Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan tells FIVEAA he doesn’t use UberX because he has safety concerns.
“I’ve used UberBLACK but I haven’t been using UberX,” Mr Mullighan told FIVEAA brekkie on Tuesday.
“I’m not confident that all of their drivers and all of their cars are accredited.
“That’s why we’ve caught a couple of hundred people who haven’t been doing the right thing in these ride sharing services.”
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Mr Mullighan said his department had upped its fight against unauthorised drivers — including stepping up compliance efforts.
“The other thing we’ve also done is stepped up our penalties as well.
“The fines can go up to $15,000 and that’s a pretty significant impact.”
Mr Mullighan said there was room in the industry for both traditional and ride sharing services.
“There is room for all of the competitors,” he said, “whether its taxis, chauffeured vehicles or these new ride sharing services, because they don’t all do exactly the same thing.”
“Only taxis pickup at ranks, only taxis and chauffeured vehicles do pre-booked work — you can’t book un Uber for tonight or tomorrow morning, you can only book it for an immediate pickup.
“And mostly the work at the airport is done by taxis and chauffeured vehicles, so they’ve got a large proportion of the market to themselves.
“Where the new competition is coming is perhaps on a Friday or a Saturday night where people want to head out to town or want to get home afterwards they want an immediate services… and they book one of these new ride sharing services.
“In that case, yes, there has been more completion. There’s been a bit of a drop off from the work taxis have done.”
