The Tip and the Taxi.
Page 2
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By Henry Sturmey.
The attention which has been called editorially and in the eorreepondenee .columns of THE Costeixeciet. Moton to the question of extras and tips in connection with taxies, is opportune, -though it is difficult, now that the abuse has reached such a point, to decide just exactly what can be done. It is much easier to go downhill than to go up, and it is much easier to create an abuse than to check it, but that the whole system which obtains to-day is wrong and is not of benefit to anyone concerned, is, I think it must be admitted, quite clear. To take the question of tips to the drivers first: I recently raised this point myself in the pages of your contemporary " The Motor," and my comments brought 'forth letters from taxicab drivers saying they could not make both ends meet on the present scale of working, without tips. But on this question, I confess to feeling very much as did an American from Denver, who I met at Rouen some years ago. That gentleman was most indignant and scathing in his remarks upon the tipping system which is in vogue in Europe. His view was that any man, who was a man, should be above taking these small considerations: such a thing, he said, was unheard of in America, and, he added, after a derogatory reference to " the miserable tuppence," " Sir, if you offered that to a free.born Ammurrican, why—be would throw it in your face! " And I believe that, outside of Boston and New York, and perhaps -one or two other cities which are rapidly getting "Europeanised," he was metaphorically right.
It is a wrong system, and it is a system which, in this particular connection I am sure, has not tended to inerease the popularity of the taxi. Under the old regime of the hansom cabby, the driver, especially when he had a stranger in charge, did not bother much about tips; he did not get a great many—as such—but he looked after that end of the business himself by adding to his charge what he thought might be obtainable under the circumstances of the ease, and, if he happened to encounter a fare who objected to this barefaced swindling, he usually did his best by the force of his language to make up for the weakness of his case, so that timid people— ladies from the country especially— hulked the ordeal of " taking a hansom " and only did so when they were really obliged. I believe I am right in saying that it was only upon rare eceasions that the hansom cabby got a tip and these only for special services. As I have said above, the bullying of the drivers, and the barefaced swindling which was often indulged in, kept people very largely from acquiring the cab habit, in which habit, of course, the public should be encouraged in the interests both of the cab proprietors and of the drivers.
The advent of the taxi was hailed with acclamation, because it provided a means whereby the exact fare payable should be made clear to the " fare," regardless of whether the latter was an ignoranms, or more or less of an expert. in these things. With the introduction of the motor taxicab, however, the " Daily Mail," I think it was, .eaine out with the statement that, in addition to the fare indicated on the face of the instrument, there would, of course, be a tip to the driver, and I believe I am right in saying that this tipping is rapidly growing into as fixed and settled a practice as has become the tipping of the waiter at a restaurant. But the whole thing is morally and fundamentally wrong. If, as a taxi man who replied to my note in " The Motor "said, they cannot make a living without it, then their system of payment should be revised, for it should be a fundamental principle that the men should be paid a living wage, and that passengers should not be expected to make up, by their generosity, for the deficiencies of the cab proprietors. If the cab owners say that they could not make ends meet if they had to pay more to their drivers, then, I hold, the public should be asked to pay more for their cab hire. On the last-named point I think it must be manifest to those who have studied the question that the present taxi tariff in London is too low and that, sooner or later, if taxies are to be permanently successful, the tariff will have to be raised.
The present tariff paid well enough in the early days of the motorcab movement, when the supply of vehicles was far below the needs of the population, and when, as a consequence, the cabs were in such demand that they were hardly ever idle. Three years ago, one mold never get a taxi when wanted, and all the vehicles one saw were running with their flags down. Hence both the total mileage per day and the paying mileage were high. Under those conditions the 8d. rate paid very well, but to-day, when one may see taxies standing on the rank by the hour. or even " crawling " in search of fares, it will easily be understood that a inotorcab driver can now secure only half the amount per day that could be averaged a couple of years back. Hence the importance of these small items to both driver and owner.
With the takings diminished, the driver's portion is also diminished, and if he does much crawling in search of fares and has many empty return journeys, his expenditure for petrol will not be by any means proportionately reduced, so that I can quite understand that the tips come in very handy to-day; I can also understand why it is that the matter of extras has become a burning question between owners and drivers. The former are surely entitled to the extras, because the extras are due to the extra loads carried, loads which very often do considerable damage to the paintwork and the appearance of the vehicle, to say nothing of their effect upon tire wear. Extra loads also have their effect upon petrol consumption, but only to a very small extent ; this would be more than counter-balanced by the proportion of the" extras " received in the ordinary course by the drivers. The present system presents a loophole for dishonesty on the part of the driver and it is difficult to see how to alter it. The registering of the fares according to time and mileage is effected automatically and it is beyond the power of the driver to meddle with it, and, itS this manner the public is protected. With extras it is a different thing, as they must duly be marked up by the driver; the temptation, to a man who has had a short day, to fail to mark these up—if his fare is sufficiently complacent—is a great one. The dishonesty of the proceeding, however, remains, and any system which encourages, nay, induces dishonesty, is fundamentally and morally wrong, so that on both the matters of extras and tips, it is indeed highly desirable that some definite system should be established.
The effect on the public is not good; its confidence is disturbed, and I am sure that anything which does this tends to keep people from acquiring the taxi habit. A great many people in this country honestly and deeply abhor the tipping system, and, so long as they feel that they are more or less obliged to do that which they detest, they will refrain as much as possible from putting themselves in so equivocal a position. So long as there is any reason to lead the public to conclude that it is not being treated fairly in the matter of extras, or that there is any hanky-panky going on between the drivers and their employers, so long will many people hesitate to avail themselves of the advantages of the motoreab. The efforts of all concerned should be devoted to making the path of the public, in this march towards an accepted custom of taxi using, as smooth as passible, and tips and the non-automatic registration of extras are rocks which at present strew the path.