WORLDWIDE
This month we go from the sublime to the sur- real with our lead story showing the extreme lengths that some Australian taxi drivers are having
to resort to to show their displeasure at new airport proposals. Mean- while across state taxi drivers in Victoria are finding out just how little money their badge is worth. The Chinese government is implementing increased taxi fares in an attempt to ease rush hour traffic in the capi- tal and we have safety concerns raised by a number of countries. That’s not even mentioning the incredible item from Seoul...
from Australia
MELBOURNE DRIVERS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKE IN AIRPORT PROTEST
Some taxi drivers have begun a hunger strike to protest against a new queuing system at Melbourne Airport. The airport has axed its short fare queue, amid claims drivers had been abusing the system. That system allowed a driver who had taken only a short trip to jump the queue at the taxi rank. Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff says less than two per cent of all pick-ups are classified as short fares, but more than 12 per cent of drivers were claiming they had been on a short trip. Airport management is planning to introduce a licence plate recognition system in September to ensure the queue is not being defrauded. Nazar Yousif has been a taxi driver in Melbourne for 12 years and is one of five drivers who have vowed to remain on a hunger strike indefinitely. “We are hunger striking today, trying to put more pressure (on),” he told Melbourne ABC News. “This is starting to become very ugly and showing the feeling of big cor- porate behaviour (Melbourne Airport) towards taxi drivers.” Mr Yousif says it is not viable for drivers to wait up to two hours for a small fare of $10 or $15.”You wait there, not only waiting, your car is running. That’s a cost for us,” he said. Last month drivers blockaded the taxi rank at the airport again to protest against the changes. Melbourne Airport is hoping that the licence plate recognition technology will help resolve the impasse with some taxi driv- ers over short fares. Chris Woodruff says most taxi drivers support improvements to the sys- tem. “What we’ve seen in the past few days is a very small minority of drivers who want to introduce a system that has failed,” he said. “The vast majority of drivers do not.” Mr Woodruff says the old approach simply was not working. “If we had not have stopped it,
the vast Drivers blockade the airport’s taxi rank
majority of drivers would have taken action. And that’s because the sys- tem was being abused,” he said. “Less than two per cent of all pick-ups are what we call short fares and yet more than 12 per cent of drivers entering the site were claiming to have come back from a short fare.”
meanwhile from across state...
VICTORIA TAXI LICENCE HOLDERS FACE RUIN Taxi licence holders could face bankruptcy after a major bank told staff to attach a nil value to all Victorian licences in the wake of reforms announced by the State Government last month. Licence holders who have borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy permits fear they will be financially ruined. A leaked email sent to staff within the Commonwealth Bank of Australia tells staff that “a nil value is to be extended for Vic Taxi Plates for the foreseeable future”. Other major banks are believed to have issued similar instructions. There are fears many licence holders will lose their homes as banks call in loans they dished out for the licences. There are more than 5000 taxi licences in Victoria, which were bought for up to $480,000 each. The Government announced changes to the taxi industry last month based on a report by Professor Allan Fels. Victorian Taxi Association chief executive David Samuel said the memo was of “tremendous concern”. “We have said all along we support reform to licences but what has come before must be recognised and people have invested significant amounts of money in the taxi business,” Mr Samuel told the Herald Sun. “To see that value removed so suddenly and in such dramatic fashion is unfair to those people, and ultimately won’t ensure a better taxi service for Victoria.”
from China
BEIJING RAISES CAB FARES AS TAXIS DISAPPEAR DURING RUSH HOURS
Beijing will raise taxi fares for the first time since 2006 to boost driver incomes after customer complaints that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hail a cab in China’s capital city. Starting from June 10, the base fare has been increased 30 per cent to 13 yuan ($2.12) for the first 3 kilometers (1.86 miles), the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said in a statement posted on its website. Each additional kilometer will cost 2.3 yuan, up from 2 yuan cur- rently, according to the statement. According to Bloomberg News online, Beijing, which has been voted as having the world’s worst commute, is raising taxi fares to entice cab driv- ers to brave the morning and evening rush hours, when demand by the city’s 20.7 million residents is highest and traffic jams are at their most severe. “Beijing traffic jams are really bad, so we spend a lot of time on the road but our passenger turnover is much lower,” said Chen Baiwen, a 42-year old taxi driver in Beijing. “I’ll sometimes meet up with friends somewhere or if it’s evening I’ll go home for dinner during rush hour.” Even after the fare increase, it remains cheaper to hail a cab in China than many other countries. Costs start at the equivalent of $7 in Tokyo, $3.30 in London and $3 in Washington. Beijing’s cab drivers earned an average 53,892 yuan in income last year, lower than the city average of 56,061 yuan, even though cabbies usually work longer hours at about ten hours a day, according to the local gov- ernment. Beijing currently has 66,646 taxis in operation for about 700 million trips in a city that’s about half the size of Belgium, according to the
WE ARE SPECIALISTS FOR THE TAXI TRADE GOT PPI? – RECLAIMYOUR MONEYNOW!!
NO WIN – NO FEE PAGE 60 PHTM JULY 2013
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