NEWS
ED and M2 Cashless from 30 January
15 JANUARY The next step in the NSW Government’s commitment to transition the Sydney Motorway network to fully cashless operations will take place on 30 January 2012, with the cashless conversion of the Hills M2 and the Eastern Distributor. The conversion follows the highly successful conversion...READ MORE
Recruiting Taxi Drivers
The NSW Taxi Council recently talked to taxi drivers about why they like driving taxis and the advantages of becoming a taxi driver. Taxi driving is unlike other jobs, as taxi drivers have a lot of freedom to control how, when and where they work. The comments we obtained from drivers...READ MORE
TTSS Changes
1 JANUARY 2012 From the January 2012 processing period (which started on 22 December) missing, invalid or unreadable Driver Authority numbers will result in the TTSS docket being rejected. If this occurs, the TTSS Subsidy, and if applicable the WATDIS Payment claim, will...READ MORE
Pre-Paid Fare Trial Commences on Central Coast
NOVEMBER 2011 The trial of pre-paid taxi fares has commenced on the Central Coast and is expected to run for up to 12 months before the results are assessed by Transport for NSW. On 15 November, Central Coast taxi drivers and operators attended two seperate briefing sessions at the West Gosford...READ MORE
Taxi Industry Association Election Results
DECEMBER 2011 Previous directors of the NSW Taxi Industry Association, Alex Georgiadis, Peter Hyer and Ray Meredith have been re-elected to the board of the Association at the recent election. The Chairman of the Association has offered his congratulations to those re-elected and has...READ MORE
Cabcharge Results
15 NOVEMBER 2011 At Cabcharge's AGM, the company announced that profit before non-recurring items (NRI) rose by $61.1m from $57.6m in 2010. Earnings per share (before NRI) also rebounded to 50.7 cents from 47.8 cents in 2010 - an increase of 6.1%. These results were driven by a combination...READ MORE
Police Release CCTV Footage to Help Capture Taxi Robber
23 OCTOBER 2011 Police have released CCTV images of a man they wish to speak to in relation to a robbery of a taxi driver last month. Click here for more details.READ MORE
Taxi Driver and Operator Surveys
7 OCTOBER 2011 The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal in conjunction with the Department of Transport is conducting surveys of taxi drivers and taxi operators to collect information to be used in updating the taxi cost indices used for recommending adjustments to taxi fares. Surveys will be...READ MORE
197 New Plates for Sydney
25 SEPTEMBER 2011 The NSW Taxi Council believes the issuing of 197 new taxi plates in Sydney in the next financial year is ‘too many’ and the industry may have difficulty finding enough new drivers to drive existing and additional taxis throughout the week. If taxi operators...READ MORE
Statement by the NSW Taxi Council
30 AUGUST 2011 The NSW Taxi Council supports Department of Transport’s action to suspend or cancel taxi driver authorities, particularly in instances relating to the safety of the travelling public. The Administrative Decisions Tribunal has ruled that two taxi...READ MORE
Unauthorised Taxi Booking Services
JULY 2011 It has come to the attention of the NSW Taxi Council that a number of app-based products are promoting unauthorised taxi booking services. These are services which are not authorised within the NSW Government’s regulations designed to ensure that taxi dispatch systems can...READ MORE
Sydney Airport Taxi Access Fee
JUNE 2001 The NSW Taxi Council today said the industry was satisfied that it had worked with Sydney Airport to secure benefits for drivers and passengers ahead of the increase in the taxi access fee. “As the peak body representing the taxi industry, it has been our priority to ensure...READ MORE
Sign Our LPG Petition
JUNE 2011 Many people are unaware that the Federal Government is proposing to introduce an excise on LPG fuel that would add 12.5 cents per litre to the cost of LPG. Following representations made by the Australian LPG Association with support from the Australian Taxi Industry Association,...READ MORE
FASTCARD Available Now!
JUNE 2011: Cabcharge Australia has launched the Cabcharge FASTCARD™ which utilises Contactless technology for taxi travel.
“This is the most significant technological advance in taxi travel since Cabcharge launched electronic payments more than 15 years ago, and we are...READ MORE
Assisted School Transport Program
JANUARY 2011: The NSW Taxi Council launched legal action in the NSW Supreme Court to prevent the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) purchasing transport services for school children from unaccredited transport providers.
Lawyers have advised the NSW Taxi Council that the tender for...READ MORE
Demerit Points Changes
JANUARY 2011: From 31 January 2011, the demerit points threshold for unrestricted licence holders in NSW will increase from 12 to 13 points. This means if you have an unrestricted NSW Driver Licence (not a learner or provisional licence), and you accumulate 13 demerit points, you will face...READ MORE
Schools Zones Now In Force
JANUARY 2011: The RTA is reminding motorists 40 km/h school zones will be enforced from Friday 28 January for the start of term one.
Drivers are urged to take care and slow down in and around school zones.
School zones operate on all gazetted school days including staff and teacher development...READ MORE
Christmas Cheer
JANUARY 2011: The NSW Taxi Council would like to congratulate the staff at Zero200 and all the WAT drivers who worked on Christmas Day to provide a terrific service.
Approximately 2,000 jobs were completed on Christmas Day which is about six times the number undertaken on a regular...READ MORE
Howard Harrison is a True Mystery...
JANUARY 2011: Howard Harrison, the ex-CEO of the NSW Taxi Council, has published a crime novel.
The story isn’t about the Taxi Industry, but there is nevertheless plenty of political intrigue involved.
The book is called 'A Cross to Bear' and is available for purchase by clicking...READ MORE
Network KPIs - Congratulations!
DECEMBER 2010: The NSW Taxi Council today congratulated NSW’s taxi networks on exceeding the world’s leading Key Performance Indicators in more than 90% of cases. “Of more than 300 KPIs published by the NSW Government for the period July-September 2010, there are fewer...READ MORE
Cabcharge's Next Generation Meter
JANUARY 2011: The next generation Cabcharge meter is now available.
The meter has a range of new features for drivers:
It has features which allow for journey details to be calculated.
This feature captures the tolls due and displays them on the meter with the fare at the end...READ MORE
NSW Taxi Industry Association Elections
NOVEMBER 2010: The NSW Taxi Industry Association held its Annual General Meeting on 1 November. Brian Wilkins, John Bowe, Fred Lukabyo, Charlie Stanbridge and Richard Garvey were re-elected as directors of the Association for a term of two years. The Board also re-appointed Mr...READ MORE
More New Plates
24 November 2010: The Minister for Transport, Hon John Robertson has announced an additional 66 new taxi plates to be on the road by Christmas.
Click here for more details.READ MORE
Additional Taxi Compliance Officers for Christmas
26 November 2010: The NSW Government is introducing additional taxi compliance officers for the busy Christmas period. The officers will be working in taxi hot spots on Friday and Saturday nights stepping up enforcement of the regulations. Click here for more details.READ MORE
2010 Taxi Driver of the Year Winners
The State’s eight best taxi drivers have been honoured in the NSW Taxi Council’s Taxi Driver of the Year Awards.
“We have found the best drivers in our Industry - those who recognise the importance of customer service and who receive a multitude of passenger compliments for...READ MORE
New Taxis On The Road By Christmas
11 NOVEMBER 2010: The 167 new taxi plates released by the NSW Government will be on the road by Christmas bringing with it promotions for some of the great performers in our Industry. 90 of the new licences were available to taxi drivers only. The tender in August/September this...READ MORE
Contract Work Opportunity
Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Trainer
Approximately 3 to 6 days per month
The NSW Taxi Council is seeking expressions of interest from WAT qualified taxi drivers to provide training and conduct practical assessments of taxi drivers wishing to become WAT drivers in the (Sydney) Metropolitan Transport...READ MORE
Illegal Taxi Services
Thanks to the efforts of an alert driver, the NSW Taxi Council was recently successful in asking Transport NSW to stop an illegal taxi service.
The service had been promoted in a flyer which was letter box dropped in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. It turns out the service was an unauthorised...READ MORE
Cabcharge Australia Attracts Ethical Investors
Cabcharge Australia is reportedly one of the Australian companies attracting ‘ethical investors’.
Australian Ethical Investment has about $600 million under management in funds that are filtered to exclude shares deemed to be either socially or environmentally harmful.
Australian Ethical...READ MORE
Good Looking Livery
Have you seen the new Manly Cabs, Peninsula Premier Prestige & RSL liveries around town?
READ MORE
TTF So-Called Survey
As an industry, we will accept criticism where it is earned or due, but the recent TTF questionnaire that has attracted some media commentary is extremely disappointing. Firstly, during the month of November when a mere 41 people from Sydney responded to the TTF questionnaire, our taxi drivers in...READ MORE
New Style Plates
Tired of getting infringement notices which don’t apply to your taxi plate number. The problem is over – the NSW Taxi Council and the RTA have been working on new plates which are designed to meet the requirements of new enforcement camera technology and reduce the margin for error.
Operators...READ MORE
Excellence in training
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT presented retiring CEO Mr Howard Harrison with a certificate of appreciation.
The certificate, presented by guide dog users; Barbara Bonfield and Leonie Wolff (pictured), was to thank Mr Harrison for promoting Industry awareness about the rights of people who use guide dogs.
Since...READ MORE
JULY 2011: Cabcharge Australia has launched the Cabcharge FASTCARD™ which utilises Contactless technology for taxi travel.
“This is the most significant technological advance in taxi travel since Cabcharge launched electronic payments more than 15 years ago, and we are excited and proud of what our dedicated team has achieved,” Executive Chairman, Mr R L Kermode said.
“This is world-class technology and the fact we are first into the taxi market again cements our reputation as an innovator and leader.”
Contactless technology is globally accepted as the fastest and most secure means of payment available.
Passengers just tap the FASTCARD™ against the Cabcharge terminal and the transaction is complete – there is no need to hand over the card, no need to sign or enter a PIN. It’s even faster than paying cash and waiting for the change!
“For drivers, this means less time at the kerb processing cards and printing receipts, and more time picking up passengers and keeping the meter ticking,” said Mr Kermode.
Security wise – there is no better technology. The Contactless technology abandons the old magnetic strip and doesn’t require swiping, so there is a significantly reduced chance of fraudulent card copying or skimming.
“Most importantly, it will open new markets for our services. Globally, contactless technology is increasingly being relied upon for low value transactions. No amount is too small for the Cabcharge FASTCARD™ so even very short journeys can now be processed through our system,” Mr Kermode said.
The new Cabcharge FASTCARD™ is gold with the image of a cheetah – the fastest animal on earth. The FASTCARD™ will be activated soon.
Following activation, the eTICKETs and other cards will be migrated to the new technology.