The Road Transport Authority will ballot four defined rights for Restricted Taxi Licences for Wheelchair Accessible Taxis on 23 May 2012.
Applications for entry in the ballot may be mailed to:
PUBLIC TRANSPORT REGULATIONGPO Box 158 Canberra City ACT 2601
Or hand delivered to:
PUBLIC TRANSPORT REGULATIONLevel 2 Macarthur House12 Wattle StreetLyneham ACT 2601
Applications to enter the ballot close at 2pm on 30 April 2012.
The ballot will take place at 10.00am on 23 May 2012 at Level 2, Seminar Room, Macarthur House, Lyneham A.C.T.
Two information sessions will be held on 26 April 2012 for prospective applicants to ensure that applicants are well-informed and understand what is involved in operating a wheelchair accessible taxi in the A.C.T. prior to applying to enter the ballot.
Applicants interested in attending the information sessions should contact the Road Transport Authority on 6207 8011 or 6207 1381 to register.
For further information please see:
Application for Entry into a Ballot of Defined Rights for Restricted Taxi Licences for WAT Taxis
Defined Right Conditions for Restricted Taxi Licences
Information Sheet for Applicants
Requirements for Registration of a Wheelchair Accessible Taxi
The recent ACT Taxi Review recommended that the Government consider piloting a scheme whereby taxi operators would be permitted to operate without the need to be affiliated with a taxi network.
The Review considered independent advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) concerning the operating costs of taxi operators and impacts on their viability. PwC identified that network affiliation costs for ACT taxi operators are much higher (more than double) the cost for taxi operators interstate. PwC concluded that one option to address this cost impost would be permitting taxi operators to operate without affiliation to a network, and recommended a trial of this be considered.
Sectors of the business community have indicated support for the trial because of the potential benefits to operators having their own customer base and the potential for improvements in service standards.
The pilot, which will operate for 3 years, will provide the opportunity to assess whether this model of taxi service provision results in:
Only those taxi operators who are experienced and can demonstrate a good track record of compliance with public passenger legislation and standards will be eligible to participate in the pilot. Specifically to be eligible to participate, operators will need to:
In addition to providing documentation to demonstrate that the operator satisfies the eligibility criteria, the operator may be required to attend personally to expand on any of these matters to RTA officers, for the purpose of the RTA deciding whether it is satisfied the operator meets these criteria.
Once minor amendments to the relevant taxi regulations are made, interested taxi operators may make application to the Public Transport Regulator, Office of Regulatory Services, to become an independent taxi operator. It is anticipated that the necessary legislation will be in place early in 2012. More information will be made available to interested parties at the time.
To address concerns that service standards may decline under independent taxi operations, additional requirements are imposed on independent taxi operators. These relate to monitoring driver and passenger safety, driver training, performance reporting, handling customer complaints, inquiries and lost property.
Operators wishing to participate in the pilot will need to show how they would address these additional requirements as part of their accreditation to operate an independent taxi service.
Additionally, only those taxi operators who are experienced and can demonstrate a good track record of compliance with public passenger legislation and standards will be eligible to participate in the pilot.
Any participant in the pilot who commits a serious breach of the public passenger legislation and standards can be removed from the pilot.
Taxi operators participating in the pilot are required to fit their taxi with a vehicle tracking device such as a GPS, an approved security camera and have measures in place which ensure that a third party security provider continuously monitors the operation of all security equipment installed in the vehicle, including an emergency button for the use of drivers if under duress.
Pilot participants are also required to develop and provide the Road Transport Authority with a taxi driver monitoring and disciplinary program which must set out the arrangements and processes for dealing with drivers who breach the road transport legislation or have engaged in illegal, harassing or unsafe behaviour.
Without a taxi network to provide booked taxi work, each independent taxi operator will need to build up a private clientele base and rely on repeat business to establish a viable business. Some may choose to advertise and/or provide their business card to customers as a means of attracting and retaining customers.
Taxis operating under the pilot will be clearly identified as independent so customers will know whether the taxi they are hiring is a network affiliated taxi or an independent operation. Customers at a taxi rank will be free to use network affiliated taxis in preference to an independently operated taxi.
The pilot will run for 3 years. Before the pilot expires, the scheme will be reviewed and a report provided to the Minister on whether independent taxis contribute to improved taxi services and whether they should continue as a permanent feature of ACT taxi arrangements.
Matters that will be considered as part of the pilot assessment would include customer feedback, including complaints and commendations, performance data, on-road inspection reports, the level of regulatory oversight required over the course of the scheme and the longevity or drop-out rate of operators participating in the scheme.
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