The recession has been blamed for slowing a national taxi chain's southern expansion when a recruitment drive did not get enough people to fill just two or three vacancies.
Corporate Cabs got just one genuine inquiry from a four-week radio advertising campaign to find would-be drivers for what it calls a "potentially very strong" Dunedin market.
South Island regional manager Kevin Sheen was baffled by the lack of interest, particularly given applicants queued for vacancies in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland.
Dunedin might not have bounced back from the recession as well as other centres, and some may think corporate fares were on the wane.
However, the company believed businesses were spending more on cabs, while hotel occupancy rates showed the tourist market was growing, Mr Sheen said.
"There are some good indicators that it is potentially a very strong market, and that the demand for our service is there.
It's just baffling that we're still looking."
It cost about $35,000 to join the company but Mr Sheen was confident operators could generate at least $80,000 turnover a year.
New Zealand Taxi Federation Otago representative Bill Collie yesterday said $80,000 turnover was especially hard to generate as the city grappled with the economic slowdown.
The recession was "deeper than ever" in Dunedin and would-be drivers, like other business people, would wait for improved conditions before buying into a new venture.
"They said we were in a recession this time last year, but this is worse, and I can't see it getting any easier in a hurry no matter how big or small the company is," the Dunedin Taxis owner-driver said.
Corporate Cabs is registered by the New Zealand Taxi Federation as having five cabs in Dunedin.
