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Story: Taxis and cabs

Cab customers choose

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Cab customers choose

This 2002 cartoon by Malcolm Evans comments on the way the taxi industry changed after the Transport Services Licensing Act 1989. New Zealanders had by custom and driver insistence taken ‘the first cab on the rank’. In the new deregulated, competitive taxi market, they were free to choose. This cartoon comments on this question of choice, and on the fact that many taxi drivers were new immigrants whose professional qualifications were not recognised in New Zealand. The front taxi is marked ‘NZ Born Kiwi Driver’ while the others have long lists of qualifications.

Cartoon courtesy of Malcolm Evans

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: DX-002-099

by Malcolm Evans

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jane Tolerton, Taxis and cabs – Taxi industry deregulation, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/20810/cab-customers-choose (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Jane Tolerton, published 4 February 2010.