Not all taxis are made equal.

RNZ newsreader Evie Ashton found this out the hard way, after Dave Chapelle's recent show at Auckland's Spark Arena.

"The only taxis in sight, we thought, were legit taxis. They all had 'taxi' [signs] on the tops of them...nobody would give us a lift [to Ponsonby], they were all saying 'no, too short'," she tells The Detail.

An industry body says it’s had to “regulate the regulators” in response to a plague of independent taxi drivers happy to ask for extortionate fares

Freewheeling cabbies lurk outside concert venues and nightlife districts with steep fares and unregulated working hours. Late-night revellers have become easy prey for independent taxi drivers bound by little in the way of meter and fare regulations.

A Queenstown cabbie who now heads his New Zealand industry body is looking at legal action against independent cabbies poaching lifts.

The weekend of the 19th/20th, which saw 40-plus out-of-town drivers attracted by the crowds for the Queenstown Marathon, drew matters to a head, says Queenstown Taxis boss Grant Scannell, who’s now president of the Small Passenger Service Association, formerly the NZ Taxi Federation.

Taxi drivers are angry they are being forced to carry unvaccinated passengers and have asked the government to urgently review the rules.

The New Zealand Taxi Federation wrote to the minister for Covid-19 response, the minister of health and the minister of transport earlier this month, explaining its members did not feel safe under the current settings.

The New Zealand Taxi Federation is watching for any impact MyWay buses may have on its Timaru members but operator ECan says the services are different.

MyWay is New Zealand's first on demand public transport service in which passengers can order via an app , or phone a call centre to arrange to be picked up. The 12-month trial was launched in June and its seven vehicles have the capacity for between 11 and 13 passengers each.

New Zealand’s taxi industry is calling on politicians from all Parties to back a public campaign encouraging Kiwis to support Kiwi businesses over multi-nationals.

Taxi Federation executive director John Hart said, like many small businesses, taxi drivers are really struggling post-Covid.

The NZ Taxi Federation claims "double dipping" drivers working two jobs are a safety hazard and the practice is widespread.

Federation executive director John Hart said industry deregulation last year had made it very easy for anyone to set up as a small passenger vehicle operator using rideshare apps such as Uber or Zoomy.

Two violent attacks on taxi drivers in the last two weeks highlight the need for the Government to rethink health and safety issues in new laws for small passenger service vehicles now before Parliament.

The new legislation removes the need for small passenger vehicles, or taxis, to have duress alarms and in some cases the need for security cameras.

Changing the rules to abandon log books and Certificate of Fitness checks for small passenger service vehicles would represent a serious threat to road safety for all road users.

According to media reports Transport Minister Simon Bridges is being lobbied to remove these requirements in new legislation now before Parliament.