TAMWORTH Taxi director Greg Rowland is visiting country and metropolitan drivers in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia to gauge the feeling of other jurisdictions in light of sweeping industry changes.
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A self-funded trip, Mr Rowland said he would make a submission to MP Kevin Anderson upon return, calling for an amendment regarding country taxis to the legislation.
“It’s also about trying to find ways to offer a better service and identify areas where we could provide special service that taxis could possibly cater for,” he said.
Mr Rowland’s trip comes as the NSW government announced it will not be issuing any new taxi plates in the 2016/17 financial year.
“Considering the market is in a state of transition, as well as the growth in alternative options for customers, no taxi licences will be released into the market in 2016-17,” a Transport for NSW spokesman said.
With the legalisation of ride-sharing app Uber in December last year, Mr Rowland said the biggest impact to country taxis would not be to cash flow, but to asset value.
Mr Rowland said Uber would have a more profound effect in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong and predicted it “would not venture beyond the Great Diving Range”.
