❓ The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure reports a positive response to initiatives aimed at improving wheelchair taxi services, including capital grants and increased lifting fees, resulting in an increase in wheelchair taxi plates and improved service.
AnsweredQoN 406Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WHEELCHAIR TAXIS
Has there been a positive response to the introduction of capital grants and the raising of the lifting fees for wheelchair taxi operators? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
Has there been a positive response to the introduction of capital grants and the raising of the lifting fees for wheelchair taxi operators? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. Similar to many members, she has spoken to me over the past 18 months about concerns regarding the effectiveness of the taxi service for people who are wheelchair-bound. However, I am very pleased to say that this latest set of initiatives has been working very successfully. These are initiatives whereby we have offered $15 000 to people who are prepared to set up with a wheelchair taxi, plus there is an increased lifting fee of $10 for a taxi dispatch service job and $7 for a private job. When we announced this initiative, 83 wheelchair taxi plates had been allocated. Since that time - that is, since March 2007 - 98 wheelchair taxi plates have been allocated, and these new plates will come on stream over the next couple of months. That is about an 18 per cent increase in the number of wheelchair taxis that we have been able to bring into the system. As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. Similar to many members, she has spoken to me over the past 18 months about concerns regarding the effectiveness of the taxi service for people who are wheelchair-bound. However, I am very pleased to say that this latest set of initiatives has been working very successfully. These are initiatives whereby we have offered $15 000 to people who are prepared to set up with a wheelchair taxi, plus there is an increased lifting fee of $10 for a taxi dispatch service job and $7 for a private job. When we announced this initiative, 83 wheelchair taxi plates had been allocated. Since that time - that is, since March 2007 - 98 wheelchair taxi plates have been allocated, and these new plates will come on stream over the next couple of months. That is about an 18 per cent increase in the number of wheelchair taxis that we have been able to bring into the system. As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
I thank the member for the question. Similar to many members, she has spoken to me over the past 18 months about concerns regarding the effectiveness of the taxi service for people who are wheelchair-bound. However, I am very pleased to say that this latest set of initiatives has been working very successfully. These are initiatives whereby we have offered $15 000 to people who are prepared to set up with a wheelchair taxi, plus there is an increased lifting fee of $10 for a taxi dispatch service job and $7 for a private job. When we announced this initiative, 83 wheelchair taxi plates had been allocated. Since that time - that is, since March 2007 - 98 wheelchair taxi plates have been allocated, and these new plates will come on stream over the next couple of months. That is about an 18 per cent increase in the number of wheelchair taxis that we have been able to bring into the system. As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. Similar to many members, she has spoken to me over the past 18 months about concerns regarding the effectiveness of the taxi service for people who are wheelchair-bound. However, I am very pleased to say that this latest set of initiatives has been working very successfully. These are initiatives whereby we have offered $15 000 to people who are prepared to set up with a wheelchair taxi, plus there is an increased lifting fee of $10 for a taxi dispatch service job and $7 for a private job. When we announced this initiative, 83 wheelchair taxi plates had been allocated. Since that time - that is, since March 2007 - 98 wheelchair taxi plates have been allocated, and these new plates will come on stream over the next couple of months. That is about an 18 per cent increase in the number of wheelchair taxis that we have been able to bring into the system. As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
I thank the member for the question. Similar to many members, she has spoken to me over the past 18 months about concerns regarding the effectiveness of the taxi service for people who are wheelchair-bound. However, I am very pleased to say that this latest set of initiatives has been working very successfully. These are initiatives whereby we have offered $15 000 to people who are prepared to set up with a wheelchair taxi, plus there is an increased lifting fee of $10 for a taxi dispatch service job and $7 for a private job. When we announced this initiative, 83 wheelchair taxi plates had been allocated. Since that time - that is, since March 2007 - 98 wheelchair taxi plates have been allocated, and these new plates will come on stream over the next couple of months. That is about an 18 per cent increase in the number of wheelchair taxis that we have been able to bring into the system. As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
As a result of the increased lifting fee and a very strong insistence on our part, we have finally seen a preparedness of taxi dispatch services to direct taxis to pick up a wheelchair job. Previously, they were not exercising that power that they had under the Taxi Regulations. They are now doing that. In the past quarter, one TDS exercised that power 37 times and another twice. We are now seeing a very marked reduction in the number of complaints that we are getting from wheelchair passengers about service levels. It shows that the culture of continuous improvement in the taxi industry is really paying off.
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