Over 520 taxi drivers disciplined for overcharging customers
The taxi industry in NSW is calling for greater regulation by the state government after a Guardian investigation this week found a newly set-up taxi-fare hotline has been flooded with complaints in its first 12 months. In that time, more than 520 taxi drivers in the state have been disciplined for overcharging customers, or refusing to use their metre.
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TVTranscript
00:00 I want to confirm that the majority of the taxi drivers are out there doing the right
00:05 thing and actually providing a good service.
00:07 However, we do know that there are a number of rogue drivers who think that they can flout
00:12 the law and take the matters with regards to charging passengers into their own hands
00:17 and charge whatever they'd like, and that's not on.
00:21 We want to give the members of the public certainty that whenever they're using the
00:25 taxi, particularly from a rank and hail perspective, that the meter must be used, giving them the
00:29 certainty of what they're going to pay at the end of that trip.
00:32 Yeah, and regardless of the length of that trip as well.
00:35 Well, exactly right.
00:37 You know, we want taxi drivers to love every fare and that's really important.
00:41 And what's pleasing to note also is the deterrence that have been put in place.
00:46 One of my first challenges when I came into the CAA role was to call for the fines to
00:51 be increased from $300 to $1,000.
00:54 And I commend the transport minister for working with us on that and swiftly acting on that
00:58 and making those changes.
01:00 We've also seen the point to point transport commissioner, who's the regulator for the
01:03 point to point industry, also being given additional powers in running covert operations,
01:08 which has been very welcomed as well, as well as the introduction of the complaints hotline,
01:14 where we've seen passengers using that quite well as well.
01:16 So you say there, Nick, that you want every cab driver to love every fare.
01:21 I mean, some fares are $9, some are going to be $99.
01:25 Why do you think for the small portion of drivers that you've mentioned are behaving
01:30 badly, why do you think it's going on?
01:33 I think it's a good question.
01:35 And let's go back here on a bit of the journey and look at what's happened.
01:38 So we've seen the deregulation of the point to point market and in particular had a significant
01:43 impact on the taxi industry.
01:45 Part of that deregulation where we've seen booked fares across taxis and rideshare are
01:50 completely deregulated.
01:52 However, the rank and file fares remain regulated.
01:55 And let me make it very clear, we want rank and file fares to continue to be regulated
01:59 because we want to give passengers certainty and peace of mind when they use a taxi on
02:03 the price that they're going to pay.
02:05 However, over the years, we've also seen some significant pressures around cost of living.
02:10 The operating costs to run a taxi have gone exorbitant over the many years.
02:14 However, we have not seen a review of the New South Wales fares order since 2014.
02:20 So we do have a social responsibility around driver earnings.
02:24 But let's be very clear, that's to also look after the good drivers who are out there doing
02:28 the right thing.
02:30 And we want to make sure we put deterrence in place against those drivers who are actually
02:35 out there, you know, doing the wrong thing by the passengers.
02:37 And there is an additional measure that we are calling on the New South Wales government
02:42 to act on and that is to return to a centralised accreditation system.
02:46 And that's really important because over the last 12 months, we've seen over 500 disciplinary
02:51 actions taken by taxi service providers whenever these complaints have been reported.
02:56 And in about 30 odd cases, we are aware of those drivers actually being off-bordered
03:01 and actually removed from that network.
03:02 However, I cannot honestly tell you that those drivers aren't behind the wheel again, driving
03:08 a taxi or a ride share, because there's not enough deterrent.
03:11 And what we need is a centralised accreditation so all taxi drivers get one single authority.
03:15 And if they lose that authority, that's it.
03:18 They lose their complete ability to drive a taxi again.
03:21 And that's what we want the transport minister to work with us and put in place very quickly.
03:26 So who would run that centralised accreditation process?
03:28 Would that be a government body, are you suggesting?
03:31 Well previously, prior to the point to point reforms, the New South Wales government through
03:35 RMS at the time was running it.
03:37 If the government doesn't want to do it, that's fine.
03:39 We'll do it.
03:40 But the New South Wales Taxi Council as an independent body, as the big body of the New
03:43 South Wales taxi industry is more than happy to pick up this task.
03:46 And we have that support right across industry.
03:48 I held a roundtable a couple of weeks ago where I brought industry leaders together
03:54 to look at seeing what industry can do and what measures we need.
03:57 And that was first and foremost, the biggest call out coming out of the roundtable, as
04:01 well as a centralised feedback system.
04:03 So at least we can hold these drivers accountable and not give them the opportunity, particularly
04:07 the repeat offenders.
04:08 What about just finally, Nick, the taxi companies themselves?
04:11 Is it incumbent upon them to keep their drivers in check?
04:17 They do have a responsibility, sure.
04:19 But it is very, very difficult because as you know, taxi services run 24 hours a day,
04:23 seven days a week.
04:24 And it's actually hard to actually be out there, you know, 24 hours a day monitoring
04:30 this behaviour.
04:31 And that's even evident with the point to point commissioner, the officers.
04:33 You know, we're pleased to see this.
04:34 They've got more officers on the road today than they ever have been.
04:37 However, they can't be at every place at any point in time.
04:40 However, what we do know as we approach this festive period is that we're going to see
04:44 more officers than ever out there targeting this behaviour.
04:47 So the big message to taxi drivers who want to behave in such a way is you want to watch
04:52 out because the next person getting in your taxi could be one of these covert officers
04:56 under this operation.
04:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]