Dodgy cab and rideshare drivers have been warned they are going to be caught as authorities escalate the struggle to forestall overcharging and fare refusals.
The Queensland authorities says it’s sending enforcement officers undercover to nab drivers attempting to control greater fares for journeys, whereas in NSW, Transport Minister David Elliott has urged passengers to dob drivers in to a 24-hour state hotline.
It comes as virtually 200 fines had been issued to Queensland taxi and rideshare drivers throughout a statewide blitz in November, with authorities saying they’ll “ramp up” efforts even additional over the New Year interval.
Almost 1000 intercepts of taxi and rideshare automobiles had been carried out in November, with 181 drivers fined as much as $575 for misconduct, Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey stated.
“In recent months, my office saw a big jump in the number of complaints against taxi drivers for fare refusal, and overcharging, so I instructed my department to ramp up enforcement operations through November,” Mr Bailey stated.
“To see that around one in five drivers have been doing the wrong thing is completely unacceptable, and so we’ll be ramping up this operation even further over the Christmas and New Year period.”
While fare refusal and overcharging had been firmly beneath the microscope, the division would additionally crack down on rideshare drivers from firms together with Uber touting for fares from roadside or taking journeys that weren’t pre-booked, Mr Bailey stated.
“We’ll be conducting covert operations at all times of the day, so when a passenger gets in a taxi at 3am, the driver should expect it to be an enforcement officer, and they’ll be caught out if they do the wrong thing,” he stated.
Mr Bailey defended the focusing on of the trade, which has struggled this 12 months with excessive gas prices and the lingering influence of Covid restrictions.
“I acknowledge the industry has faced increased costs, which is why we gave taxis the ability to increase the maximum fare earlier this year, and they have access to things like taxi ranks and lift payments under the taxi subsidy scheme, which rideshare services don’t.”
Mr Elliott stated he was pissed off taxi drivers had been flouting the principles after the NSW authorities had “gone in to bat” for the trade.
“I get examples daily from taxi riders who have been gazumped by taxi drivers and I just think that is extremely ungrateful for an industry that this government has gone in to bat for,” he stated on Friday.
“There’s going to be plenty of work and you know Sydneysiders can be pretty generous. You might actually get a tip.”
A positive of $300 applies to NSW taxi drivers for failing to make use of the meter.
