Story: Taxis and cabs

Drivers from the small Wellington taxi company Le Kiwi Cabs – Karene Sega, Alamalo Sage and Paul Evans (back), James Solomon and Filipo Tuiatua (front) – celebrate graduating from a passenger service training course in 1994. The taxi industry reforms of 1989 led to a huge increase in the number of taxis in New Zealand – from 2,700 that year to 7,000 a decade later. To get a licence, drivers had to join a taxi organisation, get a police clearance, and pass area knowledge texts. Le Kiwi Cabs was set up in early 1994. ‘Le’ is Samoan, meaning ‘the’.