Part D – Understanding and improving industry performance (PDF ...

A key issue for the inquiry has been to determine whether
the outer suburban zone is causing significant detriments
for taxi operators and for consumers. As discussed
above, there are a number of sources of potential costs
from zoning:
Figure 10.6 Identification of trips between metropolitan and
outer suburban zones
Maps 1 and 2: Frankston and Dandenong ‘meter offs’
• First, operators within the outer suburban and
metropolitan zones may suffer from zoning restrictions
due to increased ‘dead running’.
• Second, consumers may be harmed because of
potential service refusals from drivers who attempt to
minimise ‘dead running’.
• Finally, consumers may suffer further if the response
of the regulator to operator inefficiency caused by
zoning is to restrict licences further to maintain service
viability. On the other hand, it is arguable that there
may be some benefits from a higher level of service
provided within the zone compared to if the zone is
removed and there are very different licence values
between the two merged zones.
The inquiry has sought evidence on these points.
Dead running costs from the zoning restriction may be
measured by considering the following data:
• The number of trips that start in the outer suburban
zone and finish in the metropolitan zone.
• The number of trips that start in the metropolitan zone
and finish in the outer suburban zone.
The extent of the cost involved for operators will depend
upon the frequency of these trips and the distance the
trip terminates from the zone boundary. Consumers
also bear a cost, because they would have greater taxi
availability in the metropolitan zone if the outer suburban
taxi was allowed to pick up a fare from the point where
the last fare finished (and vice versa).
Frankston
2011 Q1 & Q2 Meter Off Count
250m x 250m grid squares
#
Taxi Zone Boundary
Meter Count
5,000 plus
1,000 to 5,000
500 to 1,000
250 to 500
100 to 250
50 to 100
25 to 50
10 to 25
1 to 10
Revision Date: 5/4/2012
Map Reference: 615-4-1
Department of
Transport
Policy & Communications Division
© The State of Victoria, Department of Transport, 2012. The
State of Victoria does not warrant the accuracy or completeness
of information in this publication and any person using or relying
upon such information does so on the basis that the State of
Victoria shall bear no responsibility or liability whatsoever for
any errors, faults, defects or omissions in the information.
The inquiry’s trip data provides a source of information on
the extent of these costs. Spatial data on trips between
the metropolitan and outer suburban zones is highlighted
in Figure 10.6.
Red areas have higher trip frequencies – from light (least
frequent) to dark (most frequent)
Source: TII analysis of Frankston and Dandenong NSP data 2011
Each of these maps indicates that a significant number of
trips finish outside of the zone in which the trip began.
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