‘Take back Brisbane streets’: Proposal for one-year ride share moratorium would give taxi’s a boost
Queensland cabbies are calling for the State Government to impose a one-year moratorium on new for-hire vehicle licences, in a bid to stop the glut of rideshare services pushing taxi’s out of business.
With the proliferation of services like Uber causing the value of a QLD taxi licence to collapse by 77% since 2012, calls for government to intervene in the market and compensate have been ramping up for some time.
But it seems the pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
“It’s appalling,” says QLD Taxi Council Chief Executive, Blair Davies.
“We’ve got mum and dad investors who purchased a licence, believing they’d be backed by government. They’ve found those assets have been destroyed, by decisions of the government.”
“But in New York, they’ve realised the number of Uber’s on the road has exploded. They’ve reached saturation point.”
“So the council has done the sensible thing when you’re over-saturated. You hit the pause button and you don’t issue anymore.”
“ QLD should do the same. Take back Brisbane streets. Because there is no restraint on those vehicles. They’re coming onto the road all the time.”
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