From: Charmaine Yu [charyu@au1.ibm.com]
Sent: Sunday, 1 July, 2001 14:14
To: disabdis@humanrights.gov.au
Subject: Accessible Taxi compliant

Hello,

My name is Charmaine Yu and I live in Sydney Australia. I use a wheelchair and have been a frequent user of the Accessible Taxis for more than 5 years. Although I have encountered many good taxi drivers, I still have a number of concerns about the operation of the wheelchair taxi industry. The following is a list of my concerns:

1. It has only recently come to my attention that all taxi drivers must stop the meter from running as soon as the car stops at its destination. Most taxi drivers do this without hesitation, but I have experienced on at least 3 separate occassions where the taxi driver has refused to stop the meter after the car has stopped. When I asked for the total fare amount, they said I had to wait until they have finished. On one occassion, I challenged that rule and stated to the driver that it is by law the meter should stop as soon as the car stopped. The driver replied that I have no idea what I'm talking about and said that I had complained about the same thing the last time he picked me up. I said I did not remember him, but that I know what is right and what is wrong.

Afterwards, I rang up the 8332 0200 taxi booking number and spoke to a supervisor at the time (it was after business hours). The supervisor said she believed that all taxi drivers were allowed to decide for themselves when they stopped the meter and that it was perfectly legal. I questioned her further to ask for specific written instructions on this ruling and she then referred me to Harry Ulman. I rang Harry Ulman the next day, who said quite clearly that according to the Department Of Transport, all taxi meter must stop when the car stops at its destination. Although I was legally correct, Mr Ulman then continued to say that he was personally not in favour of this ruling and that he felt it would deter taxi drivers from picking up wheelchair bookings. I replied that those drivers who persist in breaking the law are in fact, acting unfairly to the other drivers who do follow the rules. I also said that I have noticed those who do not stop the meter on arrival are more likely to take unnecessary long length of time to unload the wheelchair. On some occassions, when I have been in a rush to go, I have even offered to pay a small extra amount to cover the cost of unloading, but these taxi drivers refuse to accept my money until they have completed everything, including closing the door and then slowly walking to the driver seat to find out what the meter states.

I believe that since the time I have spoken to Mr Ulman, the Department of Transport has issued a letter to all NSW taxi owners, reminding them of this ruling. I hope this will change the attitudes of those drivers breaking the law, but I feel that some drivers will continue to take advantage of those customers who are lest able to challenge them.

2.  When booking an accessible taxi, I usually request a call on approach, to avoid waiting outside in the cold and/or at night. On many occassions, the call on approach has been made after the taxi has arrived and in some cases, I never receive a call at all. This means that the taxi driver would have started the meter and are worried about a "no show" customer. I've also had taxis leaving and then having to be recalled afterwards. In many instances, I've had to call the base myself to find out the latest update. This may involve putting me on hold whilst using my mobile phone, thereby costing me more money.

3. In some cases, I have also had taxi drivers take very long time to secure the wheelchair into the taxi. It is not uncommon for the meter to be pass $6.00 - $10.00 before the car even starts moving. This is quite unacceptable, especially since other taxi drivers can complete the loading in less than $4.00. The difference should be eliminated and a standard charge be put in place to avoid drivers making intentional delays.

4. Although I know it is always best to speak out directly with the taxi drivers when there is an issue, I prefer to avoid confronting them, mainly because they know where I live and can make life more difficult for me in the future. Because of this fear, I quite often use private bookings with regular drivers I know, rather than booking through the radio base.

Hopefully, improvements to the taxi industry will be made in the future. I think that as long as standards are put in place and passed onto everyone, then there is less room for errors to be made. Please feel free to contact me on this email address if you require further details.

Good luck.

Yours sincerely,
Charmaine

Charyu@au1.ibm.com