DRIVE A2B February 2021

"We have been telling the
government for years that this
would happen."
Ms Murray said they were
threatened with fines if they did
not prioritise disabled customers
over others, which meant they
could no longer offer a maxi taxi
service either.
"We have tried to negotiate with
the department on this but no one
will talk to us," she said.
Regional taxi operators were
"devastated" after a parliamentary
inquiry into the WA Government's
handling of its buyback and
regional assistance schemes
was rejected by the Standing
Committee on Environment and
Public Affairs.
"The requirement to prioritise
wheelchair passenger jobs over
other fares has always been
regulated in Perth and was a
condition of operating a taxi-car
licence for regional areas," the
spokesperson said.
"All booking services operating
wheelchair accessible taxis outside
the Perth/Mandurah/Murray
levy area are eligible to claim a
co-payment for each wheelchair
job undertaken, provided they
submit evidence of the job to
the Department of Transport for
validation."
"The Department of Transport
has been in regular contact with
regional taxi operators across the
State throughout the on-demand
transport reform process."
"Significant financial support
has been provided to regional
operators over the past two years."
Coupled with a driver shortage
regional operators have been
unable to provide a full service to
their communities that once had
access to taxis around the clock.
Busselton Taxis no longer operate
on Sundays and other services
in Dunsborough, Yallingup and
Margaret River are struggling.
Busselton Taxi owner, Jeff Devenny,
said while their wheelchair access
service was still operating they
were faced with the likelihood that
soon they would not be able to
operate any vehicles on Mondays
as well.
A DoT spokesperson said it had
not threatened wheelchair taxi
operators with fines, however
reminded a new-metropolitanbased
operator that wheelchair
accessible vehicles must be used
to attend first to any request for
service for a passenger who uses or
requires a wheelchair.
The spokesperson said penalties
may apply to drivers and providers
of on-demand booking services
who failed to comply with the
relevant sub-regulations of 141
of the Transport (Road Passenger
Services) Regulations 2020.
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DRIVE A2B magazine · www.drivea2b.com.au · February 2021
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