‘going out’ which presumably involves alcohol consumption. Previous studies in 1995 and 2001 used a narrower definition for a similar phenomenon ‘intoxication/or too drunk to drive’ (and different sample sizes) so we can't compare 2008 results with those studies. However, it is reasonable to conclude that there has been a steady increase in using a taxi for this reason since it was first measured in 1995.

The majority of people who had a poor experience in a taxi and decided not to formally complain (n=165) thought it was not worth making a complaint because they ‘could not be bothered’ and/or thought their complaint would be ignored (64%). The majority of Aucklanders (70%), Hamiltonians (64%) and Wellingtonians (70%) cited these as the most important reasons for not complaining.

These findings are considerable and point to either taxi user apathy or a perception that taxi firms would not take a complaint seriously, or that it was possible/probable a satisfactory resolution would not be found.

The majority of reasons cited for the negative experience may be placed under the heading of driver behaviour. We might expect that there are some driver behaviours consumers should be able to take for granted such as the driver ‘knows the route’, ‘drives safely’ and is ‘pleasant’. Yet these are the reasons most commonly cited by dissatisfied taxi users as the cause of a negative experience.

Remedies for the factors cited probably rest with the taxi firm itself. These include ongoing staff/driver training in “learning the patch” and meeting passenger expectations.

Finally, exploring public assumptions and knowledge of their legal rights regarding taxi usage we find the public's knowledge is high. This is another series of factors in taxi usage safety and behaviour we would suggest be measured over time to check for shifts.

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Page created: 11 November 2008