Our favourite cab company has expanded to Auckland and Christchurch and are doing pretty well in both. But it’s not all expansion and increasing profits. Recently the eco-friendly cab company has had to defend itself against statements from the head of the Taxi Federation. Then they had to fend off spurious claims from other taxi companies (Combined in this case) that they were also "green".
The Commerce Commission began investigating Wellington Combined Taxis in March after receiving complaints about claims on its website. The website suggests the company’s LPG taxis reduce carbon dioxide pollution by up to 25 per cent, and its Nissan Maxima engines are 20 per cent more fuel efficient than traditional automatic transmissions.
And then today I heard another mean story. Green Cabs received a call for a big job: 9pm, 40 people, 10 cars. They naturally accepted. But 10 cabs is a lot out Green Cabs’ fleet so it was also a gamble. You know what’s coming don’t you? That’s right, nobody showed. The cars didn’t wait around for long but it was long enough at that time to miss out on a large number of jobs. Green Cabs have an idea who was behind the prank but we’ll let our readers make up their own mind. Something else that is interesting to note: the average cab driver spends approximately $80 a day on petrol, the average Green Cabbie spends approximately $20 a day on petrol.
We all had a completely brilliant time on Thursday night at the TAWAs!
It was great to see so many of y’all along there, along with the awesome nominees and a few celebrity guests (not that Wellington has any actual celebrities, but, you know…)
Thanks to our fabulous sponsors who gave us swag and prizes
And thanks also to Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson for presenting the Wellingtonian of the Year award, which went to Callum Brown of Green Cabs.
After the awards, we relaxed to the lazy sounds of The Lonesome Cowboy, and then danced up a storm to Bunnies on Ponies, who ended their set with a v. swingorilliant cover of Dire Straits ‘Sultans of Swing’.
It was a super evening, and now that our Friday post-TAWAs fug has worn off, we’re looking forward to the 2009 TAWAs.
All that remains now is to celebrate this year’s winners. We encourage you to support these business and places (in fact, all the nominees are awesome), as they’re all part of why Wellington is such an excellent town.
We will be updating with you with the news of the winner in each category tomorrow but we’d just like to say for now that according voters Callum Of Green Cabs is your Wellingtonista Wellingtonian of the year.
Go Callum and Go Green Cabs!
Thank you for being the enviromentally friendly people’s transport of Wellington.
[Update: As Brett helpfully points out in the comments, if you can’t wait for the ‘official’ results to be published, head over to Twitter where the winners were broadcast in real-time].
Plenty of Wellingtonians are getting excited about the arrival of the rapidly-growing quasi-taxi service Uber. They offer the convenience of a smartphone app, the potential for better service and flexibility, a promise to disrupt what is often seen as a monopolistic industry, plus fancy cars and All Blacks. For that, they’ve been rewarded with billions of dollars of […]
Wellington’s "ol’ faithful" taxi-cab company Combined (or Wellington Combined Taxis to give them their full title) have gone through a bit of a transformation in the last 12 months or so.
With the arrival on the scene of new "green" player Green Cabs (about whom we have written — and been witness to some controversy — in the past), I guess they were faced with the choice of adapting, or get added to the bottom of the endangered species list.
Happily (for them, us, consumer choice AND the planet that we share) they chose the former.
Read on after the jump to find out what they have been up to..
So by now, you’ve voted (you have right? Voting closes today!) and picked out what you’re going to wear to the awards (and if you wear a magenta dress too, I might just have to cut you), so have you settled upon your public transport options as to how you’re going to get home afterwards? If you’re going to be drinking, you of course can’t drive. And we’re not recommending you leave before midnight, so that means the buses are out. Unless you’re planning on walking (which we advise you to do in pairs, naturally), you’re probably going to get a taxi. How about you try out a Green Cab? Their all-Prius fleet and commitment to planting trees to offset their carbon, along with their “‘ethics first business second” mantra sits happily with the dirty lefty hippies of the Wellingtonista. Plus, their cabs stand out, so if you take one home in a less than awake state, you’ll know who to call in the morning if you leave something in the cab, and their police-checked drivers should mean you’ll get safely home.
Disclaimer: I’ve never actually riden in a Green Cab. Yet. But I like the idea. And they have a free number to call – 0508 4 47336 (0508 4 GREEN), which is great for those who are creditly challenged!