LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir – In the February 15 sittings of the NT Parliament I will be moving a motion that a Parliamentary inquiry be undertaken into the Alice Springs taxi industry.
This motion has come about through my discussions with various taxi stakeholders over the past 12 months – drivers, operators and license holders.
It is clear that there are serious systemic problems with the licensing and regulation of our local taxi industry. The focus of the inquiry I am proposing will be the allocation of taxi licenses; the practice of sub-leasing taxi licenses; and the regulation of taxi licenses in Alice Springs.
This motion is intended to reform an industry that seems to have been long neglected and overshadowed by questionable and possible unlawful practices.
This is not intended to be a witch hunt but an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and make the taxi industry fair and transparent for everyone.
Robyn Lambley MLA
Member for Araluen
Can you also add to your discussions Robyn / Erwin the question on whether people in Alice Springs would expect that all taxis are fully comprehensively insured?
When one hit the side of my car, the owner and the driver both denied all knowledge and refused to pay any money out.
They also both admitted that it was too expensive to be fully comprehensively insured!
Do you think that Wayne Thompson who runs the school buses would have the same excuse for running your children to school?
I would hope that fully comprehensive insurance was a prerequisite for transporting people. Also what about the non declaring of earnings fully for the tax department?
Taxi drivers are the first to whinge and cry wolf over Uber coming but they have been rorting the system for years.
Full comprehensive insurance covers the cost of repair to their own vehicle as well as to yours. What you are asking for, which seems quite reasonable, is that there is a requirement to have third party property damage insurance in place. Whether they choose to self insure for damage to their own vehicles would seem a matter for them.
Good point @ Julie, it’s my understanding that most taxis getting around town have no insurance whatsoever on them.
It ain’t the industry that’s needs an overhaul and regulation check in the Alice.
It’s some rude and impatient employees who drive the taxis – and that’s being nice.