Cab News

Thanks to the tireless work of Michael Jools, president of the New South Wales Taxi Drivers Association, the great credit card rip-off employed by Cabcharge has been successfully challenged. I'm speaking of taxi passengers being hit with a 10% surcharge for the priviledge of processing their plastic through EFTPOS terminals in cabs.

Whilst the Australian Competition Tribunal resisted revoking this outrageous impost entirely, they have forced Cabcharge to relinquish their monopoly on the scam,

The ruling means taxi drivers can now choose alternative payment systems from the dominant Cabcharge system, opening taxi payments to competition.

This could result in drivers receiving a share of the service fee, or even a reduction in the service fee a customer paid, said the NSW Taxi Drivers Association president, Michael Jools.

In other cab-related media, a Sydney Morning Herald blogger laments the lack of Sydney cabbie locality knowledge. An old story but worth another spin. I left a comment,

As a Sydney cabbie I totally agree, too many cabbies haven't a clue where to go.

Why doesn't the Herald start a campaign to get rid of them ? This would reduce the workforce by 50%, thereby driving up fares and I'll make a fortune. I dare you...

Comments

[Guy]

I think its silly to expect that cabbies should know every little obscure street in Sydney. It's only being polite to proffer assistance if the cabbie you get isn't sure of the way (or the best way) to get to where they are going!

[PQ]

Agreed that cabbies do not need to know obscure Sydney suburban streets, but they should at least know the major destinations, all the suburbs, and how to get to them, and be able to go the shortest or quickest way when asked.

I would not mind paying a premium or a surcharge to a cabby that had passed the equivalent of a London cabbie's "knowledge" and had his cab marked as such. At least then I would know I was not about to be taken on an unwanted tour of Sydney looking for my destination.

[Huggies]

I hate Cabcharge because they want everything on a Cabcharge docket to be 100% correct and if it isn't then they won't pay you. As I tell Cab Drivers they are a bunch of fuss pots.

[Graeme]

It is great news that Cabcharge's monopoly has been broken.Cabcharge doesn't work for the benefit of working taxi drivers.
I agree with your comments about drivers who do not know what they are doing.
If they got rid of the worst 20% there would be no detrimental effect on passengers as competent drivers could easily take up the 20 % slack. The result would be an improvement for everybody.
Our political masters do not have the imagination to do anything.