I think we were only travelling to Sydney when we decided to try Uber. For some reason on a Monday morning at about 9.30am we were price surcharged, meaning our trip to the airport cost nearly $40 more than it would have in a taxi cab. We've never used Uber in Australia since. For our airport trips we use taxis. We either hail one on the street or I summon one on an app, we get in, the meter is turned on and at the end of the journey we pay what is on the meter.
It seems taxi cab meters are no longer the way to do things.
I simply cannot believe a Labor government did this, but it has.
I remember the time when the government decreed that to increase competition, taxis no longer had to be yellow. Well, if you are hailing a cab, being yellow is very useful. I think it was a mistake but I can live with that.
As a fairly media attuned person, I did not know of other changes and the principle ones being that you can negotiate with a taxi driver and also the taxi driver can refuse to take you if a price is not agreed on. Can you just tell the driver to turn on the meter? I am not sure. I have heard conflicting information.
Nevertheless, taxi drivers have been refusing fares, refusing to turn on meters and charging usurious prices for trips in times of high demand.
Taxis have adapted to the challenge from Uber, with lots of information available if you use an app. Like with the Uber app, you can see your ordered taxi coming, how far away it is, fare estimates and the details of the driver. Yet now the certainty that came with taxis, get in and the driver can't refuse you, the meter is turned on and you are taken to your destination, has gone.
One Ben Carroll is the state minister responsible. You can be sure he will hear from me soon. In the 90s a conservative government highly regulated the taxi industry. In 2000 teens, a Labor government let the capitalist wolves free.
Shudder. I hope our own govemment doesn't get wind of that. And fear they will.
ReplyDeleteYes EC, be afraid.
DeleteIt all comes down to the lobbying groups
ReplyDeleteIt does Roentare, and now taxi organisations are now agitating for more regulation. Who would have thought that?
DeleteThat sounds like shady practice to me.
ReplyDeleteJay Cee, as I say often and frequently, crooks, liars, thieves and charlatans.
DeleteFunny enough, I've only had good luck with Uber, to the point that I avoid taxis. I am always surprised by the immense line up of taxis outside Union Station, it can be two blocks long. How can they survive?
ReplyDeleteJackie, it seems they haven't here. There are no longer queues of taxis at our train stations. That makes their bad behaviour even more puzzling. I still have my Uber account app and I never so no. Uber was great in South Africa.
DeleteLegalizing the art of the steal.
ReplyDeleteFor sure Debby.
DeleteI rarely use taxis, but haven't noticed any problems here. I can get where I'm going by bus anyway, even to the airport if necessary. I think what's happening with the taxis is wrong and they should be as they have always been. They'll be losing business if this keeps up.
ReplyDeleteRiver, yes. Taxis were viewed as reliable here aside from heavy peak times. I really am annoyed about this, but we so rarely use taxis, it won't affect me much.
DeleteBartering for your fare was the way to go in Singapore during the 1960s, also ride share - picking up people along the road. Pirate taxis….bit like Uber was. Anyone with a car could be a taxi.
ReplyDeleteAh yes Cathy. You lived there. In some lazier fare capitalism worked better, until it didn't.
DeleteI haven't taken a taxi in years and have never used and uber and wouldn't know where to start. Call me a dinosaur.
ReplyDeleteCaro, you are firmly categorised as a private motorist.
DeleteWhen I need a taxi to get to the airport, I call several taxi offices and ask for a price and then I try to haggle a bit, and take the cheapest one. The price differences are enormous for the same distance ! Now I have an address here in Waterloo who offers a good price. I never took a taxi on the street, because I never needed one. Except in London, but there I asked the price before getting into the cap.
ReplyDeleteYou do things so well Gattina but surely in a London black cab, you pay what it is on the meter. Are you talking about what they call Minicabs?
DeleteI have never been a fan of taxis and try to avoid using them as much as possible. When it comes to taxis, I am into evasion as well as avoidance.
ReplyDeleteYP, as long as you don't evade paying your fare on public transport, no probs me old china.
DeleteI have a senior citizen bus pass.
DeleteOne of the benefits of reaching a certain age.
Delete