Page 1102 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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to consumer needs. Forty new licences have been released due to the level of demand. The new licences are issued on six-year leases from the government through a ballot, marking a clear break with the previous practice of auctioning perpetual licences. Most perpetual taxi licences are owned by passive investors and leased to taxi operators for a fee of between $20,000 and $25,000 a year. The government’s releasing leased taxi licences directly to taxi operators gives operators more control over their businesses.
The government released 10 leased taxi licences at a ballot in April 2006, a further ballot of 10 licences was held in August 2006, and this month a further 20 licences were balloted. The 170 applications for the most recent ballot indicate strong demand to take up taxi licences. The annual fee for the leased licences, at $20,000, is at the lower end of the range of lease fees charged in the market by private taxi licence holders.
In addressing ongoing service quality issues, the Road Transport Authority has approved new minimum service standards for taxi networks, which became effective in February 2006. The minimum service standards establish enforceable standards for, amongst other things, taxi waiting times, telephone response times and complaints handling. A failure to meet the standards could result in disciplinary action being taken, including imposing financial penalties.
A second taxi network, Cabxpress, was accredited earlier this year by the Road Transport Authority. The introduction of a new network will bring competition to the ACT taxi industry and should result in an improvement in the efficiency of taxi services for customers.
The wheelchair-accessible taxi reference group reported in September 2005, and all 39 of the reference group’s recommendations were accepted by the government. Considerable progress has been made in implementing those recommendations.
The department organised two WAT focus groups in March 2007. A total of 27 participants attended the groups. The purpose of the WAT focus groups was to assess whether there have been any improvements to the WAT services since the WAT reference group recommendations were accepted 18 months ago and to identify any new issues that have arisen. The Road Transport Authority has approved new minimum service standards for taxi networks, including a requirement for the micro management of hirings for wheelchair users.
In the 2006-07 budget, the government funded an expansion of the lift fee program, under which WAT drivers are paid $10 for lifting a wheelchair. Lift fee payments are now made for wheelchair hirings which are recorded with the network and for which a taxi subsidy scheme voucher is not used. TSS vouchers already attract a lift fee.
With the new network coming online and with the additional plates out there, we are hoping that the industry itself will respond and provide a much needed improved service to people in the ACT.
MR SPEAKER: Is there a supplementary question?
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