ࡱ> XZW5@ bDbjbj22 7ZXX <W  " " "8X"l"< ?(2""(""""""'''''''$q)R+' """""' ""'R#R#R#"" " "'R#"'R#R#&$& ^'"" 1 "#6''$(0?(J',*#(,(z'   , z' ""R#"""""'' $ "R# " PHYSICAL DISABILITY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LTD P O BOX 77 NORTHGATE QLD 4013 Telephone: 07 3267 1057 Fax: 07 3267 1733 Email: pdca@ozemail.com.au  DATE \@ "MMMM d, yyyy" July 4, 2001 SUBMISSION TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (HREOC) ON WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TAXIS INQUIRY July 3rd 2001 The Physical Disability Council of Australia Ltd (PDCA) is the national peak organisation representing people with physical disabilities across Australia. PDCA works on a collective model, and decisions are made using a consensus approach. PDCA is entirely run by people with physical disabilities, for people with physical disabilities, and is the only organisation of its kind representing the interests of all people with a physical disability in Australia. PDCA would like to take this opportunity to commend HREOC for addressing the issue of Wheelchair Accessible Taxis in an open and public way, and believe that issues such as these should always be addressed in a transparent manner, in order to encourage and facilitate input from the sector/s that are affected most by these issues. In the short time that PDCA has been established (5 years), PDCA has worked intensely to build an organisation of integrity and consistent beliefs. An organisation that is respected by the disability sector and known for its professional ethics, consumer focus and inclusion. This has involved a committed council of people with physical disabilities, who volunteer their time and efforts for no remuneration. PDCA is run entirely by people with physical disabilities, for people with physical disabilities. It does not discriminate on the basis of disability, nor does PDCA determine what a physical disability is. PDCA operates under an inclusion policy and offers membership and/or services to any person with a disability who seeks our support. People with a physical disability The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in July 1999 stated that More than 1 in 10 Australians over 2 million people reported one or more physical impairments or disabling conditions, resulting in one or more activity limitations. PDCA believes that many of the 2 million people rely on Wheelchair Accessible Taxis as their main method of transport, and that until the day that all transport is 100% accessible, will continue to do so. This inquiry seeks to determine the views of the disability sector on many issues. To do this PDCA consulted with its members through the discussion list and through email mechanisms and offers the following responses as our contribution to the inquiry. Response Times: The answer to the question on response times of WATs is a definite yes! Response times are consistently longer for people with disabilities than for other passengers using regular taxis. No matter the state or location, Wheelchair Accessible Taxis are consistently late in meeting deadlines and bear no relevance to the time the booking was made or when the booking is for. For example, PDCA holds its national meetings in different capital cities in Australia and to that end often requires WATs to transport Council members to and from airports. This system has been in place since the inception of PDCA and to date, there has never been a time when there has not been a taxi mix-up, delay or failure to arrive at all. PDCAs Executive Officer makes these bookings weeks in advance alerting the relevant taxi company of the specific needs of each intended passenger by fax, with name, location, destination and required time which is always earlier than required. This is followed up by telephone calls to verify that the booking has been made. There has never been a time when the Taxi Company consistently has all the bookings right. The Canberra example, where WATs are used for School 鱨վ with disabilities who need transport to and from home is one such instance. This booking situation resulted in many of the Council members left waiting for taxis when they had planes to catch. No communication took place between the Executive Officer and the Taxi Company at the time to alert that there would be delays. These details were determined by Executive Officer when following up on where the taxis were! This combined with the fact that bookings are not called until 15 minutes before the taxi is due, leaves little doubt as to who will be picked up first and who will be left waiting, especially since the children attending school is usually a regular contract for the taxi company. This is simply one example of where the system fails to achieve its objectives and results in people with disabilities being left waiting or stranded at airports, hotels etc. Obviously, there are insufficient numbers of WATs to service the community need. Of course, many people with a disability can use regular taxis, but even here, we have a situation where discrimination occurs depending on who you are and where you are. In Sydney for instance it is quite common for a regular taxi driver (whose cab is obviously for hire) to refuse to stop when hailed by a person in a wheelchair! People with disabilities are seen as a hassle and drivers cannot be bothered to stop and assist with wheelchairs etc. Bookings The booking systems of taxi companies for people with disabilities in general need a total overhaul so that there is consistency across the country. It is no longer acceptable to have a different system in each state that requires a university degree to work out let alone have respond to need! Booking systems need to ensure that pre made bookings are always met at the correct time and where a delay has become unavoidable the person contacted in much the same way as airlines contact passengers. In addition: Another issue that is common practice is for people with disabilities to make private bookings with a WAT driver to ensure regularity and consistency. This is especially essential in the case where a person with a disability travels to regular destinations (such as employment and/or voluntary commitments) and needs to rely on the driver being where he or she needs them to be at a specified time. Permanent bookings should take priority Likewise advanced bookings Private bookings whilst understandable, should not be encouraged because they detract from the service overhaul. More importantly the service should be equitable to all Waiting times for taxis should be avoided at all costs by people with disabilities as they can be alone, frightened and at risk Dispatchers and booking staff should be trained to understand the need and requirements of people with disabilities Proportion of taxi fleets accessible: Whilst it is not intended to infer that children with disabilities do not have the same priority as adults with disabilities, it is obvious that there are not enough WATs in any location to service all of the need. This situation needs to be urgently addressed to meet the growing need. Attitudes: Inappropriate attitudes of drivers and their reluctance to stop and pick up those who do not need to use WATs but can transfer into a regular taxi, results in an increased need for more WATs on the road. Safety and security issues are an important aspect of the lack of WAT in our community. People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable people in our community and are often left waiting for hours, in all kinds of weather, for a taxi that might never arrive. Almost every person with a disability who relies on WATs has had at least one experience of this kind. The attitudes of some drivers to people with disabilities is appalling and hover between being so patronising that people with disabilities are treated as children, to complete indifference and treated like a nuisance, or worse still taken advantage of financially, or physically and/or sexually exploited. (It is not uncommon for some drivers assisting with seatbelts to move hands in inappropriate places or make suggestive comments to passengers with a disability). Insufficient proportions: The lack of accessible transport across Australia exacerbates the situation with WATs. In rural and remote areas people with disabilities seldom have WATs at their disposal and have to rely on family and friends for transport or having to hire a WAT to travel to a town and transport back to the nearest capital city, with a matching return journey. As the Australian population continues to age, the numbers of people requiring WATs will increase. The proportion of WATs will need to increase significantly to meet these needs. Measures to ensure sufficient proportion accessible? The first measure that must be taken is a change of attitude toward the provision of WATs and taxis in general in the community. People with disabilities have a right to public transport in the same way as other Australians, and such provision should not be viewed as a benefit provided out of the goodness of the heart by industry providers. Awareness raising by all industry stakeholders would be a good start, to ensure that discrimination does not continue to pervade our community especially by drivers and operators. The significance of taxi transport to people with disabilities should be realised by industry providers and attempts made to address these shortfalls of transport and any resulting issues as a service to the whole community. The provision of taxi transport should not be driven by profit making as it is at present. It should be part of the overall service of taxi companies in the provision of public transport and the numbers of WATs should reflect this. In addressing this issue it would be relevant to consider: A national WAT reference group to determine need and shortfalls as well as the numbers needed Representation on the WAT reference group of stakeholders through nomination by appropriate organisations (such as the forthcoming Federation of Disability Organisations) WAT reference group works across and in conjunction with all states and territories WAT reference group considers and has representation from rural and remote areas to address this need Ageing Sector also involved in WAT reference group to determine needs in that area Possible research project commissioned and paid for by taxi and transport industries Universal Taxis PDCA supports the suggestions put forward by Dr. Jack Frisch on Universal Taxis. And believes competition between operators should be encouraged. Taxis should be safe for all potential users and drivers must be trained and tested in the safe use of equipment and customer care. The draft standard for a universal taxi design should be adopted, implemented and enforced by all regulators. Dedicated Services: Dedicated services have been in place in some areas and have shown not to work because either, the driver cannot make adequate income (perceived) or because the system is unwieldy and unworkable. PDCA believes in the inclusive approach and that society should be moving more toward including all of its citizens as well as people with disabilities. We therefore advocate for services which are part of the mainstream taxi provision, but that are treated with the importance, respect and service industry ethics that any other service should adhere to. People with disabilities are paying passengers too, whether by subsidy vouchers, cash or Cabcharge. Economic factors The current trend seems to be that drivers give preference to group bookings and longer trips, and that people with disabilities often require a taxi to travel a mile or two so are not worth the effort. Coupled with the additional time taken to secure a wheelchair and commence a trip, drivers are simply not interested. Many drivers also prefer to take private bookings and can therefore plan their entire driving day and therefore income. This may seem to be the answer to some, but in fact it leaves a shortfall of supply for others and locks out many people with disabilities who do not know this system It is especially disadvantageous for those with communication difficulties who do not establish personal rapport with specific drivers. The system needs to be equitable for all and should be operated from a national approach with an overarching regulatory body comprised of all stakeholders. Effective use of accessible fleets: Drivers are often ignorant in dealing with people with disabilities and treat people as children. Drivers often do not speak fluent English thereby making communication difficult Drivers often have poor understanding especially with people with speech difficulties and assume people are incapable of decision making, especially in safety issues Other issues: The issue of seatbelts and whether compulsory or not should be a priority. Many drivers cannot be bothered to assist with seatbelts because of the time factor or because it is simply too difficult. This leaves physically restricted passengers even more vulnerable and poses a great safety risk. One example of this is where seat belts were not provided in a taxi for 2 people in wheelchairs. The speed of the vehicle was excessive particularly around corners and resulted in one of the passengers wheelchair tipping over and had to be pushed upright by the 2nd passenger in a wheelchair (me!) This is a dangerous practice and quite common. Set fee for loading, set-down and unloading of passengers with no hidden costs The costs for people with disabilities in travelling from one place to another, often being taken the long way to make the trip worthwhile for the driver. Many people need taxis to travel to and from work each day so the additional cost of time to load and tie down wheelchairs, attach seatbelts etc adds to the overall cost which sometimes can be in excess of $100 per week. Having always to ring and book a taxi adds to the cost Voucher systems (and subsidies) differ from state to state needs national consistency Subsidy system should have a plastic card system which avoids the use of paper vouchers (often impossible for people with disabilities to use) which looks the same across Australia so that every driver recognises the card and has the same subsidy so there is no inconsistency. Meters should always be visible to all passengers so that each person is fully aware of the fare at all times Instituting the DDA Transport Standards so that other transport services can move toward accessibility. Bad drivers give the good drivers a bad reputation. A code of conduct for all drivers should be enforceable and part of providing a service to the community. Appropriate complaints (national) mechanism in place as a result of a WAT National Reference group Competition between operators should be encouraged but be national in approach. Taxis should be safe for all potential users. Drivers must be trained and tested in the safe use of equipment and customer care. The draft standard for a universal taxi design should be adopted, implemented and enforced by all regulators. In conclusion, PDCA would like to thank HREOC for the opportunity to submit this response to the inquiry on Wheelchair Accessible Taxis and looks forward to a satisfactory outcome for all parties. 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