Asia Times: Japan's taxis face a bumpy ride ahead



	February 27, 1999	atimes.com

Japan Economy

Japan's taxis face a bumpy ride ahead
By Masuo Kamiyama

''I don't know if it's the lack of sleep or just fatigue that makesme feel so muddled,'' the 28-year old cabby groans to the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Hoseki. ''Sometimes I've seen a mailbox or utility pole, and my eyes play tricks on me, making me think it's a fare waving me down. I speed up, zoom over andthen slam on my brakes right in front of them. With business so badthese days, I've felt like tossing the pole or mailbox onto the back seat anddriving off with it."

A cab driver's life is never an easy one, but the present hardtimes are rapidly making things unbearable. Faced with declining revenues- annual incomes in Tokyo dropped by about 500,000 yen ($4,000) between 1992 and1996 - drivers are finding themselves engaged in an increasingly freneticstruggle to earn their livelihood. Sadly, some don't make it; last year,taxis in the capital were involved in 36 traffic fatalities, up seven from 1997.

The companies themselves aren't making things any better. A veterandriver grumbles, ''They nag us: 'If you don't cruise, you won't find anyfares.' 'Why is your take so small - are you napping on us?' 'With ataxi, you don't make money unless you do the work, you know.' "

Not surprisingly, the longer hours that drivers are forced to workare leading to health problems. In Hiroshima, where average take-home payhas plummeted 16 percent since 1991, many drivers are beset by lumbago andstomach ulcers. ''A lot of people I know are being hospitalized, or evendropping dead,'' says Tomio Uchitani, a member of a support group fordrivers.

Many drivers work without proper meals, subsisting on sweet rollsor seaweed-wrapped rice balls from convenience stores - which they gulpdown while seated behind the wheel.

A driver in his forties says he has put on weight. ''I'm worried it'sgoing to drive up my blood pressure too. This isn't a job I want to bedoing for a long time."

In its March 4 edition Shukan Hoseki explains that in most cases, drivers' wages are based on a percentage of their fares. In Tokyo, the standard figure is 60percent; but in some cases, companies assign fixed quotas which, if notmet, result in their chopping the driver's income. One driver says evenif he works 12 days a month on continuous 19-to-20-hour shifts (from 7 or 8a.m. to 3 or 4 a.m.) it's almost impossible to clear 300,000 yen after deductions.

As if the recession weren't enough, more bad news appears to be on theway. The Ministry of Transport is backing plans for wide-rangingderegulatory of the taxi industry. If the measures pass, from2001, limits are likely to be dropped on the number of cars that fleets canoperate.

Fearing a glut of cars that will lead to cutthroat competition,about 4,000 drivers in over 1,000 taxis marched through Kasumigaseki'scorridor of government buildings on February 8, chanting slogans againstderegulation. A lobbyist for the taxi industry warns that moves towardderegulation while Japan is mired in the current recession will lead to''dumping'' of fares, further declines in drivers' working conditions, andultimately a decline in the quality of drivers themselves.

But at least a few companies regard deregulation as an opportunity.''Deregulation? I'm all for it,'' Hisashi Iwata, president of Tokyo CondorTaxi, tells Shukan Hoseki. ''Let the companies fail if they can't compete orprovide good drivers and good service. That way, only good ones willsurvive, And consumers will benefit."

''Looking at cases abroad, I think there's is a danger to completelyfree market,'' says Hitotsubashi University professor Hirotaka Yamaguchi, amember of the ministry panel that's mulling taxi deregulation. ''Ideally, Ithink the best system would be one like that in the U.K., where most taxisare operated by owner-drivers."

(Masuo Kamiyama is a Tokyo-based writer and translator.)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.