The taxi industry in NSW is currently facing the most damaging reforms ever contemplated. Never before, in over 100 years of operations, has the taxi industry faced a threat such as the Baird Government’s proposals, announced on December 17, 2015.

The take-away headline from the Government’s December, 17 announcement was that ride-sharing was to be legalized. The Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline “UberX legalised in NSW: compensation for taxi plate owners”.

The press didn’t look too deeply into the implications of the announcement, and the industry was slow to digest both the Point to Point Transport Taskforce Report and the Government’s response to it. There appeared to be a curiously muted response from the large networks (Cabcharge actually welcomed the reforms in a press release on the same day).

As time passed, it became clear that the proposed reforms played to interests other than the ride sharing companies. Unlike the situation in other parts of the world, the NSW reforms opened the door for taxi networks to begin offering booking services alongside taxi services. What this meant is that taxi networks could field Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs) – vehicles that enjoyed exactly the same cost base as vehicles on the UberX platform – in addition to taxis.

It is reasonable to conclude that the curious silence of the networks when presented with the reforms can be explained by the fact that the playing field was in fact leveled for the networks, but not for taxi operators, drivers, or plate owners. The reforms were a one-sided measure that blessed the networks at the expense of their industry counter-parties.

In fact, the incumbent taxi networks stand to make hundreds of millions in additional recurring income annually, as they help themselves to the share of industry profits once enjoyed by plate owners, operators and drivers.

What is very clear, now that the nature and expected impact of the reforms is understood, is that the NSW taxi industry will be decimated by the proposed changes – the risk of catastrophic industry failure is large. The disadvantaged include the plate owners, operators and drivers who will be reduced poverty – we can expect bankruptcies among plate owners and operators across the board, and severe income contraction for drivers, at the same time as the networks and Uber make a fortune.

To sum-up the Baird Government’s reforms for the NSW taxi industry, it is a simple but brutal policy of robbing the poor to add to the wealth of the already rich.

Having announced his reforms, the Transport Minister, Andrew Constance, has shown a preference to consult with the Taxi Council when discussing the impact of the reforms upon the industry. Mr Constance appears to be blind to the fact that the taxi industry is made up from a fractured array of competing interests – with little alignment between them. The Taxi Council represents only one of these interests – the networks.

The debilitating impact of the reforms for plate owners, operators and drivers likely arises from the fact that they have been effectively excluded from the policy making process altogether. However, this is about to change…

There is a new peak representative body representing the interests of plate owners, operators and drivers in the taxi industry. This new body, the Point to Point Transport Association (P2P), is borne from the frustration of industry participants with the lack of effective representation to Government.

P2P’s mission is to oppose the iniquitous reforms of the Baird Government, and to effectively represent the interests of industry stakeholders affected by the reforms.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT