Victorian MP calls for real changes to the State’s commercial passenger vehicle regulations and more compensation for taxi licence owners
With less than five weeks to the State Government election in Victoria, Metropolitan East MP Rod Barton has called on the major political parties to make fixing the ride share and taxi industry a priority.
Barton, who is the leader of the Transport Matters Party, says the current situation in Victoria cannot be allowed to continue.
“This suffering in Victoria must be addressed because until we address this, we cannot build a viable pathway forward,” he says.
“I call on Labor, the Coalition and the Greens to commit to fair and just compensation for Victorian licence holders and conduct an independent review of the commercial passenger vehicle industry.”
Victoria has recently launched a new body, Transport Safety Victoria, charged with oversight of the commercial passenger vehicle sector, however Barton says it has so far been a “mere name change that has failed to alleviate the systematic issues faced by drivers, operators and passengers”.
With the busy Christmas season on the way, Barton says he is concerned a small minority of drivers will continue to behave unethically and illegally, and give the rest of the industry a bad reputation.
He says in New South Wales, the government had put more transition payments on the table for taxi licence holders, and while they may not be as high as the industry would like, they were almost double the payments provided to Victorian licence holders.
From the consumer perspective Barton says there are serious matters of aggressive and illegal touting that needed addressing, and instances where taxi drivers are refusing to turn on meters at the rank.
“The gig economy and the surge pricing rideshare model have infiltrated the industry, acting as the gateway to further extortion, exploitation, and unethical behaviour,” the Transport Matters Party statement says.
Barton wants the major parties to make an election commitment to conduct an independent review of the commercial passenger vehicle industry to ensure Australian taxi companies are working to the same set of rules and regulations as ride-share operators.