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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Tuesday, 24 August 2004) . . Page.. 4093 ..

concerned that an increase in the number of taxi plates may create further disadvantage for drivers in an industry that is already relatively poorly paid.

In both Victoria and the Northern Territory there have been significant problems attracting good quality drivers. Up to 15 per cent of Melbourne’s taxis are without a driver at any given time, exacerbating rather than addressing the issue of access to services. We know that in Canberra, similarly, only 84 per cent of the existing fleet is currently on the road, due to the shortage of drivers. This situation could be expected to worsen if there were more competition for Canberra’s shrinking taxi market.

The amendment bill leaves the important questions of a more integrated, sustainable transport system for the ACT and access and equity for all consumers unresolved. In particular, it does little to address the challenges currently faced by passengers travelling with infants, who cannot be guaranteed access to child-friendly safety capsules and seats, or by users of wheelchair accessible taxis, or WATs.

The WATs issue is not new either. There are longstanding concerns about the level of service provided to mobility impaired taxi users. The government has done little to address the issue, and there needs to be urgent action on this. The government’s recently released taxi industry satisfaction survey demonstrated that only 40 per cent of WAT users were happy with response times. This compares with 87 per cent of business customers who were generally pleased with the level of service provided.

The basic issue, as I understand it, is that some WAT drivers are choosing to accept better paying fares to the detriment of mobility impaired passengers, who must wait for a window amongst better paying work. Canberra Cabs statistics demonstrate that WATs have an acceptance rate of only 60 per cent of jobs requested by mobility impaired people. In the worst case, a WAT driver accepted only 12 per cent of the work to which he was required to give priority. Some drivers are doing eight disability jobs per day, whereas some are doing only one or two. Only 52 per cent of WATS are currently meeting their accreditation criteria, and I am very interested to know why these criteria are not being enforced and what steps the government is taking to address this.

Given that the WAT drivers are choosing not to accept wheelchair work because they cannot make enough money from that work alone, it should be possible to develop a new community focused business around the WATS, whereby the WATS could accept only community work but the range of community work would be expanded to include mobility impaired passengers, school transport runs for children with special needs and aged persons transport.

Currently, there are approximately 550 children accessing special needs transport provided by Canberra Cabs, with 40 students accessing the service on a daily basis. In Sweden, community transport for older people is provided in 12-seater vehicles that provide a bridge between standard public transport options, private cars and taxis. A bonus is the opportunity to interact and socialise.

Ideally, this new community based service would involve Canberra Cabs and ACTION coming together to deliver an integrated service for the benefit of the Canberra community. I understand that there is already a significant amount of goodwill between ACTION and Canberra Cabs and a shared desire to have a better functioning public

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