These people are getting Taxi Licenses... Why????

More Cabs Behaving Badly

Last night I picked a girl who told me how she had been charged a surcharge by a driver because she had refused to share the cab with another passenger as is her right.   She was at the Casino on a busy Saturday night and the driver wanted her to participate in a multiple hire.   She was told by the driver that she had to pay extra for not doing so.

More Queue Jumping

The following are photos of Taxis who are now pretending to service the Kebab Place next to the Deen.   What is happening is they are lining up back to the Deen Taxi queue and therefore confusing the punters as to where the queues start and finish.  

Before the Deen put up a guide fence drivers would park across the road from the Deen hoping punters would see them and rush across the road rather than go to the drivers waiting patiently in the regular queue.

Now they queue jump by using the Kebab spot as the ruse.  

They do the same thing at the Hipp-e Club by claiming to be waiting at the Niche Night Club next door.   This practise is rude and causing much anger against these drivers.

This is what Alannah MacTiernan refers to as ‘entrepreneurial’.

Of ccourse these are all 'Students'.

Finally Another Response from DoT

Consecutive Taxi Plates

For a while now I have been questioning the DoT statistics relating to the number of Taxi Plates on the road.  I have at last received a reply saying that they do release the plates consecutively.  

Double click to read –

The Department claims that –

Key taxi industry statistics

As at February 2011 there are:

§  1,895 taxis servicing the Perth metropolitan area; and

If you check the number plates on cars there are way more cars out there than this.

As I have claimed in previous blog entries there are plate numbers up to –

Full Time Ownership Cars; highest plate observed -         1030                       1030

Full Time Lease Cars; Highest Plate observed -                 6540                       540

Peak Period Ownership Cars; Highest plate observed -     3088                       88

Part Time Lease Cars; Highest plate observed -                 8380                      380

MPT Ownership Cars; Estimated highest -                         2100                       100

MPT Lease Cars; Highest plate observed -                         7115                       115

Restricted Area Cars; Highest plates observed -                9017                       17

===================================================================

Total                                                                                                                   2270

These numbers are slightly dated to allow for the fact that the DoT sight doesn’t seem to be updated that often.

In the past few months there have been at least 30 full time lease plates released and I am told 80 Part time plates.

I am sure I have seen some higher Restricted area plates but they only show up if they drop off in the city and cruise looking for hails.

That means 2380 plates.

The population of Perth in 2010 was estimated at 1.692 million.   At 2270 plates that means there is one taxi for every 745 people.   At 2380 plates that means one taxi for every 710 people.   This compares to one taxi for every 750 people in Sydney.  

Downward Spiral of the Taxi Industry

More Taxis =
More Government Income =
More Swan Income =
Less Driver Income =
Good Drivers Quitting =
More Bad Drivers =
Bad Taxi Service =
Government Saying We Need more Taxis ... ad finitum

You Dare Question My Authoritah... This is not South Park Cartman Buswell

Barred from my Democratic Right to seek Transparency of Government

For at least 5 years now I have been hounding the Department of Transport with regards to their policies governing the Taxi Industry.   I started when Alannah MacTiernan announced the release of 200 Lease Taxis plates.   200 seemed a lot, an increase of 15-16%.   She ended up releasing 500 full time and 380 part time plates and a number of MPT which I have not been able to determine.

This has seemed excessive.   I have experienced massive income losses which correlate to losses of other drivers I have spoken too.

Simon O’Brien released 30 ownership plates and Troy Buswell has released at least 80 fulltime, 60 part-time and many area restricted plates in the past couple of months.  

I have questioned the Minister and DoT as to why we need all these plates when we are sitting around empty for so many hours of our shift.

I have asked how many plates are in actual circulation, how many have not been distributed, how many lease plates have been returned and why plates are not released by sequential numbers.

I have asked where are the jobs which are not covered.   If there is a pattern then we could work out why they are not covered.

I have asked if there are PPRT lease plate holders working within the department?    I finally got the answer as ‘yes’ but not in decision making areas (??? Forgive my scepticism given their early morning access to the market).

I have asked why there is not a late night weekend train service?   I have been told that surveys done by the department show there would not be a demand.   Now the Minister has responded to a more relevant survey held by facebook activists and announced that there would be a 4.00 am train on Saturday and Sunday mornings (Why 4.00 and not 3.00, why free, why wait until November).   While some drivers may not agree to these trains I believe that we should complement the train service and pick up from train stations rather than drive back empty to the hot spots.   This policy should counter his previous policy of releasing 300 extra full time plates which are not needed.   I would ask if the extra plates are being used to finance the free trains (hmmm).

I have also questioned the statistics used to justify the release of these 300 plates (which are yet to be confirmed by Cabinet).   I have supported my objections to extra plates by sending photos of the many cabs sitting around on ranks unoccupied.   They rely on statistics.   I thought I would show them pictures of the reality.

I have questioned their ability to vet new drivers into the industry and the checks on their qualifications (visa conditions, driving license period, police checks by foreign bureaucracies).  

I have also asked repeatedly ‘what does the Minister believe to be a reasonable income for a Taxi driver?’   A supplement to this question is ‘what is the minister going to do to help us attain a suitable income?’

I have been unable to get responses to most of these questions.

I have now been forwarded the following letter which is basically telling me to back off and that my questions have been answered.   Am I a pain in their proverbial?   Yes.   Are they doing anything to improve the driver’s conditions? No.

(Double Click to read)