Page 34 - drive a2b march 2020 web

RE GIONAL NEWS

Regional
operators hit

hard with extra

WESTERN red tape in a
AUSTRALIA
NEWS challenging
environment

by Julie Murray
Mandurah Taxis | WA Country Taxi Operators Association

There is no doubt that the WA On Demand
transport sector has been irreversibly
altered with the arrival of new entrants in
the market. As small business owners, taxi
operators have had to accept that they must
compete in this new environment.
However, the minimal barriers to entry
for new competitors, compared with the
significant investments of capital that
was previously required, has resulted in a
profoundly unfair position for established
hard working small local operators.
This is especially difficult for taxi operators
in regional areas all around Australia.
Especially where the operators live in the
communities they provide transport for,
including many vulnerable, elderly and
disabled people.
In an attempt to manage these new entrants
most state governments, including WA have
undertaken significant legislative reforms
to try and redress the unfair situation many
small operators have found themselves in.

This has been an onerous and difficult task
as decades of complex layered legislation
34 DRIVE A2B magazine · March 2020