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.

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