The veterans hated the idea of having to pass a test, but by the end most of the students changed their minds on the idea, says the organizer of the city’s taxi driver exam.

“They didn’t want anything to do with it,” says John Williams of the Business Skills College, which administers the tests.

“For the first hour of every session it was all glares.”

The first year of the mandatory tests for taxi driver wrapped up last month. Most of the city’s 1,400 licenced taxi drivers have all passed through the doors of the private college on Upper James Street. Under a Hamilton bylaw governing cab drivers, those who didn’t pass the test — or take it at all — cannot renew their annual licence.

Mr. Williams said by the end of the course, 72 per cent said the course exceeded their expectations while 97 per cent who filled out the voluntary survey said they would recommend the idea to other drivers.

One of those drivers not pleased with the idea of taking a test was Joe Rhodes.

A driver for 29 years, he quit just before the tests became mandatory.
“Why should I have someone who has never driven a cab tell me how to do my job?” he says.

While Mr. Rhodes said he agreed with having new drivers take a test, subjecting veterans to the test was a different story.

“It's ridiculous to make people do it at that point," he tells Mountain News.

He said he also disagrees with the cost, saying it is too high for a job where workers often make low wages.

New drivers must pass a four-day, $350 course which covers city regulations, ethics, helping passengers with special needs, geographic knowledge and and customer service. They also have to pass English comprehension test before taking the driver course.

Veteran drivers have to take the same test in segments over the next three years, costing them $125 a year.

“You’ve got to be really committed now to be in the business,” says Mr. Williams.

Jagtar Singh Chahal, chairman and CEO of Hamilton Cab, says he pushed for several years to get the training course. He says retraining is very important in any industry, and because of the number of foreign-born drivers in the city there needs to be a special focus on customer service because of cultural differences.

Things as simple as eye contact with female customers don't come naturally to all drivers.

“We don’t do that back home,” says Mr. Chahal, who was born in India.

“Sometimes I had complaints the driver was rude,” he says, but those complaints have dropped significantly in the last year.

To monitor the success of the program, says Mr. Williams, the college employs a “mystery shopper” of sorts, seven to 10 times a month. Drives who score perfect on the anonymous rider’s test are given $100.