❓ The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure outlines initiatives to attract more taxi drivers in Perth, including targeting students and interstate drivers with financial incentives and advertising campaigns. They highlight the success of the lease plate system in increasing the number of taxis compared to eastern states.
AnsweredQoN 346Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TAXI INDUSTRY — MORE DRIVERS
Can the minister please inform the house of any initiatives to get more drivers into Perth’s taxi industry? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
Can the minister please inform the house of any initiatives to get more drivers into Perth’s taxi industry? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. I am pleased to say that this week we have started our campaign to attract students into the taxi industry. We figure that younger people with the energy and preparedness to go out at night and pick up revellers might be part of the answer to getting more drivers into the system. I am sure that the member for Perth will be very excited about this. We have offered to fully subsidise students’ costs of training to be taxidrivers. We have very innovative advertisements planned for Facebook, Yahoo Mail and ninemsn Messenger, as well as some of the more traditional media outlets. This is in addition to the campaign we are running in Melbourne to attract drivers from the eastern states. We have been running this campaign for about four weeks. We have handed out and had requests for 600 information packages, and we have received 20 applications already from eastern states drivers who want to transfer to Perth. We are offering them financial assistance to convert their licences and to acquire a Western Australian taxi licence. Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. I am pleased to say that this week we have started our campaign to attract students into the taxi industry. We figure that younger people with the energy and preparedness to go out at night and pick up revellers might be part of the answer to getting more drivers into the system. I am sure that the member for Perth will be very excited about this. We have offered to fully subsidise students’ costs of training to be taxidrivers. We have very innovative advertisements planned for Facebook, Yahoo Mail and ninemsn Messenger, as well as some of the more traditional media outlets. This is in addition to the campaign we are running in Melbourne to attract drivers from the eastern states. We have been running this campaign for about four weeks. We have handed out and had requests for 600 information packages, and we have received 20 applications already from eastern states drivers who want to transfer to Perth. We are offering them financial assistance to convert their licences and to acquire a Western Australian taxi licence. Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
I thank the member for the question. I am pleased to say that this week we have started our campaign to attract students into the taxi industry. We figure that younger people with the energy and preparedness to go out at night and pick up revellers might be part of the answer to getting more drivers into the system. I am sure that the member for Perth will be very excited about this. We have offered to fully subsidise students’ costs of training to be taxidrivers. We have very innovative advertisements planned for Facebook, Yahoo Mail and ninemsn Messenger, as well as some of the more traditional media outlets. This is in addition to the campaign we are running in Melbourne to attract drivers from the eastern states. We have been running this campaign for about four weeks. We have handed out and had requests for 600 information packages, and we have received 20 applications already from eastern states drivers who want to transfer to Perth. We are offering them financial assistance to convert their licences and to acquire a Western Australian taxi licence. Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. I am pleased to say that this week we have started our campaign to attract students into the taxi industry. We figure that younger people with the energy and preparedness to go out at night and pick up revellers might be part of the answer to getting more drivers into the system. I am sure that the member for Perth will be very excited about this. We have offered to fully subsidise students’ costs of training to be taxidrivers. We have very innovative advertisements planned for Facebook, Yahoo Mail and ninemsn Messenger, as well as some of the more traditional media outlets. This is in addition to the campaign we are running in Melbourne to attract drivers from the eastern states. We have been running this campaign for about four weeks. We have handed out and had requests for 600 information packages, and we have received 20 applications already from eastern states drivers who want to transfer to Perth. We are offering them financial assistance to convert their licences and to acquire a Western Australian taxi licence. Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
I thank the member for the question. I am pleased to say that this week we have started our campaign to attract students into the taxi industry. We figure that younger people with the energy and preparedness to go out at night and pick up revellers might be part of the answer to getting more drivers into the system. I am sure that the member for Perth will be very excited about this. We have offered to fully subsidise students’ costs of training to be taxidrivers. We have very innovative advertisements planned for Facebook, Yahoo Mail and ninemsn Messenger, as well as some of the more traditional media outlets. This is in addition to the campaign we are running in Melbourne to attract drivers from the eastern states. We have been running this campaign for about four weeks. We have handed out and had requests for 600 information packages, and we have received 20 applications already from eastern states drivers who want to transfer to Perth. We are offering them financial assistance to convert their licences and to acquire a Western Australian taxi licence. Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Order, member for Alfred Cove! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We are not saying that the problem with taxis will be solved by any means, but if we compare what is happening in Perth with what is happening in the eastern states, we can see that we are really kicking some goals. In 2004, when we introduced our lease plate system, we had a mere 1 100 taxis on the road. There are now more than 1 700 taxis on the road, which is an increase of 60 per cent. The increase in the number of taxis in Melbourne and Sydney in that same period is less than 10 per cent. This is very much related to the cost of operation and the cost of taxi plates. In Western Australia we have managed to contain the cost of taxi plates. Since 2004 there has been only an eight per cent increase. In Sydney and Melbourne the increases have been 45 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Introducing lease plates and containing the costs of lease plates has enabled us to expand our industry by 60 per cent. We are now taking that extra step of trying to get new people into the industry not only as operators, but also as drivers. We are finding that the taxidrivers in Melbourne are saying that this looks like a very good deal for them, and we are pleased to be receiving those applications. The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The member for Alfred Cove is called to order for the first time.
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