DRIVE NOW March/April 2022
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Australia's only Magazine for the Commercial Passenger Transport Industry. News and views for Drivers, Owners and Operators of Taxi, Hire Car, Limousine, Ride Share, Booked Hire Vehicles, Rank and Hail Cars.
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Not all of those licence owners<br />
are necessarily driving, according<br />
to the drivers’ union. It said their<br />
membership shows a decline of<br />
drivers actually on the road —<br />
before the bylaw allowed ridehailing,<br />
there were more than<br />
1,500, now they have about 700.<br />
Dadshani said allowing for<br />
unlimited trips on a ride-hailing<br />
app diminished the value of taxi<br />
plates — something you used to<br />
be able to retire on.<br />
He has not sold his plates, but said<br />
before ride hailing, plates would<br />
sell for $350,000 or more; after<br />
it was around $50,000, now it’s<br />
about $8,000.<br />
The taxi industry has filed a<br />
class action lawsuit against the<br />
city for allowing the ride-hailing<br />
companies, which is set to go to<br />
court in <strong>April</strong>. Quebec provided<br />
compensation to drivers after it<br />
deregulated the industry in 2019.<br />
Rising costs prohibitive<br />
The cost to drive a cab also<br />
concerns some drivers. During the<br />
pandemic Coventry Connections,<br />
the company that runs Blueline,<br />
WestWay and Capital continued to<br />
charge the dispatch fee.<br />
It runs upwards of $500 a month,<br />
meaning some had to pay<br />
thousands of dollars to return to<br />
work. Abulhamid Hussein ended<br />
up paying $3,731 for the months he<br />
was off. He also said he could no<br />
longer find a second driver for his<br />
accessible van, so was stuck with<br />
less income too.<br />
Hussein, who isn’t driving currently<br />
because of a ticket in Quebec that<br />
is preventing him from getting<br />
insured, says the large dispatch<br />
fee, plus insurance fees of $850<br />
a month aren’t helping drivers<br />
get back on their feet. And now<br />
there’s an added pinch — gas<br />
prices are skyrocketing.<br />
“Nobody wants to pay 1,400 every<br />
single month…compared to Uber,<br />
it is very hard.”<br />
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www.drivenow-magazine.com.au<br />
<strong>March</strong>/<strong>April</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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