EQUAL ACCESS TO WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TAXI SERVICES

A submission by Adelaide Independent Taxis July 3 2001

With the passage of Australia’s Disabilities Discrimination Act in 1992 the transport of people in wheelchairs has become a more significant issue on the transport policy maker’s agenda.

Generally, in Adelaide, the response times to people in wheelchairs by the wheelchair accessible taxi sector is greater than that of general taxis to the public.

Why is this so and what can be done to remedy the situation?

The taxi industry in Adelaide currently consists of 920 general taxis and 68 access taxis, a total of 988. The proportion of access taxis to total taxis is almost 7%. Surprisingly a similar percentage is not reflected when we examine the proportion of access customers to total access and taxi customers.

In Radbone and Wooley “ Providing a taxi service for people with disabilities (1998)” during the two-week period of 18-24 Jan1998 and 22-28 February 1998 the Access Cab network dispatched a total of 5264 jobs and had 66 vehicles at its disposal. After the addition of unrecorded private work (estimated at 18%) and access taxi wheelchair hail work (estimated at 2%), a total of 20%, we are able to arrive at an estimated figure of 6316 representing the total amount of taxi bookings carried out during that period.

We also estimate the total amount of work for Adelaide general taxis for those two weeks to be in the vicinity of 140,000 telephone bookings and 90,000 hails, giving us a total of 230,000 jobs.

Total access bookings (5264 + 20% = 6316) 6500 nearest 500

Total general taxi bookings 230,000

Total access and taxi bookings 236500

Proportion of access cab bookings to total access and taxi bookings is 2.75%. To put this in perspective we shall table it in the following manner.

920 general taxis carry out 230,000 bookings representing 17.8 jobs per day.

66 access taxis carry out 6500 bookings representing 7 jobs per day.

It appears the productivity rate of the access taxi is much lower than that of the general taxi.

If the general taxi industry can cope with its customers to the point of providing a response time of six minutes why can not the access cab sector service its customers as efficiently when they have 2.5 times the supply of vehicles in comparison?

Certain possible reasons emerge:

Access cabs can only have 66 vehicles operating at any given time. When there is an increased demand for its services in one specific area the probability of having a vacant vehicle in the vicinity to cater for future bookings would be quite less than that for general taxis, which belong to larger fleets that provide a wider net of customer coverage.
Loading times for wheelchair customers are longer than that of the general taxi industry and therefore it could be argued that access taxis have a lower propensity to perform as many jobs per day as the general taxi. This implies that during peak demand periods, access taxis cannot service their customers as adequately as general taxis.
Access cab drivers are generating work from sources other than access customers and are therefore unavailable for access work when they should be. Also drivers are servicing access customers but are not utilizing the access cab radio network to obtain their jobs.

If we increase the level of access taxi plates in order to spread a wider net of coverage for access customers this may reduce waiting times but may also have a negative impact on the access taxi sector. More licenses would decrease driver income, which in turn will eventually lead to a poorer service and a reduction in the supply of properly trained access taxi drivers. This decrease in income will further compound the problem posed by point 3. A more practical solution may be to improve the system of dispatch.

Access cabs are permitted to compete for general taxi work during the day by two of the three major radio networks in Adelaide. Yellow Cabs locks out access cabs from carrying out general taxi work between the hours of 7.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, Suburban taxis have no restrictions on access taxis whilst Adelaide Independent Taxis locks out access cabs between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. It becomes apparent that access cabs have the opportunity to supplement their income via the general taxi network.

It is not unusual to find all three (Access, Yellow Cab and Suburban) radio network systems in the same access taxi and it is highly unlikely that at least one general radio system is not represented in an access vehicle. Without doubt a general taxi booking is a desired commodity for the access taxi driver.

This desire may be at the core of the access taxi problem and may also explain why there are no access taxis present in Adelaide Independent Taxis, Adelaide’s largest taxi company that prohibits access taxis from general taxi work from 6a.m. to 6p.m. Monday to Friday.

Another option for transport policy makers is the Universal Wheelchair Accessible Taxis (UWAT). This involves all general taxis to be transformed into UWAT’s. We do not recommend this option, as we believe the problem with the access taxi sector lies in its operation. Apart from the fact that transforming all taxis into UWAT’s would be an incredibly expensive exercise, we must be careful not disadvantage the general public in relation to consumer choice.

The general public prefer to ride in a general taxi rather than an access taxi for these reasons:

(a) smoother ride

(b) more comfort

(d) better aesthetic appearance

It is a common occurrence for general taxi customers to by-pass access taxis on taxi ranks when requiring taxi transport.

The introduction of UWAT’s while possibly reducing waiting times in non- peak periods for people with wheelchairs, would compromise the choices of the taxi consumer and would probably lead to a long term reduction in demand for general taxi services. This could eventually lead to compensation problems.

From all available data, stressing that this data provides only a small sample of the access taxi sector and is over two years old, we conclude that the solution to the higher relative waiting times (an average of 6 minutes for general taxis and an average of 12 minutes for access taxis) for people in wheelchairs lies in the fundamental principles of operation of general taxi radio networks that allow access taxis to use their services during the most important hours for the access customer.

The general taxi radio networks and the relevant authority have conceded the element of control that is so crucial to the integrity of the access taxi system.

For more information contact

Adelaide Independent Taxis

Level 1, 99 Henley Beach Rd.

Mile End SA 5031

Phone (adm): (08) 82021200

Fax (adm): (08) 82021204

Web Page: www.aitaxis.com.au

E-mail: konf@aitaxis.com.au