Taxi boss says he’d choose to ride with Uber
Then, early last year, Thinn graduated that programme, Thomas says.
‘‘He still seemed normal. Then someone – I don’t know who it was, some idiot – got him back on the methamphetamine.
‘‘Then next thing I know he was off to the States … then he’s [facing] 25-to-life or something. He doesn’t realise what’s going to happen to him. I just want to help him.’’
Thinn strenuously denies any mental health history or drug murder charge.
It may be the defence that saves Thinn from a life sentence, but he won’t hear of it.
He freezes briefly when asked about participating in the Odyssey programme, before answering: ‘‘There’s nothing there. It doesn’t ring a bell. That’s bulls.... That’s unbelievable.’’
He thinks he’s getting out, and soon.
He’s produced a rap album, he says suddenly. It’s finished, recorded.
‘‘I’ve made an album since I’ve been in here,’’ he says proudly.
But pressed about the lack of recording equipment in the prison, he pauses, then backtracks. He appears genuinely bewildered for a moment, as if he’s not quite sure what he has been saying. This happens a few times.
‘‘I need to get to the fortune,’’ he blurts out.
What does that mean, ‘‘get to the fortune’’? He stares. ‘‘I need to get to the fortune,’’ he tails off. ‘‘That’s just … yeah.’’
On May 10 – almost 11 months after his arrest – Thinn will return to the San Diego Superior Court, where his mental competency will again be debated by his lawyer and the state prosecutor. If deemed fit to stand trial for the robbery, the murder case will likely follow. If found guilty of the murder, he could face 25 years behind bars.
‘‘May 10, that’s like three months away,’’ he says. ‘‘But that’s OK, I should be done by then.’’ UBER may be hurting his taxi business, but Blue Bubble chief executive Bob Wilkinson says he’d still catch one if he needed a ride in Auckland.
Wilkinson, the boss of the country’s largest largest taxi group of about 3000 drivers across 16 cities, doesn’t hold back when it comes to talking about the industry.
As well as his comments about Uber, he also claimed taxi companies all hate each other and that drivers need to work 14 hours a day, six days a week, just to make a living.
Blue Bubble was a marketing company owned mostly by Auckland Co-op and Wellington Combined, which together with Blue Star in Christchurch got together and decided to operate under one top light.
There were 3000 drivers across 2000 taxis, and Wilkinson said in Wellington the taxi-Uber split was about 70 to 30, while in Auckland it was closer to even.
A big part of Uber’s popularity has been how much cheaper it was than taxis: Wilkinson thought they were about 30 to 35 per cent cheaper.
This was when he said the taxi companies hated each other, because it was an ‘‘ultra competitive’’ environment where prices were mostly the same and any price advantage would readily be taken up.
He said taxi fares were where they were because that was what was needed for drivers to make a living – earned over six days a week, 14 hours a day.
‘‘Yeah it’s long hours, I mean it’s sitting around a lot. That’s what it is, that’s the job.’’
Wilkinson said how much Uber had hurt its business varied from town to town.
In Wellington, for instance, some people had turned to taking Uber rather than getting a bus, so there was no real difference, but Christchurch taxis thought their business was down nearly 30 per cent.
Wilkinson said he had nothing bad to say about Uber drivers or vehicles, and conceded he had used the app himself, and probably would use it in Auckland.
‘‘If I was coming into the city for a couple of hours and had the choice of driving in, finding somewhere to park, then going to a meeting, or grabbing an Uber, I’d grab an Uber. Would I grab a taxi? Oh maybe, maybe not.’’
If I ... had the choice of driving in, finding somewhere to park, then going to a meeting, or grabbing an Uber, I’d grab an Uber. Would I grab a taxi? Oh maybe, maybe not.’ BLUE BUBBLE CHIEF EXECUTIVE BOB WILKINSON, ABOVE
Wilkinson said the ‘‘nuclear option’’ for Blue Bubble was to move offshore. ‘‘We do not want to go there. That is an absolute last gasp, we’ve got nowhere else to go.’’
A report on the Land Transport Amendment Bill, which was before the select committee and would shape the outdated legislation in this area, was due next week.
An Uber spokesperson said it supported the Government’s work to fast-track regulatory change which would reduce compliance costs and simplify requirements to make ride sharing accessible for people. They said nearly 300,000 New Zealanders used Uber. All transactions with Uber were electronically recorded, transparent and traceable.
‘‘We look forward to working with the Ministry of Transport and NZTA to put partners through an accessible revamped endorsement as soon as possible. In the meantime, we’ll continue providing our safe, fast and affordable screening process that delivers the safety outcomes the travelling public want and expect.’’