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Tuesday February 7, 2012

What we're talking about

  • Durkim on New Zealand Gangs Mm, yeah... Real funny, Randhil... more
  • Kayli on The Boats God help me, I put aside a whole afteroonn to figure this out. more
  • Raynes on Tax and Pollution Until I found this I thoguht I'd have to spend the day inside. more
  • James Brown on Mark Latham Mark, you must fell as if you are pushing it uphill, but you are the hope of the side. Keep it up! more
  • Michael on Halal certification The Halal Choices website is http://www.halalchoices.com.au/product_lists.htmlIt lists all the products that have been ... more
  • a barker on A few facts on illegal boat people We are the Lucky Country, or are we?.15 years ago maybe.How many Indonesian Officials are taking a a bribe from the people ... more
  • Robin on The Boats Hey,Thanks! Great post you have written on "The Boats ".Really I can say that your post is very informative, I'll come ... more
  • dan on A few facts on illegal boat people From what i can see if we dont do something about this flood gate issue,we will have the same nonsense thats happening over ... more
  • Randhil on New Zealand Gangs This info is the cat's pajmaas! more
  • Keshawn on CMC Complaint into Queensland Health That's rlelay shrewd! Good to see the logic set out so well. more
  • howard on Learning from one another? We are such a politically correct and multiculturally sensitive country Islamists are flourishing here. Just as they ... more
  • PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
  • PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
  • anne white on Halal certification A website that lists all Australian food products that are halal is, HALAL CHOICES.Also I phoned COLES (1800 061 562) and ... more
  • john on The Taxi Industry No one have the right to do anything they dont want.. you want to drive cabs do it you are not force to do something you do ... more
  • Diana on Halal certification I just found out about this today! Does anyone know how to get a list of products bearing this logo so we can boycott them? more
  • lol on New Zealand Gangs lol... this isnt good at all more
  • Ann on Support our Diggers Is it possible to buy this sticker? I'm sure any number of people would be proud to support our diggers by displaying the ... more
  • Mimosa on Smith with PM Gillard You mean I don't have to pay for expert adcvie like this anymore?! more
  • figsen/hypolgirl on Anna Bligh as President Hope you're checking this out Wobblyone. Your comment is one of the cleverist/funniest I have read. Couldn't stop laughing. ... more

The Taxi Industry

Posted by: Michael Smith | 7 May, 2009 - 1:53 PM

You have to wonder why your taxi fare includes a return on investment for a $400,000 taxi plate licence.

What for?

The poor old taxi driver, at the bottom of the heap, gets half the meter fare minus GST.

I understand why the taxi owner needs a significant take - for insurance, repairs, maintenance, the $30K capital cost of the car.

Then there are depot fees, radio fees, public liability fees. I understand that.

I don’t understand why the near monopoly Cabcharge sticks a 10% surcharge on top of taxi licence fees - but that’s another issue.

There’s a market in taxi licence plates. At present they’re around $400 grand. So before you buy a cab, before you pay anything else, to have a cab on the road you need an investment of around $400K. The government is the first beneficiary of that, but once the plates are issued (at whatever tender price they get) then there’s a freely traded market in cab plates. And the net effect is that your cab fare includes an element for the return on the $400 thousand value of the plate.

No one invests that sort of money without some expectation of return on investment. It’s probably around $50K per year out of the cab fares for each cab per year.

And for the life of me I don’t understand why you - the customer - are subsidising that investment.

There’s an arguable case that we would be better off if the government regulated for clean cabs, safe cars, well credentialed drivers and removed the requirement for a return on a ridiculously large investment in the plates.

The nett effect of the current situation is that it’s simply not possible to drive a cab (as a driver, not owner) and make a decent living. I defy anyone to live on about $8 or $9 an hour. Yet that’s what we expect of cabbies.

That’s resulted in an influx of foreign students. Student visas are one of the great rorts of this nation. Privately owned colleges sell education courses - they advertise widely in Asia, the Middle East and in the ethnic press in Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane - for students to sign up.

The guidelines are that students are required to have 9 hours of face to face tuition each week. It’s often theoretical. And they can work - formally - for up to 20 hours a week. Who’s policing that?

The taxi companies are happy - they get drivers willing to drive. As you know, the number of taxi driver licences issued in the past year is double the total for the preceding 3 years. This coincides with an influx of students - the numbers from India alone are staggering, last year Indian students increased from 2,300 to 6,240.

The word is out in the target markets.

We have to ask ourselves this question. Are we happy to import cheap labour? That is effectively what we are doing. The taxi industry is delighted. They get a compliant, easily dismissed labour force that will work cheap. The vested interests in the cab industry, the despatch centres, the plate owners and the unbelievable near monopoly that Cabcharge has with its 10% mark-up on taxi fees - they are all happy.

The poor bugger who’s driving for $8 an hour is not. Nor is the customer who gets in a cab with someone who can barely speak the language. The rate of accidents is on the rise.

How can it be just, that a native Queenslander has to hold a learner’s permit, do 100 hours, hold a licence for 3 years before he or she can sit the cab exam. But there’s no check on the history of a foreign driver who lobs here and produces a foreign drivers’ licence - which is taken on face value. Nor is there any state based system of criminal-history checking in the source country. And who knows how many licences, once issued, are shared fraudulently amongst foreign drivers?

This is the thin edge of a very big wedge. Are we happy to import foreign labour because it’s cheap? Many, many people will say yes - bring it on. But make no mistake; it’s the start of a two class system in this country. Is that the sort of Australia you want to live in?

Blog comments Your Say

  • No one have the right to do anything they dont want.. you want to drive cabs do it you are not force to do something you do want to do
    So leave the cab industry alone
    JOHN

    john Friday 11 November, 2011 - 8:54 PM

  • hi i am garry...i have two year experience as a texi driver..i want taxi on weekly set pay..please tell me in how much you can give me taxi on weekly set pay.........please give me reply..i hope to hear from you soon.thank you

    gurmukh Friday 8 October, 2010 - 1:10 PM

  • . Its all about chasing shadows.
    By that I mean latching on to this or that latest, most innovative idea that some self styled money making guru has put out in the hope it’ll go viral and make them a lot of money off the backs of all the headless chickens who will follow them blindly down a blind alley. Its a shame but a truism nonetheless that people will follow where someone they see as an expert leads. Even if they lead them to certain disaster, which is what most of the gurus tend to do to their flocks.
    The trick is to recognize a shadow when you see it!
    www.onlineuniversalwork.com

    davidbaer Saturday 6 February, 2010 - 4:26 PM

  • For the perfect customer service jobs il go to http://www.taxvacancies.com Find the best new perfect career for you when you look and fill out applications online. Dont go door to door looking for a new job. Look for one in the comfort of your own home and apply! Find the best customer service jobs in il when you sign up and search today!

    tax jobs melbourne Tuesday 5 January, 2010 - 5:29 PM

  • If you watched SBS and Jenny Macklin last night (Tue 21st July) you would have seen the scam that is called education for overseas students. The institutions are often on the make and, if anecdotal evidence is worth anything, so are the students. More than 90% of the recent cab drivers in Brisbane are not in the slightest bit interested in becoming hairdressers or chefs etc but truly interested in permanent residency.

    Nick Lindsley Wednesday 22 July, 2009 - 12:32 PM

  • My son got out of a cab on Saturday night, saw that his wallet had falled out of his jeans on to his seat. The cabbie saw it too and sped off. A call to the cab company immediately revealed that they can't do anything about their drivers.Told to ring Monday and complain. They couldnt care less. I was told nothing they can do. The fact that he rang immediately and the time and address he got let off doesnt matter. Apparently they have no way of checking no their cab drivers except for a number of the cab. I think they are not being honest. So they could have a mass murderer driving a cab and they have no way of knowing who is driving their cabs on a Saturday night? yellow cabs - you are just the worst cab company I have ever dealt with!

    Kathy Monday 20 July, 2009 - 9:54 AM

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