Southern Taxis partner Ron Grant said "runners" were a problem in Dunedin and described them as one of the "down sides" of the job.
The amount of runners varied week-to-week and from driver to driver, he said.
While he did not believe one particular socioeconomic group committed the offence, he said it was "mainly the younger ones".
Most people treated it as a joke and ran "for a laugh".
However, for drivers, it was anything but a laughing matter.
"They are not happy about it. It's their income and livelihood," he said.
Mr Grant had heard of taxi drivers in Christchurch asking for pre-payment before driving to certain areas of the city.
Drivers had the right to do it by law and if the passenger still decided to run, drivers had received at least some payment for the service, he said.
He did not expect Dunedin drivers to follow suit "at this point in time", but it could be considered if the situation worsened.
An estimate of how much income was lost because of runners was not available as most drivers did not report incidents and the length of trips varied greatly, he said.
Sergeant Ed Baker, of Dunedin, believed passengers running from taxis without paying happened regularly.
"It's certainly an issue in town."
A recent reported incident occurred early on Sunday, when a male in his late 20s was given a taxi ride from Northeast Valley to Corstorphine, where he allegedly ran away without paying.
Details about the incident were vague and there was not much hope of finding the offender, Sgt Baker said.
New Zealand Taxi Federation spokesman Bill Colley believed the installation of eftpos machines in taxis resulted in people running less frequently.
"It's not as prevalent as it was. Those who do it now never had any intention of paying."
