NYE Cabs

Today sees horror predictions for would be taxi users tomorrow night, New Years Eve. Melbourne City Taxi-Free Zone blares The Age. Bullshit, some CBD road restrictions apply, as they do in Sydney every year. Hobart Taxi Drivers to Boycott NYE warns the ABC. Well, maybe some will stop at 10pm after enduring a pretty rough Christmas Eve. Fair enough too.

With around one million revellers converging on Sydney Harbour it's a true endurance test. And if you haven't seen Sydney's spectacular fireworks before, then go. Otherwise wait for another night for a more relaxed time to check out the Harbour. The Bridge Diamond and feature lights will still be in operation, with plenty of cabs to get home.

If need be, bribe a relative, friend or neighbour to pick you up after midnight NYE. Real thrill seekers can use this guide for public transport. Or if taxis are your only option, here's some advice from NSW Taxi Association spokesman Michael Jools,

Have patience, be reasonable, have a sense of humour and be prepared to share.

Happy New Year to all, especially to this guy in Port Macquarie yesterday morning.

UPDATE : Sydney Morning Herald readers, passengers and drivers, go off.

Comments

[killerbee]

I live in a country town of 6,000 people and I operate the local taxi company. We have 3 taxis.
We need 1.5 taxis Sunday to Thursday, 2 on Friday and 3 on Saturday night. The only reason that we have 3 taxis is to provide a service on Saturday night.
On New Years Eve we will receive over 500 phone bookings. That's almost 170 bookings per car. It is impossible to offer a taxi service to this number of people for only one night of the year and for people who only use the taxi service one night of the year. And you can bet that the loudest complainers will be the once a year users.
For me to offer the type of service demanded for New Years Eve I would have to buy another 10 cars and plates just for one night of the year.
Passengers and the media need to undestand how thing work before they rush to print and scream about the poor service on NYE.

[jl]

"Have patience, be reasonable, have a sense of humour and be prepared to share."

... and ladies, wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to wait/walk some of the way home.

[Ian]

:-)) And all the best for a prosperous New Year to you too :-))

[Lee]

Adrian...I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year...stay safe. May all your dreams come true in 2007! :)

[south coast george]

good post killerbee i work both in sydney and in a country town where there are 4 cabs as you said the 4 taxis only work saturday nite 3 friday nite and the rest of the week and days shifts only 2 work the biggest whingers are always the once a year users.i worked the day shift on new years day and had 3 runners between 4am and 6am one of them a $80 runner(i know after 26 years you think i should pick them)is it any wonder that sometimes you just drive by fares with your middle finger up.

[Gold Coast cabbie]

I was coming home with a wet sail on NYE, hand-picked two couples at 3am - 100 metres later, outside Surfers Hard Rock one of the females in the rear throws up.
Million cops on duty but it's all too hard for them.
My cab is now an ex-cab and the vomiter has cost me $200 in lost earnings.
The weird thing is, my regular day driver had started early, saw me in the middle of Surfers Blvd with hazards flashing - and didn't even bother to wind down his window to say g'day.
He's not my day driver anymore. Arsehole.
Now I drive dayshift, after 7am. Still too many pisspots around earlier - let 'em walk home!