In response to feedback from industry, regional taxi operators will be excluded from paying a temporary levy on fares for trips booked outside the Perth/Peel area, and will benefit from more flexible operating arrangements.
A proposed assistance package will support taxi-car licence holders in the Mandurah and Murray areas to make the transition to being a metropolitan-based booking service and subject to the temporary levy.
The maximum levy payable on fares will be $10 to ensure that high value charter trips such as in limousines and buses, and long taxi trips will not be over-burdened by the temporary levy.
Importantly, the levy will not apply to regular timetabled bus routes and scheduled tourism trips.
The fees for authorisation as a booking service State-wide will be waived for 12 months following the commencement of the reforms to minimise potential increases in fares.
A further proposed change is the removal of the cap on the number of taxi vehicles authorised to operate. This will give all on-demand transport providers the freedom to expand and diversify the services offered to customers.
Photo: Swan Taxis (By EurovisionNim [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)