The taxi industry in New South Wales is calling for greater regulation and a database of drivers’ records so operators can weed out rogue cabbies overcharging customers, but the government is resisting calls to establish the register itself.
The pleas from the NSW Taxi Council and GM Cabs – one of the state’s largest operators – for greater coordination to crackdown on driver misbehaviour follows Guardian Australia revealing that more than 520 drivers have been disciplined for refusing to use their meters or overcharging.
Data released to Guardian Australia under NSW’s equivalent of freedom of information laws revealed that in the first six months of the NSW Point to Point transport commission’s taxi fare hotline, authorities progressed 1042 complaints to operators to issue refunds and discipline drivers.
One company, GM Cabs, had 342 complaints against its drivers referred for remedy between the beginning of December 2022 and June this year.
The complaints data, provided to Guardian Australia after a months-long delay because some taxi operators opposed its release, relate solely to drivers not using their meters, overcharging customers, trying to negotiate upfront fares and refusing shorter trips.
One passenger complained about getting a cab from a rank at an inner-Sydney suburb to the airport – a fare that normally costs $35 to $40. They said the driver refused to turn on his meter, demanded an upfront fare of $117 and kicked them out of the cab when they refused. They are one of the complaints to the commission.
By December more than 520 drivers had been hit with disciplinary action – either being forced into retraining, suspended from working or being sacked from their companies. In addition to the hotline complaints, plainclothes officers deployed by the commission issued more than 500 fines to drivers attempting to overcharge them or refuse their meter on the streets, with the fine increased from $300 to $1000 in June.
The NSW point to point commissioner, Antony Wing, is now warning of an expected uptick in rogue behaviour from new drivers entering the workforce in coming months.
Taxi companies that spoke to the Guardian acknowledged the scale of the issue and lamented that the deregulation of the taxi industry in 2017 has meant operators no longer have access to a database showing a taxi driver’s record.
“Now, if a driver has a bad record with GM Cabs, they can simply leave and repeat the offence with another network,” GM Cabs said. [It’s] a repeated circle we’re seeing too often today.
“As a taxi network, we hate what it’s becoming. We need to push for regulation again. Taxi drivers should be made accountable for their actions.”
Nick Abrahim, the NSW Taxi Council’s chief executive, agreed deregulation had reduced driver accountability. He called for a centralised accreditation process – whether run by the government or the council – so disciplinary action could include a driver being booted from the taxi industry and ride-share platforms, not just one company.
While Jo Haylen, the NSW transport minister, has acknowledged the calls from the industry, she has not committed to establishing a centralised database.
“We understand the concerns held by NSW Taxi and by a number of operators in this space and will continue to consult and work with them on how to ensure fare compliance across the taxi industry,” she said.
“The NSW Taxi Council has raised the industry’s desire for a centralised data base of offboarded drivers to allow for reference checks on drivers with the Point to Point Commissioner. Key taxi service providers and industry bodies are in discussions to build a centralised driver platform to be used across the industry.”
Natalie Ward, the NSW opposition transport spokesperson, called on the government to act.
“A Transport Minister’s priority needs to be to protect passengers not to protect dodgy drivers from accountability,” she said.
“It takes one call from the Minister to set up a dob a dodgy driver database, it is just a question of what the Minister’s priorities are.”
