Taxi driver Rohan Singh used to earn more than $300 a day before COVID-19. Now, he says he's lucky to earn a third of that.
Between network fees, vehicle insurance and general running costs, he says it's not economically viable keeping his taxi on the road. "Let's say you're making $100 a day. That's only $10 a day — and I'm talking about 12 hours of work." The Victorian Government's new $22 million funding boost is aiming to change that by investing more than $6 million into subsidising drivers' depot fees.
Journalists need to make a distinction between taxi drivers and taxi owners—some of whom may also drive. These types of assistance programs are always directed at taxi owners (They are the ones who prior to Uber sat on their arses raking in money while keeping their drivers poor.
If taxis weren’t able to price gouge for decades, they might still have a place.
Taxis are obsolete, and a damn unpleasant passenger experience to boot. If I’m paying twice as much as I would for an Uber, I shouldn’t have to guide them turn by turn while they ignore the GPS on their dash. If they wanted to survive, maybe they should have tried not being shit.
This will always happen when you abuse a good thing, and shoot yourself in the foot as a result. I haven’t used Taxis in Perth since Uber surfaced. They’re cheats and liars, always have been.