South Australian taxi company launches in Darwin

A FRESH fleet of taxis hit the road for the first time on the weekend with a new cab company launching in Darwin

roy Callaghan and Sandip Patel are now driving for new company Des's Cabs. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

A NEW fleet of taxis hit the road for the first time on the weekend with South Australian taxi company Des’s Cabs launching in Darwin.

Des’s Cabs Darwin owner Steve Hall said he wanted to bring a clean taxi service to the Northern Territory.

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“I’ve been in the taxi industry 30 years, I’ve got to a stage where the condition of the taxis is getting pretty ordinary on the road,” he said.

“I run pretty clean cars and you pull up on the rank and the cab sitting next to you has got mudguards, the drivers wearing thongs, I don’t want to be with them anymore.”

Cabbies Troy Callaghan and Sandip Patel are now driving for new company Des's Cabs. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

Starting with just five cabs, he hopes to build it to a fleet of 25.

“We’d like to run a small aggressive fleet, maybe 20-25 cabs, as long as they cover the work,” he said.

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“The radio room will be in Whyalla but we’ll still have an office in Darwin so if you need to talk to the office or manage complaints and lost property, we’ll manage it from Darwin – if anyone gets a bad one we want to know about it.

“I just want to offer the people of Darwin a better cab service at the end of the day.”