TOLD directors are pleased to advise members that themajority of questions posted to the Transport Department management have been answered. The responses are printed below and open to individual interpretation. We have made DOT aware that we are committed to work towards a better future for the Taxi industry. We however DO NOT and WILL NOT give up the fight for the injustices done to the plate owners. As everyone agreed that proposed buy-back packagehas been consulted in absents of the most important constituent = the plate owner. YES the fight is not over and new developments happen every day on this front, more information will be printed once the situations clarifies andare confirmed.
NOTE; for people who have missed last TOLD global meeting – there will be a chance to talk to “Maurice Blackburn “lawyer. Elizabeth O’Shea who will be in Perth again to answer questions regarding ‘Uber class action’. Maurice & Blackburn will be holding a 2nd Info & Register Session in February, dates & Location to be advised. This will be an open meeting as was the 1st session in November 2018.This session will be ONLY be for the Class Action V Uber & no other agendas will be held. There will also be scope for those who wish to have a “One – One” meetings with M&B Lawyers. Info regarding this coming sessions will be made available, via Social Media & also via the Taxi dispatch Companies.
We hope this newsletter will give everyone the current situation update. We have made DOT aware about the next lotof questions which are being prepared. The answers will be published in our February Newsletter.
TOLD Directors
Q&A January 2019
1. Why the owners have to wait until mid. 2019 for the for the buy-back payment, when the funds have been already allocated in this year budget? The funds for buyback were announced as part of the 2018-19 State Budget and are to be expended in the 2019-20 financial year, as outlined in the WA State Budget papers. The Department of Transport (DoT) will be sending applications for the voluntary buyback to plate owners from 28 February 2019. Owners will have until the end of May 2019 to advise the Department of their intentions in relation to the buyback and transition of the vehicle to the new authorisation. Payment of the buyback will take place in mid-2019 when repeal of the Taxi Act occurs and the plates issued under that Act are transitioned to the new Passenger Transport Vehicle (rank or hail) authorisation.
2. Is the Government aware, that even without additional plates the taxi drivers earnings are below a minimum wages? If yes why is the DOT insisting to release more taxi plates? It is no longer the role of Government to control the supply of a privately provided transport service. The incomes drivers receive will depend on how well the industry understands the changing nature of customer demand and responds to their needs. Tapping into customer demand beyond the traditional rank or hail and airport runs may need to be explored. The applicability of a minimum wage for drivers is a matter for Fair Work Australia. 7
3. Was the ever growing Perth traffic congestion taken into account while the decision for unlimited number of Taxis and on demand vehicles was made? The decision to remove the cap ensures that the reform’s fundamental principle of a level playing field between taxis and charter vehicles is adhered to. The Government believes that it is industry, and not the Department or government, who are best placed to determine how the demand for on-demand transport services should be met and the number and types of vehicles needed to accommodate this demand. It is acknowledged that removal of the cap could see many more vehicles seeking authorisation as a taxi in the future. Whether this occurs in practice, however, will depend on the industry’s assessment of the profitability of taxi and charter work. People considering potential authorisation for new taxi vehicles will need to take into account the cost of equipping the vehicle with external livery, a meter, roof sign and security camera and whether a shift driver can be readily secured, if required. Any new taxi vehicle operator who wishes to operate independently will also need to be an authorised on-demand booking service and be able to meet the requirements of operating as a booking service. Fees
4. Does the DOT have enough authority/resources to police over 16 thousand currently registered on-demand vehicles with potentially thousands more to be registered in the nearest future? DoT will use a combination of tools to monitor and enforce compliance with the provisions of the legislation. This includes auditing, penalties, and other sanctions such as suspension or cancellation of a booking service provider, vehicle or driver’s authorisation to operate. OdT compliance officers, together with other departmental compliance officers including regional compliance officers and financial auditors, will have a role. The Office of State Revenue will also support DoT in the recovery of uncollected levy in significant or complex cases. The Act also includes new powers for DoT to conduct controlled operations, which are basically mystery shoppers to observe and collect information. The use of data intelligence and analytics to identify areas of potential anomaly will be a key focus for DoT.
5. Please explain how DOT will be able to check/inspect eg. A vehicle operating with 4 bald tyres? As is the case now, all vehicles used for hire or reward will be subject to an annual inspection through an Authorised Inspection Station before the vehicle registration can be renewed. Part 2 of the Act also establishes a chain of accountability for the safety of the services that are provided to the public. Providers of on-demand booking services, passenger transport vehicle providers and drivers of passenger transport vehicles have a mandated duty of care and as part of this there will be a requirement for the booking service to have a Safety Management System (SMS). This SMS will be the booking service provider’s documented practices for, among other things, maintaining vehicles in a roadworthy and fit for purpose condition on a daily basis, not just annually at formal inspection. It will therefore be the vehicle manager, driver and booking service who are to ensure the tyres are not bald (or other vehicle defects), and not Govern 5 Booking Service
6. Will the on-demand vehicles required to have compulsory insurance? All vehicles have a requirement for an appropriate level of MII to cover personal injury to passengers in the event of a crash, including taxis and charter vehicles. It provides owners and drivers of WA licensed vehicles with cover for personal injuries they may cause to others in a motor vehicle crash anywhere in Australia. DoT will no longer mandate that taxi operators have at least $5 million cover for personal injury and property damage and a further $5 million cover for public liability. These additional insurances will be the responsibility of the vehicle owner and the need for this cover should be included as part of their risk assessment measures
7. Does EVERY on-demand vehicle has to be TDS affiliate? Every on-demand passenger transport service (journey) that is undertaken in an on-demand vehicle must be captured in records of an authorised on-demand booking service. This includes jobs done through rank or hail. Drivers who do rank or hail or take their own bookings and do not accept dispatched work through a booking or dispatch service will need to become a booking service in their own right. They will not need to be authorised IF they have what is called an association arrangement with a booking service who is authorised. The criteria for an association arrangement must set out the parties to the agreement, make clear which services the principle booking service has responsibility for and acknowledge that the principle booking service is responsible for prescribed functions. These will include reporting, record keeping, compliance with safety standards as well as functions in respect of the levy – such as lodging returns, being registered for the levy and paying the levy on leviable transactions.
8. What will be the requirement (and cost) for independent operators? All individuals and businesses that take booking for an on-demand trip from a customer and arrange a driver and vehicle to service that trip will be required to be authorised as an on-demand booking service or, have an association arrangement with an on-demand booking service who is authorised. To be authorised as an on-demand booking service provider, the individual, company, partnership or trust will need to apply to DoT and pay an annual authorisation fee, from 2019-20 onwards (the authorisation fee is waived in 2018-19). The on-demand booking service application and annual authorisation fees are yet to be finalised. The one-off fee for applying will be in the order of $100 and fees for 12 months authorisation will depend on how many vehicles the booking service wishes to dispatch to – a booking service with a single vehicle will pay around $250 a year, for those with 500+ vehicles the fee will be around $60,000 – $70,000 per annum. An entity seeking authorisation as an on-demand booking service provider will need to nominate a senior person who has responsibility for the day to day operations of the booking service. For a sole trader, the booking service applicant and responsible officer may be the same person. This Responsible Officer will be assessed for character suitability and will need to supply a recent (less than 3 months old) National Police Clearance, which typically cost around $45- $50 to obtain through a reputable provider. Authorised booking services will continue to have requirements for keeping records of all bookings taken (including rank or hail) and to maintain a customer complaints handling process. They will also need to set fares (with maximum taxi metered fares set by regulation), notify DoT of certain notifiable occurrences and report summary job data to DoT at routine intervals. If there are leviable transactions, the authorised on-demand booking service will need to register as a levy taxpayer, submit levy returns and pay the levy liability to Government.
9. What will happen if company like ‘uber’ will decide NOT to register as a dispatch provider? Section 27 of the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Act 2018 makes it an offence to provide an on-demand booking service while not being authorised to do so. Individuals and companies are liable for significant penalties of up to $200,000 if convicted of this offence. Any individual or company looking to advertise or promote their services will also need to quote their on-demand booking service authorisation number in advertising/promotional material.
10. Does the DOT believe that ‘official dispatch registration/authorisation’ for company like uber with approximately 14000 vehicles on the road can be revoke? The new legislation is very clear that an entity providing on-demand booking services must be authorised to do so. The Act has strong powers to revoke an authorisation, if the DoT CEO is no longer satisfied the authorisation holder meets requirements. The size of the entity is not a consideration in any decision to suspend or cancel an authorisation.
11. If a person who paid for the authorisation is unable to provide vehicle immediately (eg. due to accident) will the DOT confiscate the plates? Under the new legislation it is the Passenger Transport Vehicle authorisation that gives the person the authority to operate a vehicle for rank or hail on-demand. The taxi plate will be just a numberplate identifier. The Passenger Transport Vehicle authorisation with a rank or hail category will be held by the person who is the registered owner of the taxi vehicle, or has consent from the owner of the vehicle for it to be used as a taxi. The authorisation must be linked to a vehicle so if the vehicle details cannot be provided immediately then an authorisation cannot be held by that person. A new authorisation can be easily applied for once the new vehicle is ready and this vehicle will be given new taxi plates. Regulation of Taxi numbers
12. What will be mechanism to collect 10% levy from independent operators providing service to their ‘mobile phone’ customers? Drivers who do rank or hail or take their own bookings and do not accept dispatched work through a booking or dispatch service will need to become a booking service in their own right (and pay the levy). They will not need to be authorised IF they have what is called an association arrangement with a booking service who is authorised. The criteria for an association arrangement must set out the parties to the agreement, make clear which services the principle booking service has responsibility for and acknowledge that the principle booking service is responsible for prescribed functions. These will include reporting, record keeping, compliance with safety standards as well as functions in respect of the levy – such as lodging returns, being registered for the levy and paying the levy on leviable transactions. 3 The principle booking service will be responsible for the payment of the levy on any trips through their service or through drivers operating under an association arrangement with them. Drivers will need to be aware of their legal obligations to transfer any levy revenue collected to their booking service provider.
13. Will the 10% levy be deducted from our current income or will the taxi meter will be raised by this amount? There is an expectation that booking services will absorb the levy within their business models rather than passing it on to customers, although the legislation does not preclude this. With reduced costs to industry and stronger competition, the State Government does not believe there is justification for individual fares to increase by 10%. It will be up to individual booking services and business models if and how this impacts drivers. If taxi dispatchers choose to pass any or all of the levy on to the customer, the maximum fares that are regulated under the Taxi Regulations and Country Taxi Fare Regulations for the levy area will be amended to allow a levy to be added as an “other” amount.
14. Does the DOT have a plan ‘B’ of collecting the buy-back money if the current proposal will become a failure? If yes what is the plan? If not, why not? The levy will remain in place until all funds related to the buyback are recovered. It is expected that this will take four years – higher levy returns than expected will shorten the duration of the levy and lower levy returns than expected will increase the duration for which the levy is in place. There are significant penalties to individuals and companies for not paying levy that they are liable for. If a booking service fails to pay the Levy, their authorisation may be cancelled, and their operations will cease. Penalties for booking services who continue to operate without authorisations are fines of up to $200,000. The Department of Transport will be monitoring compliance through a range of activities including data analysis and intelligence, specialist auditing and on-road check by compliance officers as usual.
15. Why the owners of some non-transferable taxi plates will receive up to $40,000 from the buyback scheme if those plates were sold by the Govt. (very cheaply) with the purpose of ZERO financial gain? The financial gain that is captured by the monopoly profits reflects the controlled supply of taxi plates which allowed someone to earn an income off the plate through shift leasing. This occurred regardless of whether the plate was transferable or not. The purchase price is reflected in the buyback formula, those that purchased from Government at non-market rates are more likely to receive the floor payment, as will those who have held their plates for many years. Area and peak restricted plates will have lower floor amounts than conventional plates.
16. For how much longer will you continue to publicize this fake message of “WA buyback scheme being the most generous offer in the country” with your full awareness that the Northern Territory Government has paid the taxi plates owners (buy-back) $220 000 for the plates, valued at $220 000 being full compensation???The Northern Territory Government bought back plates as part of a National Competition Policy Review in 1999, which is almost 20 years ago and unrelated to the current reforms being implemented around the country at present. The WA offer of $100,000 for each conventional plate remains the most generous transition package in
17. With the cost of registration, DOT Admin fee and Inspection fee (up 36% this year) rising every year how the Taxi drivers going to keep absorbing these costs when we have not had a fare increase in 4 years??? Under the new legislation, DoT will continue to review the regulated maximum metered fares for taxis and make adjustments based on changes to the Taxi Cost Index (TCI). The TCI is set by DoT and represents the typical costs of maintaining a taxi on the road.
18. Do the existing taxi plates on the vehicles will be used, or brand new plates will need to be obtain by all on-demand vehicles (including taxis)? The Act sets out what will happen with Perth owned, Government leased taxi vehicles, country taxis and omnibus charter vehicles as they move from being regulated under the Taxi Act 1994 or Transport Coordination Act 1966 to the new Act. In relation to taxi vehicles, when the buyback payments are made in mid-2019: • all existing taxi vehicles will be transitioned to a new Passenger Transport Vehicle (PTV) authorisation, with the category of on-demand rank or hail, • The PTV authorisation will be held by the person who owns the taxi vehicle or has consent of the owner to use the vehicle as a taxi, • all restrictions on who can own a taxi vehicle, how many they can have and where and when it can operate, will be lifted, • the taxi plate itself will only serve as identification of the vehicle as a taxi and the PTV will signify the right to operate, • the current taxi plates will stay attached to the vehicle where possible. The Department of Transport will ask plate owners as part of the buyback application process to give details of the vehicle that is to be attached to the PTV authorisation, if they plan to stay in the industry and operate an on-demand rank or hail vehicle.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS;
# What was the process for overwriting the Minister’s promise of 4 year moratorium on the number of taxi plates?
# What will be the action taken by DOT against multinational (overseas registered) platforms to stop them operating outside the WA’s current law?
# Why this buy-back is called ‘voluntary’ if the drivers who decide not to accept the Government offer will have their right to operate their taxi terminated?
It is January 26th 2019. On this momentous day remember; your country did not let you down, the present-day politicians did. Have a great Australia Day.
J.G.
