The great Australian tradition of taxi driver banter is under threat

THERE’S a new taxi service in town, and it’s killed off the part of catching a cab that’s so frustrating - yet often entertaining.

Catching a taxi in Sydney has always been a colourful experience.

OPINION

THERE’S something about hopping into a cab and not knowing what kind of driver you’re going to get.

Will they be a talkback radio-listening climate change sceptic, passionate about the need to protect Australia’s borders? Do they have firm views on gay marriage, the Safe Schools program and the scourge of dole bludgers?

Have they mastered the fastest route to the airport in peak-hour traffic, or will they take you the longest, most roundabout way to your destination?

The mysterious charm of this melting pot of opinionated, unpredictable and sometimes offensive characters adds colour to the lives of Australians going about their business.

But the great Australian tradition of driver-passenger banter is under threat, with the latest addition to the point-to-point transport industry promising to make catching a cab far too civilised.

London Rides, in partnership with GoCatch, is shaking up the taxi industry.

You may have spotted them cruising around Sydney over the weekend: black, London-style cabs with drivers sporting a uniform of white shirt and black waistcoat.

Just like their British counterparts, these cabbies — employed by London Rides, a collaboration with Uber rival GoCatch — are meticulously trained in customer service and route knowledge.

And they won’t be imposing their political views, or sharing tantalising anecdotes from their personal lives.

In fact, you won’t have to speak to them at all, once you’ve given them your destination (which can be done through the GoCatch app, anyway).

A glass screen separating driver from customer offers the ultimate sense of privacy and comfort; an intercom allowing the parties to communicate can be muted at the click of a button from the passenger seat.

“Passengers will only talk if they want to talk to us,” said London Rides co-founder Ross Pendergast, who took news.com.au for a spin. “It’s about respecting their privacy.”

The kinds of colourful characters that sometimes show up behind the wheel of a taxi would be unlikely to make it through the company’s selection process.

“We’ve got some pretty strict guidelines on how drivers should behave,” Mr Pendergast said.

“With our recruitment, we have been focusing on customer service ... Unfortunately, a lot of driver applications we have had are from people who aren’t necessary suitable, but there’s an awful lot that are.”

While previous iterations of a barrier between taxi drivers and passengers have been shortlived— such as the safety screens brought in after a spate of assaults in 2008 — Mr Pendergast is confident his version will be embraced by customers, citing research from the trial of an earlier version of the service in Perth.

“They surveyed every passenger and asked, ‘Would you wait for a London taxi even if a regular taxi was available?’” he said. “Most said yes, and that they were willing to wait 10 minutes or more.”

London Rides has just put 90 of its whizz-bang vehicles on inner-Sydney roads, with plans to add 110 more over the next few months, then scale up to 1000 by 2018.

A national rollout is in the works, starting with Melbourne and Brisbane. The company has already had 1600 driver applications, many of them from taxi drivers.

It is categorised as a hire car service, meaning taxi licences are not required, and fares costs about the same as a regular cab, but they can’t be hailed from the street.

Passengers can mute the intercom to enjoy complete silence during their ride.

MY TRIP IN A LONDON CAB

When Mr Pendergast took news.com.au for a whirl on the first day of operations last Thursday, there were no complaints. Spacious enough to seat five people, the shiny new car was comfortable and arrived at its destination without even a hint of controversy.

But I can’t help but feel saddened by the transformation of the taxi experience that is underway.

First Uber came along with its hip, overly polite and friendly drivers with their Spotify playlists, bottled water and mints, the ridesharing giant’s star rating system erasing their idiosyncrasies.

Now the British class system is set to be transposed into the rough-and-tumble of Sydney’s streets, where a cabbie once offered my friend a toke of his joint while puffing away behind the wheel.

What will a trip across town be without a fiery debate with your driver about the plight of asylum seekers, or an informative chat about his plans to exact revenge on a disloyal daughter-in-law?

Not to mention the cautionary tale from a man whose wife had left him shortly after securing her visa, or the kind well wishes of the driver who dropped a friend in Kings Cross with the words: “I hope you find a husband tonight.”

I’m not saying I won’t miss the racist rants or the inappropriate sexual innuendos that sometimes mar the journey.

I just hope our drivers keep a little bit of that quirky flavour that makes riding with them so interesting.

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Originally published as The great Australian tradition of taxi driver banter is under threat