Rank service, say angry travellers
FRUSTRATED travellers say they are waiting well over an hour for taxis at Townsville Airport, creating trauma for tourists and local families with children.
It seems many taxi drivers and ride-share operators have deserted the market since the onset of the pandemic and are yet to return.
Lengthy queues formed at the airport on Sunday with people who arrived on flights around 9pm waiting well into the night.
A Townsville resident, who did not want to be named, said people with young children were angry, and it was only through one of the airport staff arranging for a minibus that some got home or to accommodation.
“We are trying to get people to travel locally but if the very first experience at Townsville is waiting in taxi lines for two hours at night, we are literally screwing ourselves over,” the resident said.
Local sources suggest only a fraction of local drivers are working because of concern over the virus and the availability of JobSeeker payments.
Townsville businessman Michael Kopittke said he waited at the airport on Sunday for almost an hour, could not get an Uber rideshare and got a taxi only because people in front of him gave up and made other arrangements.
“Jobseeker seems to be a problem,” Mr Kopittke said, adding it discouraged people from work.
Ride-share operator Robert Hudson said he was not driving and would not return to work until next year.
Mr Hudson said he was semi-retired and operated to top up his finances.
“I’m not driving. There’s really no money in it because of COVID-19. We lost all the tourist trade. We used to get 12 flights a day or more but a lot of that’s gone,” Mr Hudson said.
The city’s biggest operator, Townsville Taxis, recently restructured and rebranded to be part of the national 13cabs group using call centres based in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
13cabs Queensland general manager Matt Mclachlan apologised for the inconvenience caused at the airport.
“With the state government opening the borders we’ve had a lot more flights than what we’ve had (until recently). It’s just a matter of getting the drivers back into the routine of servicing the airport,” Mr Mclachlan said.
Mr Mclachlan was unaware of suggestions just 33 of the 122 vehicles in the Townsville fleet were logged off their system on Sunday evening.
“Generally speaking, whenever there’s work, taxi drivers will chase it,” he said.