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Consumers believe taxi services are heading in the wrong direction

Taxi service reliability, driver attitude and poor vehicle maintenance remain major concerns for Australian taxi users, with 79% believing taxi services have stagnated or worsened in the last 12 months, a new survey by the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) has found.

Only 14% of Australians believe taxi services have improved over the last 12 months. Confidence in the industry’s improvement was lowest in Victoria (at 14%), South Australia (13%) and Queensland (11%).

“One of the major issues in the sector is that the person who owns the registration plates isn’t necessarily the person who drives the vehicles,” says the Director of the ITLS, Professor David Hensher. “This means there are a lot of drivers who have just arrived in Australia desperate for a job who don’t speak English or know their way around particularly well.”

The ITLS has been working with the Victorian Government on ways to improve taxi services. “With the current taxi enquiry in Melbourne, the survey has really reinforced to us just how negative the public perception of this industry is,” says Professor Hensher.

Read more at University of Sydney

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