October 2012 - Taxi Talk Magazine

mailbag
Transparency
and Trust
There has been a lack of transparency
and trust for a long time in
the taxi industry.
In the early days it was mainly
between the regulator and the industry.
In those days it was relatively
easy for the industry to keep
the regulator in the dark about
earnings, service to the public, etc.
because it was mainly a cash business
and computers were yet to be
used extensively in the industry.
All this changed in the last decade
and neither the industry nor
the Government used this golden
opportunity to act in a more transparent
manner and build a relationship
of trust and co-operation.
There are many relationships in the
taxi industry and I wish to examine
a few of them to show why we
have reached the present state of
affairs.
Most operators of a taxi business
now act in a transparent manner
and will openly and honestly
discuss income, expenditure, as
well as profit and loss. There might
be some who will not do so and
they should probably not be in the
industry.
The Government can be looked
at on two different levels “the policy
makers and the administrators
of these policies”. It is absolutely
clear that the policy makers of the
last Government did not act in a
transparent manner when they introduced
the peak service licences
and recently another 530 licences.
The sole reason for the introduction
of these licences was the raising
of revenue for the Government
and others and not for the benefit
of taxi drivers and the public. This
action of deceit obviously did not
encourage an environment of trust.
The VTD (administrators of Government
policy) had to cope for
many years with an industry that
did not act in a transparent manner
and therefore trust and co-operation
suffered greatly. There are at
present very good signs that this is
changing.
The network service providers
used to be called depots and were
the same people that operated the
taxi business. In those days the depots
and the operators of the taxi
business acted in an environment
of transparency and trust.
Unfortunately those days are
now long gone and the NSP’s, licence
holders, operators and drivers
seem to be more interested in
their own agendas than working
in an environment of transparency,
trust and co-peration, for the benefit
of the public and the whole industry.
One of the most blatant examples
of this is the fact that the
NSP’s are not issuing a detailed invoice
for the services they provide.
The NSP’s certainly do not act in
a transparent manner and an environment
of trust is sadly missing.
Last and not least we can have
a look at the taxi industry inquiry.
Most people in the industry did
trust Professor Fels to conduct
an inquiry into the industry for the
betterment of the public and the
industry.
Many people provided the inquiry
with factual evidence of what
was happening in the industry, only
to find that these facts were either
totally ignored or misinterpreted in
order to fit preconceived ideas or
predetermined agendas. The industry
certainly now does not trust
Professor Fels to recommend to
the Government solutions that will
lead to a better service to the public
or a superior taxi industry.
There are many more interest
groups in the taxi industry and
there is often a conflict of interest.
It is only in an environment of transparency
and trust that meaningful
discussion can take place. I, for
one, hope that our present Government
makes decisions that will
lead to this environment of transparency,
trust and co-operation. It
is this environment that can make
the Victorian Taxi Industry the best
and cheapest in the world and the
envy of other countries.
Hans Altoff - owner operator D
Taxi Talk - Voice of the Taxi Industry October 2012 | 27