A Honolulu City Council committee Monday deferred a bill that would tighten regulations on Oahu taxicab drivers after receiving assurances from city officials that they are already making improvements to the system.

Bill 70 would require cabdrivers to be tested on traffic laws, knowledge of Oahu streets and English proficiency each time they renew their two-year taxi certificates. Currently, cabbies are tested on Oahu streets and English proficiency only when they first apply for permits, and with traffic law tests every fourth renewal.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who introduced the bill, asked for the deferral to allow the Department of Customer Services to make improvements that will guard against abuses by cabbies.

Sheri Kajiwara, the city’s customer services director, did not support or oppose the bill during testimony before the Transportation Committee. But she made it clear that the key to ensuring safe and clean taxi environments for passengers is more inspections rather than more testing.

The number of field enforcement officers that deal with cabdriver inspections has grown to 13 from eight, Kajiwara said, allowing the staff to increase the number of spot inspections it makes at hotbeds of taxicab activity. Types of violations issued to drivers ranged from trip meter violations to improper rate postings and driver certificate issues, she said.

“We are using each of these violations to look for areas that we need improvement on,” Kajiwara said.

For instance, officers found cabdrivers with duplicate certificates. It costs cabbies only $10 to get a replacement certificate, leaving lots of room for impropriety, she said. One way to better track such abuses might be to issue drivers one certificate number that they use throughout their time as cabbies rather than being issued new numbers each time they renew, she said.

Making all cabdrivers take more tests more often would require more staffing to administer such tests, Kajiwara said. “And I’m not sure that is the best way to catch the minority that may have gotten through the system,” she said.

“We are working very diligently to improve operations,” Kajiwara said, noting that her agency is starting to implement some of the recommendations made by a working group convened by the Council last year. It is also looking at recommendations made by the Honolulu Police Department and other parties familiar with taxicab operations.

“What we’re going to do is to try to find more ways to hinder drivers’ ability to abuse the system,” Kajiwara said.

A series of Honolulu Star-Advertiser stories last month highlighted problems tied to the oversight of taxis on Oahu.

Kajiwara and other city officials, however, said they already were taking steps to address problems with enforcement before the news stories.

Passengers could call in complaints to the inspectors, who also are responsible for investigating abandoned and derelict vehicles, and who answered the phone by identifying themselves as abandoned-vehicle section staff. The inspectors were instructed to now identify themselves as being with “motor vehicle control,” Kajiwara said. Callers can now also have the option of leaving a recorded message after business hours, she said.

Other changes being contemplated by the city:

>> Barring drivers from working for more than one company.

>> Replacing the stock of paper used for certificates to make it more difficult to produce counterfeits.

>> Creating an electronic complaint system that will allow passengers to access the complaint records of cabdrivers.

>> Expanding background checks  to include national and possibly international criminal histories.

The city recently issued a permit to driver Enio Tablas, who is awaiting trial on charges of sexual assault against female passengers in two separate incidents last year.

Tablas, since 2006, has been convicted of theft, driving with a suspended or revoked license due to a DUI, failure to take a chemical test and other violations in California and Hawaii.