Copy and Paste Complaint Slips

Who Ya Gonna Call…?

The driver of this cab hears lots of complaints about the Taxi system in Perth and tries to relay them on to the powers that be.   The result is they think he is just a whiney little whinger. 

Best you make that call yourself to any (or better all in order) of the below:-

Have details of driver number or cab number and time of incident included.

If cab was solicited through dispatch system provide time of call and phone number and address called from.

The Minister of Transport - Minister.Buswell@dpc.wa.gov.au

The Department of Transport compliance Unit – compliance@transport.wa.gov.au

Swan Taxis Complaints Line – 94222213

Look luck with your future cab catching…   Hal_Yeah    J

Who Ya Gonna Call…?

The driver of this cab hears lots of complaints about the Taxi system in Perth and tries to relay them on to the powers that be.   The result is they think he is just a whiney little whinger. 

Best you make that call yourself to any (or better all in order) of the below:-

Have details of driver number or cab number and time of incident included.

If cab was solicited through dispatch system provide time of call and phone number and address called from.

The Minister of Transport - Minister.Buswell@dpc.wa.gov.au

The Department of Transport compliance Unit – compliance@transport.wa.gov.au

Swan Taxis Complaints Line – 94222213

Look luck with your future cab catching…   Hal_Yeah    J

Who Ya Gonna Call…?

The driver of this cab hears lots of complaints about the Taxi system in Perth and tries to relay them on to the powers that be.   The result is they think he is just a whiney little whinger. 

Best you make that call yourself to any (or better all in order) of the below:-

Have details of driver number or cab number and time of incident included.

If cab was solicited through dispatch system provide time of call and phone number and address called from.

The Minister of Transport - Minister.Buswell@dpc.wa.gov.au

The Department of Transport compliance Unit – compliance@transport.wa.gov.au

Swan Taxis Complaints Line – 94222213

Look luck with your future cab catching…   Hal_Yeah    J

Answering The West Australian Editorial

The following is a letter to the West’s Editor following his editorial of the 7^th Feb, 2011 -

Dear Editor

Thank you for your commentary on the desperate condition of the taxi industry.   As a long term driver I am constantly told of poor taxi driver behaviour.   I distribute a handout to advise on how to catch taxis with some degree of safety.   I also distribute a handout to potential drivers listing reasons why they should seek employment elsewhere.   

Your statistics mention 1154 complaints against driver and 509 complaints of fare evasions.   I can assure you that neither statistic is representative of the real situation.   Another statistic that should be noted is the number of jobs we arrive for that aren’t there.   Of my first three radio jobs last night only one was there and I arrive at the pick-up point in less than 5 minutes in each instance.   

A major problem is drivers who don’t respond to radio jobs correctly.    Often I have sat on a rank waiting for work.   When I get a job I am told by the passenger that I was the second cab called.   Now both I and the passenger have wasted a considerable amount of time because the driver who was awarded the job the first time failed to pick up.   If I had that job I would have been making money and the passenger would have been delivered efficiently to their destination.   Instead both of us have been inconvenienced by the slackness of the first driver.

As for guaranteed bookings that would be nice but not possible.   Like most industries we do try to do the best we can to service the public’s needs but 100% is not possible.   Imagine an extreme situation; I book a taxi now for 2.00 am on the 1^st January for the corner of William and James St.   That is 11 months away so surely they have enough notice to provide for my request.   Now imagine if 2000 other taxi customers planning their New Year’s celebrations in Northbridge had the same idea.   Not really practical is it?   Where would the taxis wait and then half the customers would change their plans and not tell us.   If you tried this with a limousine they would want full payment at booking time and then say no when they ran out of limos.   With a taxi service the operator would say we will try our best and that is what many of us drivers do.

The practical purpose of booking is to inform drivers when a job is coming up at a time or location where we might not normally wait.   This is usually early in the morning.   During most of our shift as we drop off in an area we start looking for the next job.   At 3.00 am we aren’t  dropping off too many fares so bookings inform us where we should go to best satisfy customer demand.   Pre-booking is to help efficiency not guarantee it.   As it is, I often wait in areas in the early morning until after 4.00 am only to find there aren’t enough bookings.

Hal

PS.  

I will be one of the many drivers attending tomorrow’s summit even though it will take some effort as a night driver to wake up in time.

I have been preparing a blog over the past couple of days which I have advised the Minister of so he may get an idea of the difficulties in the industry.

You may access it at http://perthcabcrap.blogspot.com/

My Handout to People who Have Had Problems with Drivers

Safety Tips for Catching Taxis

1. Always get in rear passenger side.   This way driver is furthest from you if you do have to run (he has to run around car to get to you).   Sitting behind driver means he is on same side if you have to get out.
2. Text Driver and Taxi plate number (on dash or visor) to reliable person.   Don’t tell driver unless serious situation occurs (drivers have feelings too).
3. Have approximate money ready if you do decide to get out early therefore driver can’t accuse you of fare evasion.
4. You can pick any car on rank (not good manners but your safety comes first).  If first driver looks dodgy just explain to next (or third or fourth…) driver.
5. The driver is required to go the way you think is best.   If he objects get a receipt at end of trip and complain to Department of Transport or taxi’s dispatch company.
6. If hailing stand in well lit area away from drunken fools.   If with a boyfriend make him stand with you (not in shadows which looks suss).
7. If you share a cab with strangers (male) go to their destination first if practicable otherwise they will know your address.   If not practicable don’t get out at your house.    Get out a few houses past yours or on nearest corner.   I have had experiences where male strangers (one who described in detail his desire to kill his mother…) have gotten out at female’s drop off explaining that he would walk from there (sure they will).
8. If Taxi driver asks you a personal questions like ‘do you live alone?’ reply with ‘No, I live with my dad (boyfriend) who is a cop (politician).’
9. Any complaints email to Minister of Transport, Troy Buswell’s Office -Minister.Buswell@dpc.wa.gov.au or compliance@transport.wa.gov.au

Happy Cab Catching J   … Hal Yeah

Blame the Boom

Who are they going to blame?

Any excuse is going to do.

With the last mining boom blame was laid for the shortage of drivers on the mining sector sucking them out of our industry because of the high incomes available.   

Well, um, yeah, that could happen.   I mean you have the choice of $40.00 per hour and safety conscious work conditions and benefits as opposed to a $15.00 per hour and a ‘who cares about them’ attitude and yes drivers will seek better employment.    We will seek better employment anywhere we can (console operators, waiters, dish washers, security, road workers etc).    The only thing keeping me in the industry is the ability to work longer hours to make enough to survive.    Many other low skill jobs also only provide short hours.

Unfortunately many of us have commitments which mean we can’t flit off to the mines for two weeks at a time.   If this wasn’t the case for much of the population everyone would be up at the mines earning a fortune.    There are about 1.6 million people in Perth of which about 90 000 work in the mines or associated industries.   

Try to Improve the Situation...

 

Survey  Says…

Give a bureaucrat a problem and he’ll set up a survey.

Give a politician a problem and he’ll set up a committee.

When I suggested that there were too many cabs and that the solution to late night problems in Northbridge was late night trains I was told that the surveys said that there would not be enough people catching trains to warrant such a solution.   Now one must ask who they surveyed.   Was it a quick 400 phone poll at 3.00 pm on a Tuesday afternoon when most of the participants were retirees who would never venture near Northbridge except their yearly quest to the Tax office?   Or did they get out on the streets at 3.00am on a Sunday morning and ask the people waiting if they would rather a $3.50 train ride or a $35.00 taxi fare?   If I were an apprentice earning $300.00 a week I’d take the train.   That would then free up the available Taxis for the FIFOs and Tradies earning $1800.00 a week.   Simple really but that is not what the survey says.

Now the government claims it would cost $600 000 to run an extra train at 3.00 am on a Saturday and Sunday morning in each direction per year (about the same amount as fare evaders cost the Taxi industry per year… hmmm).  That is on the assumption that no one buys a ticket.   Now if you have a look at the trains running late on a Monday or Tuesday night they are practically empty and I would assume cost almost as much to run.    If they can afford to run these empty trains why can’t they afford to run full ones when demand is high?   Oh right, survey says…

Now when I wrote a lengthy diatribe to the last Minister explaining the pain of the Taxi industry and how there were too many cabs and how ridiculous a 0.7% fare increase was when the industry had increased its supply by over 80% he announced that he would resurrect the Taxi Industry Board.

Now that seemed like a good idea.   I asked who would be on it, worried that it would consist of people like lobbyist Bradley Woods of the AHA.   No he wouldn’t be included but neither would any Taxi Drivers.   No, it would be respectable academics and former judiciary, perhaps a retired CEO or two.   Taxi Drivers would have too many biases to participate.    So the people most involved and most knowledgeable about this industry would have no say in how it is conducted.   It’s okay I was told, any submission I made would be forwarded to them.  

Imagine a scenario where all the state’s Ministers of Transport gather together to discuss the Taxi industry and how to improve it.   Imagine that they resolved to ensure that drivers had a good command of English and a good knowledge the geography of the city they operated in.

Oh! That’s right the Ministers of Transport did hold such a meeting back in November of 2009 and declared the new standard would come into effect as of July 1^st, 2010 (why would they want to wait that long is anybody’s guess).   Yeah, well fat chance of that actually happening.

Imagine –

·         A taxi driver who knew where he/she was going.    …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who had a good command of English (isn’t that not pc).   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who went to the front door and knocked (isn’t that dangerous?)   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who helps put luggage in the boot.   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who doesn’t mind the passenger choosing the radio station.   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who doesn’t choose passengers based on their destination.   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who wears a uniform and keeps the car clean.   …I’d like to see that.

·         A taxi driver who does all of the above and can live on less than minimum wage.   …Well that ain’t never going to happen (well not forever anyway cause any driver like that will just have to go and get a real job at a fast food restaurant).

All because the Survey Says…

Incentives We Once Had

Whatever Happened to …

Executive Drivers?

Swan had a system not too many years ago where drivers of known good reputation were awarded executive status.   They had to promise to make sure their car was well maintained and clean and that they would wear the correct uniform.

In return they would be given special jobs such as call backs, regular customers, vip customers or customers who had a previous bad experience and requested a better driver this time.

The required courier shirts and epaulettes even gave the normal passenger a sense of better service (especially as the norm is now sloppy shirts and slip on scruffs over bare feet).   This also meant drivers aspired to provide better service.   

Flagged Jobs?

Once upon a time difficult to service jobs were flagged and the driver was then awarded point position wherever he logged into after finishing that job.   This meant that if a driver drove a long distance to pick up he would be compensated by getting a job in a busier area fairly quickly.

This system then changed so that the driver was only awarded point position in the area he picked up in meaning he would have to drive back to that area (which was usually a low usage area anyway).    This change took any incentive away from running for work.    This means that areas such as Armadale, Butler and The Hills will sometimes have work waiting but it is not profitable for drivers to venture there (especially if the passenger finds an alternative means of travelling before you arrive).

Bad, Bad Taxi Drivers

Stories of Bad Taxi Driver Behaviour

Passengers often relate stories to me, recently including -

·         Not knowing how to get to the city from the Airport (1^st Day on the job).

·         Charging $60.00 from Northbridge to Nollamara (Probably left the meter on from previous fare, passenger paid $20.00).

·         Charging Flag Fall a second time because passengers had two different destinations (final passenger was single girl scared to argue).

·         Driver breaks down on Horrie Miller Drive heading to International.   Instead of hailing down one of many passing cabs calls a mate to carry on his fare (I picked these people up and offered them a lift for the last 1 Km for free).

·         Driver has flat tyre on Horrie Miller Drive and changes the tyre whilst the female passenger stands around heel deep in the dirt (again I offered the passenger a free lift to the terminal).

·         Driver offers girl free ride if she kisses him (the suggestive trade-off used to be much more explicit and most probably urban myth).

·         Drivers not using air conditioning.

·         Dirty Cars.

·         Smelly cars (food and body odours).

Situations I have experienced myself quite regularly in recent times.

·         Drivers parking across the road from the accepted queue at the Deen Hotel on Monday Nights hoping that passengers will see them before they see the real queue.    They then claim that because it is not a rank they can do what they like.

·         Drivers going to the toilet at the Holiday Inn (staff there hate cleaning up after messy drivers) at Burswood only to have the queue in front of hime move forward and making cars double park at the back which then infuriates Burswood security.

·         Driver meandering over the road late nights (I flash and toot them to wake up).

·         My mother being treated rudely for using a subsidy voucher to travel to Murdoch Hospice where my Father was in an induced coma dying from cancer.

Who Cares About your Safety?

Occupational Health and Safety For

Taxi Drivers.

Guess what?

There is none.

Why?

Because Taxi Drivers are a disposable commodity in plentiful supply.

If a Taxi Driver gets broken, beaten, robbed there is no need to fret because the government can just email for more.

It is of course a problem if there is a passenger on board and the driver falls asleep and crashes into a wall or a truck, train etc.   Then a state of inquiry would be declared.

Fortunately that hasn’t happened yet…    Or has it?

Well not with a passenger on board as far as I know.   

Recently an Indian Driver was killed when he crashed his car into a truck.   Did it make news?  No.

It would have if a passenger was aboard.

Now I don’t know whether fatigue, poor driving skills or weather that caused this accident.   The point is no one cared because no passengers were involved, just another road victim.

Fatigue is probably our worst problem.   To make enough money to live you have to drive long hours these days because of the flooding of the market with cabs and drivers.   There is less stimulation to keep us alert through our searching for and servicing customers.    If you are sitting late at night for an hour the effects of fatigue will set in.   Then if you do get a job you need to wake up quickly and attend the call.   

Some drivers will go home and snooze for a couple of hours waiting for the early morning rush (well slight increase in demand).   Others sit it out in front of the few clubs or get a snack at MacCalories.    Eating heavy meals also causes drowsiness as the body tries to digest the food.    With our sedentary lifestyle we are also at risk of obesity from consuming such foods.

Now our other major danger is the people we pick up.   99% of passengers are fine.    Unfortunately it’s the 1%ers that cause the angst.   And if we don’t pick them up there is total outrage and a demand that there should be more Taxi plates issued to cope with the demand.    If you pick them up you risk assault or soiling damage.   If you don’t, the government will email for someone who will.

Our job often requires us to carry persons who have been drinking or are otherwise unfit to drive themselves.    Fair enough.    We should pick up responsible drinkers.    We should not be subject to the behaviours and risks of picking up irresponsible drinkers.    Drinking too much too drive is not the same as being blind drunk.    If a person is blind drunk or severely affected by other substances it is not our job to look after them.   That responsibility lies with the police or medical emergency officers.   We should not have to endanger ourselves or the property we are in charge of by servicing people who cannot enjoy themselves without indulging excessively.

The Minister is proposing to set up a new secure rank to help the patrons of Northbridge catch cabs.   My experience with these ranks is that the security personnel that supervise them do their utmost to get rid of the most disruptive patrons first.    They do not check that they have sufficient funds for their journey and they certainly don’t refuse them access to the rank when they are blind and obnoxiously drunk.    Of course there will be desperate drivers who do service such a rank.     Good luck to them but my safety comes first.   Sorry for my self preservationist stance.

Now if you are injured during the execution of your job what do you do?

Nothing, nobody cares and you don’t get sick leave.    Good luck surviving on your meagre savings.

If you do get injured you must report to police if it is the result of an assault.   You may be able to claim criminal compensation even if the perpetrator isn’t caught.   I made the mistake of not reporting a fare evader who broke my thumb as I tried to restrain him.   Three weeks of hospital visits and four weeks of therapy had to covered out of my own pocket not to mention loss of income.

If you don’t have workplace injury insurance you have to cover your living costs yourself.

Good Luck with that.

Other little Niceties we have to put up with for less than minimum wage –

·         Day drivers working in Summer Heat.

·         Night Drivers working in Winter Cold.

·         Dangerous Hazardous road conditions.

·         Being jammed into a confined space for twelve hours (come on Deep Vein Thrombosis).

·         Cleaning Urine, Faeces and Vomit from car.

·         Paying for damages to car such as panels dented, aerials broken and side mirrors smashed off from unaccepted passengers in Northbridge, Subiaco, Leederville Etc.

·         Excessive Insurance Excess even if you have an accident free record because of the general record from the industry.

·         Fare Evaders.

·         Turning up to multiple bookings where the car numbers required is greatly exaggerated (happens often on Saturday Nights).

·         Turning up to bookings where passengers have placed a booking through both dispatch companies.

·         Constant fear of Police and Parking Inspectors (yes we do push it sometimes due to pressures to make enough to live).

And then of course personal sacrifices all for less than minimum wage -

·         Sleep patterns that are totally out of kilter with the rest of society.

·         Relationship problems because of extended work hours.

·         Miss out of Family events because you have to work.

·         Poor health from lack of exercise opportunities.

·         Bad eating habits due to demands to be in car all the time or you may miss a job.

·         Stress from not knowing what your income will be this day, week or year.

·         Stress from not knowing what your next passenger is going to be like.

·         Stress from not knowing if there is going to be a next passenger.

We do not have the income to sacrifice to ensure a good work life balance that so many other industries encourage.    We do what we have to do to survive.

As an industry that does not have collective bargaining we have been reliant on the benevolence of the Minister of Transport to ensure that we have sufficient income to offset many OHS issues.    This benevolence has gone due to the need to sacrifice the industry to ignorant media scrutiny and political imperative.

Any other employment situation would be closed down and investigated if they worked under our conditions.   We however are not employees and are subject to supply and demand statistics that can easily be skewed.

We are the crap that can easily be flushed away because the powers that be have an endless supply of crap.

Want To Complain?

Who are you going to call?

Troy Buswell.

Simple.

If you have had enough of the crap go straight to the Top. Yes Minister.

Call the minister, Troy Buswell.

Tell Troy Buswell how you feel –

12th Floor

Dumas House

2 Havelock Street

West Perth WA 6005

Ph: 9213 6900

Fax: 9213 6901

Email: Minister.Buswell@dpc.wa.gov.au

When you email you might remind the Minister that local Taxi Drivers vote and we also talk to many voters every day.

The Taxi travelling public don’t want more Taxis (who then provide bad service) they want better Taxis (which then provide better service and better coverage).

How Many Cabs...?

How many Cabs are really out there?

The Department of Transport refuses to tell exactly how many Taxi Plates are currently operating.

Occasional news reports mention the number to be about 1850 – 1900.

Of these Swan has about 1700 and Black and White just under 200.

If you watch the plate numbers though the number is significantly higher.

I would assume that the plates have been released sequentially so no blocks of numbers have been held back for any reason.

The highest plate numbers I have observed are –

Full Time Ownership plates -       1034                                       1034       licenses

Full Time Lease Plates -                 6540                                       540         licenses

PPRT Ownership Plates -              3088                                       88           licenses 

PPRT Lease Plates -                         8400                                       400         licenses

MRT Ownership -                             2100*                                    100         licenses

MRT Lease Plates -                          7149                                      149         licenses

Restricted Area Plates -                 9009                                       9              licences

Total                                                                                                 2320       licenses

* I believe there are more than 100 but haven’t seen the plates to ascertain this number.

In the past five years the population of Perth has increased by about 15% (3% per year) but the government has released over 1080 lease plates or an increase of about 80%.   While there may be other pressures to use more cabs an 80% increase is incredulous.  

These were supposed to handle the demand created by the many functions to held at the PCEC, Tourism and the mining boom.   The Taxi industry was supposed to be forward planning and the drivers sacrificing for fortunes that never came.

They are still forward planning at our expense.

The Department of Transport’s justification was that back in the bad old days of 2005 at peak period ‘jobs not covered’ in a reasonable time came to 10% and in non-peak periods there were 4% ‘jobs not covered’.     Now any normal business that had an excessive demand of 10% might make some sacrifice and increase their employed staff by 10-15% to cover such demand.   No other industry would remain profitable if they increased their staff numbers by 80% to cover a 10% problem.    Our industry profits the government by increased licenses and Swan by increased training.

Could you imagine large retailers increasing their staff and facilities by 80% because it was busy for an hour on Saturday afternoons?    The shareholders would be sacking the board really quickly.

 The Ratio Of Cabs per Capita

If the government’s figure of 1900 licenses is correct the ratio of Cabs per capita is about 1 cab for every 840 people.   My figure has a ratio of 1 taxi to every 700 people.

The Melbourne ratio is about 1 cab for every 930 people.

The Sydney ratio is about 1 cab for every 880 people.

I believe Melbourne is increasing cab numbers (They saw that Perth could get away with it so they are trying too).

As the lowest density city in Australia we have fewer Cabs per square kilometre which is why people rely more on the phone booking system than hailing.

Now, one of the biggest differences between Perth and the two major cities is that they have very high inner city living densities.    Parking is therefore at a premium for both residential and businesses.   They also have longer operational working environments in the city and entertainment precincts.    It is cheaper to give shift workers cab charges than provide parking.    Many apartment residents  don’t have a provided parking space and so don’t have cars and use public transport more (including cabs).    Not only do these 2 higher population density  cities have less cabs per capita they have a population which uses more cabs per capita particularly near the inner areas.

The other difference is that they don’t have the liquor licensing restrictions Perth has.   Therefore there is no 2.00am rush on Sunday mornings which is Perth’s most difficult period when it comes to providing enough cabs.   Melbourne and Brisbane tried lockout periods only to experience similar problems Perth has at closing time.

These cities not only have fewer cabs per capita they have higher usage rates and a higher fee structure (see other blog).

Now, perhaps local cabbies may realise why they feel so hard done by.