from Australia
Cabbies are airing their frustration amid an alarming spike in driver assaults and abuse,
WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from Ireland
AUSTRALIAN CABBIES LEAVING THE JOB AFTER SPIKE IN ASSAULTS
FREENOW: IRISH CABBIES TO BE CUT OFF FOR LOW ACCEPTANCE RATES
which is
forcing some drivers to leave the industry. They have shared horrific experiences of broken arms and bottles being bashed over their heads, as instances of knife attacks and physical abuse escalate. Australia’s largest taxi company, 13cabs, has launched a safety awareness campaign after a major spike in incidents of aggression from passengers across major cities. Figures showed Melbourne had the greatest number, followed by Sydney and Brisbane. In Melbourne in the past year there were 381 cases of assaults, compared to 319 in the same period in 2022. There were 233 incidents in Sydney compared to 170 this time last year. And in Brisbane, there were 192 compared to 119 in 2022. Chief executive of 13cabs, Olivia Barry, said the public needed to treat taxi drivers as human beings. “These things are just totally unacceptable,” she said. “I’m sure drugs and alcohol have something to do with this as well, as we see that most of our drivers are affected by this behaviour late at night. “A driver is a person who goes home to their families.” Melbourne taxi driver Ryan Eido suffered a broken arm following a physical assault. He hasn’t returned to work since. Taxi driver Binny Arora was driving in the city when a passenger tried to crack a beer bottle over his head. “I didn’t work for a week and I’ve stopped driving at night at all,” he said. The new 13cabs campaign will be marked by some taxis in each state featuring specially designed dome lights, displaying the words “brother”, “sister”, “son”, “dad” and” friend”, instead of ‘13cabs’. Some 13cabs vehicles will feature the sticker #MoreThanJustADriver on the back bumper bar. All 13cabs are equipped with cameras, tracking and back to base security. But the company is pleading for more support from law enforcement to prevent the assaults.
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Ireland’s biggest taxi company has warned drivers they will be temporarily blocked from taking fares through it’s app if they don’t accept enough jobs. The move by Freenow, used by 14,000 taxi drivers across the country, is to ensure more availability to customers. “From next week, we will implement a new process in the app by which you may be temporarily blocked if you consistently have a low acceptance rate,” the company’s message said. “In case you’re blocked, you will be notified in the app and you will start receiving offers again after a given period of time.” The company added that it was imposing the new penalties on drivers because “a critical component of [good service] is that trips are accepted promptly and reliably by our driver partners”. It said that a “consistently low acceptance rate” was 10 per cent. "We have introduced this measure to encourage less engaged drivers to use our app more consistently,” a spokesperson said. “Drivers will be able to see their acceptance rate at all times on the driver app. Driver partners who don’t meet this acceptance rate will have their access to the app temporarily suspended.” The spokesperson said that drivers would “always” be given notice by Freenow before any suspension takes place “so they can improve their acceptance rate”. However, the move is being met with dismay by some. “I think this is going to lead to chaos coming up to Christmas with drivers either being blocked from the app or leaving it of their own free will,” one driver said. “When you drop a passenger off, the app automatically makes you available for another job and begins to offer you more jobs to accept. Bear in mind that you might already have another booking or you might be finished your work for the day or you might need to use the toilet. With this new policy, if the driver rejects the jobs then they will be blocked from the system.”
DECEMBER 2023 PHTM
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