Fees driving taxis out of business
DRIVER shortages are at risk of destroying a crippled industry, according to the owners of a local taxi company.
Checker Cabs owners Les and Shane Gist say a high level of red tape and bureaucracy is hurting the industry at a time when there is a shortage of drivers.
They are calling on the government to fix the taxi industry and get people into driving jobs as unemployment skyrockets.
“A lot of the people who make an inquiry to start to drive can’t afford it because the Queensland Government charge them a large fee for a licence per year, which they should abolish,” Les Gist said.
OWNERS of a Townsville taxi company say a chronic driver shortage risks destroying an already crippled industry if the system is not overhauled.
Les and Shane Gist from Checker Cabs say there are enough vehicles to service Townsville, but the region is short of about 230 drivers, who they claim are difficult to attract under current government regulations.
They’re calling on the government to fix the taxi industry and get people into driving jobs as unemployment skyrockets due to COVID-19.
Les Gist was the first person to introduce wheelchairaccessible taxis to Townsville in 1987 and says since COVID-19 it’s been proven “beyond doubt” that taxis are an essential service.
“A lot of the people who make an inquiry to start to drive, they can’t afford it because the Queensland government charge them a large fee for a licence per year which they should abolish,” he said.
“If they don’t abolish it they should give a moratorium on it in two or three years so that we can get the industry back to satisfy and service the people. The quicker they do it the better, but they have to make it that a driver can afford it.”
Mr Gist said a budding taxi driver was required to spend several hundred dollars on an unnecessary medical examination despite medical conditions already being listed on regular driver’s licences.
He says it’s that level of red tape and bureaucracy that’s hurting the industry.
The calls come after a Mount Louisa man earlier this week claimed his son, who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy, was being ignored by taxis in Townsville who either don’t pick him up or ignore phone calls.
Earlier this month, other frustrated travellers said they were waiting well over an hour for taxis at Townsville Airport.
Mr Gist said that issue could be fixed simply by spreading out the arrival times of flights at Townsville Airport.
Shane Gist called for charges associated with obtaining the authority to drive a taxi to be scrapped.
“Structure it so that it encourages people on JobSeeker, Newstart, to be eligible under the organisations’ job networks so that they then can encourage their clients to become a taxi driver,” he said.
“Remove the idea of commission because it is there to make sure people driving taxis actually don’t sit at The Strand. If you’re on a wage that’s what you’ll do, you’ll hide.”
In June the Palaszczuk government announced $23m to support the state’s taxi and limousine operators, which included support payments for licence holders following a $54.5m transport industry package in April.
A Translink spokesman said a five-year driver authorisation fee worked out to less than $100 a year.
“A number of taxi industry participants have advised that the commonwealth government’s COVID-19 JobKeeper and Jobseeker arrangements currently make taxi driving unattractive as an employment option,” the spokesman said.