Yahoo Finance Taxi price hike flagged for Aussies: ‘Very difficult’
NSW residents would face a 4 per cent price hike on taxi fares, while Victorians would be hit with a 5.7 per cent increase.
New South Wales and Victorian residents could soon be slugged with higher taxi fares, under new proposals to hike ride prices. One group says a price increase is necessary to support “hard working” taxi drivers who are doing it tough.
The NSW Taxi Council has called for a 4 per cent fare increase to taxi fares across the board and said drivers haven’t received a pay rise in a decade. It said higher costs, including skyrocketing insurance premiums, have made for “very difficult conditions” for drivers to operate a business.
The price hike would increase the initial fare from $3.60 to $3.74, the charge per kilometre from $2.29 to $2.38, and the taxi wait time from 94 cents per minute to 97 cents per minute.
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“There hasn’t been a review of the taxi fares for rank and hail fares since 2014,” NSW Taxi Council CEO Nick Abrahim told 2GB.
"When you do the numbers, if we equated that over those 10 years, that’s a 27 per cent increase of where fares should be in line with just CPI."
Fares for taxis caught from a taxi rank or hailed from the street are regulated by the state government.
While there has been no increase in nominal fares in the last decade, Transport for NSW did approve an increase to maximum rank and hail fares by 10 cents per kilometre at the start of 2023.
“All we are saying is these hard-working taxi drivers that have bills to pay, have to put a roof over their head, pay their mortgages, food on the table, it’s just to say let’s give them a modest relief to at least help them,” Abrahim said.
Price hike also flagged for Victorians
Victoria’s Essential Services Commission has also recommended a 5.7 per cent increase to maximum fares for taxis hailed from the street or at a taxi rank.
This recommended increase was “primarily driven” by the 3.75 per cent minimum wage increase announced by Fair Work earlier this month, the Commission said, along with increased vehicle and insurance costs.
The proposed change would increase the cost of a three-kilometre trip by 84 cents and would add $3.22 to a trip from Melbourne’s CBD to Tullamarine Airport.
The Commission’s executive director of price monitoring and regulation Marcus Crudden said this would strike a balance between ensuring customers don't pay too much and ensuring taxis were an accessible option.
“Passengers now have more choice than ever, with rideshare operators and taxis competing strongly for patronage,” Crudden said.
“Victorians’ transportation needs continue to evolve post-pandemic, and although demand for taxis is still to fully recover, the industry is working hard to ensure taxis remain a viable option for consumers, passengers and operators alike.”
The maximum fare for unbooked taxi trips increased by 11.2 per cent in 2022 and 4.1 per cent in 2023.
This does not apply to fares pre-booked through an app, online or over the phone.
Uber also raised its fares last year. Under the nationwide changes, passengers are now forking out close to 4 per cent more on each booking following feedback from drivers.
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