Taxi drivers told to ‘act professionally’ after intimidation claims

This comes in the wake of ride share providers’ claims of intimidation by taxi drivers in Wollongong.

Nick Abrahim, acting deputy CEO of the NSW Taxi Council, said he had been in discussions with Wollongong Radio Cabs in the wake of the allegations.

“In light of what’s happened and notwithstanding the allegations have been made and not acknowledging that they have in fact happened, as a matter of good faith they have sent out communication to all of their drivers just reminding them about their duties and obligations about acting professionally and the fact that they are professional drivers,” Mr Abrahim said.

Many taxi drivers were frustrated with the introduction of ride sharing, Mr Abrahim admitted.

This was in part because CTP costs for taxis were substantially higher than the private vehicles used in ride share services – even though they both carried passengers.

READ MORE: Wollongong taxi drivers hit back

He said drivers wanted these inequities evened out.

“There has been a lot of angst and frustration from a lot of drivers because that leveling of the playing field has seemed to be a lot slower,” Mr Abrahim said.

“There has been some measures put in place that are steps towards working towards a level playing field.”

However, taxi drivers should not vent that frustration on ride share drivers.

“What we don’t want is to get drivers to take matters into their own hands,” Mr Abrahim said.

“If there are any issues with a provider or an operator breaking the law we ask drivers or operators to report them to police or to the regulator and through the appropriate channels.”

He conceded Wollongong Radio Cabs had some work to do to retain customers.

“It’s something we don’t want to be complacent about,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we retain our customer loyalty and repeat patronage and try and claw a lot of that back.”

Maintaining their reputation is very important.”