But council chief executive Roy Wakelin-King said this did not mean such issues were endemic in the industry.

The detail is contained in the council's submission to an Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) review of taxi fares and licences.

Earlier this month a Wollongong taxi driver blew the whistle on a small number of drivers in the region who he claimed were ripping off customers.

He alleged they would try to bump up the fare by taking an indirect route to the destination. Another method was to change the tariff rate - taxis charge higher rates at certain times, like late on Friday or Saturday night - to a higher level without the customer's knowledge.

In a part of the submission, the NSW Taxi Council said it was pursuing "proactive reform" on issues like driver competency and vehicle standards.

"These issues go to the core of quality taxi services and the NSW Taxi Council is currently in discussion with Transport for NSW and Roads and Maritime Services regarding opportunities to put in place structural systems that will help achieve this outcome."

These include plans to set minimum standards for equipment in taxis to protect customers. One standard was the introduction of taxi receipts "to protect customers from price gouging" while another dealt with improved meter standards "so that changes between fare tariffs is done automatically, thereby customers are protected from overcharging".

Mr Wakelin-King said the council was pushing the government to introduce these as a minimum standard across the industry "as a priority". He said price gouging and adjusting tariffs did occur, but it was very infrequent.

"Price gouging is a risk that can occur in taxis," Mr Wakelin-King said.

"Thankfully, it's not a common occurrence, but the issue is the consumer needs to have, in our view, greater transparency around the metered fare."