From: Harvey Wade [harvey@smart.net.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 23 May, 2001 14:16
To: disabdis@humanrights.gov.au
Subject: Harvey Wade (Operator of a WAT)

Dear Sir,
                I own a Wheel chair accessible taxi. I have owned this taxi for about 18 months, prior to this I drove a wheel chair accessible taxi for about 8 years, hence  I consider that I am a very experienced driver and have a lot to offer in terms of an industry point of view.

                I am personally frustrated about working in an industry that does not function particularly well as far as the customer is concerned, nor as far as the driver is concerned. Why, is the difficult question and an even harder question is how it could/should be improved.

                First, I am highly critical of the regulatory authority, the Victorian Taxi Directorate (VTD), as I consider that they are ultimately responsible as they have set up the framework under which the WATS operate. First, the idea that WATS operate as normal taxis and "give priority to wheelchair work" is a concept that opens up all sorts of problems and an obvious conflict of interest. I don't think you can blame taxi drivers for taking what they consider the easiest and most profitable work, and I feel it is important to emphasize here "what the driver considers to be the easiest and most profitable work."  That's human nature and it is also a culture strongly imbued in taxi drivers who are self-employed, work on their own, and compete amongst themselves for the "best" work.


Although passengers often like to ring a driver they know (and there is no reason why they shouldn't) often this option is forced on them because the radio networks are so inefficient. It is also worth noting that drivers are forced to do just the same ( i.e., take" private bookings") if they want to  do wheelchair work because the depots are so inefficient. This is a poor situation for both passengers and operators, as it is often inefficient for operators to rely on private bookings.For what it is worth I am of the opinion that a dedicated fleet is the best option, however now we have a "multi-purpose" fleet it seems that is what we are stuck with.

            In the old days we used to work out of conventional depots, the fleets were small, it was difficult for the drivers and the service was poor. Then came CBS (Central Booking Service). Easier for the drivers and the service although improved it still left a lot to be desired. Later still the Victorian Taxi Directorate released 100 additional licenses for WATS, the so called HOV vehicles, meaning High Occupancy Vehicles. Now once again I am critical of the VTD. First, the naming of the licenses High Occupancy Vehicles, to me that suggests groups of people not wheel chairs. Further HOV's had to pay $65,000:00, for their licenses by contrast the original "M50" vehicles received their licenses for nothing or next to nothing. The HOV owners were also required to buy new cars, the M50's could buy used vehicles meaning the former had to outlay substantially more capital to get started.  Further the HOVs got "second call" on the wheelchair work, meaning the M50's got to take the better more lucrative work. Further still the M50 vehicles were able to remain in a conventional depot, while the HOVs were restricted to the CBS network which had no where near enough work to keep the entire fleet working. The new HOV owners were not happy and they certainly made it known, many didn't pay depot fees and relied on street work and their mobile phones.  Others just did HOV bookings (group bookings) as scarce as they were. There was serious talk of taking the VTD to the Federal Court. All in all the wheel chair passengers missed out. Slowly many of these issues were ironed out, but this was fought for tooth and nail. It is my belief that quite a number of operators would have went bankrupt if things were not changed, certainly many owners were working well over 60 hours a week(as high as 80 if some reports are to be believed) this besides for anything else was unsafe and we had 10 years of this to look forward to.This has created a culture of rebellion in the HOV fleet and this is not helpful to improving service for the disabled community. There are still problems with the conditions attached to our licenses, they are there for no good reason and ultimately it is the passengers and the drivers who suffer.

     Just recently we have been directed to join a conventional depot either Silver Top Taxis or Black Cabs Combined and I am not convinced that they will do a satisfactory job in terms of covering wheelchair work.  There has already been a number of times bookings have gone uncovered for 1, 2 or 3 hours, and it wasn't really that busy at the time.  Silver Top Taxis to which I belong, have said they are developing new software for their computer systems that will improve service to wheelchair passengers.  They have said they don't want to rush it and "stuff it up", which may be a good idea, but the standard of service has to improve on what is presently being offered.  Whether it will or not is merely speculation.

     There are other issues such as the $6:60 lifting fee which we only get if the passengers have the proper M50 card and the restriction on selling or leasing the license for 10 years. While these issues remain they will irritate the drivers and make for a difficult working environment.

     It occurs to me that wheelchair passengers often tell me of "bad experiences" they have had with individual drivers not being restrained properly, charged to much, etc.  Often, they neglect to report the incident to the VTD for whatever reason.  This does not help to reduce this behavior as the VTD cannot do anything if the incidents are not reported to them. This is something that disabled people should be encouraged to do, they are often keen to tell people of their mistreatment (sometimes via the media and no doubt this inquiry) but fail to inform the VTD who can and frequently does do something about it in the form of issuing fines, license suspensions and even canceling licenses depending on the seriousness of the incident. However by failing to inform the VDT and going "public" they incense the taxi drivers the vast majority of whom are "doing the right thing" by tarnishing their reputation, while doing nothing to address the behaviour of errant drivers. This once again I believe is not a particularly helpful environment in terms of improving service as ultimately even if you have a short term "blitz" to enforce regulations as soon as the blitz is over drivers will slip back into their old ways and create an enforcement problem as most incidents go unreported. Further drivers will feel less inclined to do the right thing out of pride and commitment to service as result.

As for ways to improve service to the disabled community. I guess the obvious solution is more money, but I am at risk here of seeming to be looking after my own interests I am after all an owner. There has been talk ( by the Carlos Carli from the ministers office no less) of increasing the lifting fee to $10:00 it is obvious that would help, however I am hesitant to suggest the Government spend more money subsidizing WATS as I believe they spend over 30 million dollars on this already, although it should be noted here that not all this is spent on wheelchair passengers. Another is better radio procedures and software for the computer systems which we are told are being developed, however it remains to be seen how effective they are. Another is the drivers are never asked what they think is required to improve service to disabled passengers, they are merely told to join one company then another, the rules are changed and on the latter it has been my experience that every time you change the rules the drivers tend to find a way around it and the rule becomes obsolete. I personally volunteered to be on the advisory committee for CBS but nothing ever came of it. When I raised a very important issue with the Manager (Derek Wood) he told me he ran the radio network and I should stick to driving a taxi, a very unhelpful attitude which ultimately led to their demise. Now we are in Silver Top Taxis and I will say they are better than CBS how much better remains to be seen. I was disturbed about Silver Top Taxis on one particular day, Mothers Day 2001, not accepting bookings for this day in advance saying they were booked out, I worked this day and didn't get any wheelchair bookings until 3:30 PM as there were none even remotely close to were I was working, frustrating for me as well as the passengers as I didn't make much money that day and that is ultimately why I go to work. I hope this is not repeated again!!!



                        Yours Faithfully,    Harvey   Wade.