ࡱ> sht Oh+'0  8 D P \hpx SUBMISSIONUBMSue & Pete Simmondsue  Normal.dotSSue & Pete Simmonds6e Microsoft Word 8.0@c@J}@l@ p~ ՜.+,D՜.+,8 hp|   S0    SUBMISSION Title 6> _PID_GUIDAN{0F5FDA4D-6E40-11D5-AED7-D539EB61BC34}SUBMISSION Disability Discrimination Commissioner. Equal access to wheelchair accessible taxi services. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales, Review of the Taxi Cab and Hire Car Industries November 1998 sought comments on whether the existing regulations provide adequate customer service to people with a disability, and how further improvements can be achieved. I attempted to address that question, albeit briefly, with the following comments; Personal experience of driving a WAT has shown that, as with any other taxi user, people with disabilities are also a diverse group of people. Some require and welcome assistance, others take exception to being singled out as disabled and can be quite rude to drivers who offer assistance, and of course disabilities are not confined only to wheelchair bound or vision impaired persons. There are many people with disabilities who are unable to access a WAT and therefore have to nominate when booking a taxi that a standard is the most appropriate for their needs. It is particularly noticeable with the elderly who tend to avoid using the current bus type WATs, and there is general consumer resistance to these types of vehicles. The current system in NEWCASTLE requiring a days notice of an advance booking is, I believe, unwarranted. The Newcastle transport district is relatively small and with FOUR WATs servicing the area it should be possible for anyonw requiring the service to be able to phone up and be given a waiting time which could be anything from 1 minute to 30 minutes assuming there is a vacant vehicle. One major problem is the availability of drivers to keep sufficient WATs on the road at any given time, although this appears to be less of a problem on day work as apposed to night work. The work is physically demanding but rewarding. In this era of user pays if that cannot be achieved, then I do not believe that such services should be underwritten by taxi operators, but should be subsidised (as is Community Transport) by the Government. However, I will now attempt to comment further on the specific issues raised by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Response times: Anecdotal evidence suggests that in Sydney, Newcastle and Adelaide, response times for WATs passengers are unacceptable Proportion of taxi fleets accessible: There appears to no general rule of thumb. Sydney has a fairly large fleet of WATs, however in proportion to the whole fleet that representation is small, as opposed to some country/regional areas where again the representation of WATs is disproportionate e.g. Newcastle 4 WATs in a fleet of 158, Cessnock 2 WATs in a fleet of 15. Are these proportions sufficient: If the waiting times for WAT passengers are considerably longer than waiting times experienced by able bodied passengers then it follows that there are insufficient WATs to accommodate the needs of users. However, the proportion of WATs to standard taxi vehicles is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps an arbitrary figure of one quarter of fleets would address the need. Universal taxi: The introduction of 100% wheelchair accessible taxis, while desirable, presents a range of practical difficulties. The least of those difficulties is able bodied customer acceptance, this is purely a question of  mqs w % L <K% !.#X#$$,80,3387T8V88:&:==z>@@zA 56mH mH 5mH )  45lmklR S   @ A   $ % ;  45lmklR S   @ A   $ % ;<% ,e,given,, and in particular those issues as they apply to Regional taxi operationsNewcastle, in Newcastle sincelevels of wheelchair patronage However, the solution may lie in the Government encouraging existing Licence operators, by way of subsidy, to con [(@(NormalB*mH 4`4 Heading 1$@&5mH <A@<Default Paragraph Font% % ;% % '  3 &35QI Q x J P ' Sue & Pete Simmonds2C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of Document1.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.doc@" " vv" % P@G:Times New Roman5Symbol3& :Arial"qh* Wi W: $20N  SUBMISSIONSue & Pete SimmondsSue & Pete Simmonds mqs w % L <K% !.#X#$$,80,3387T8V88:&:==z>@@zAB 56mH mH 5mH *;<%,#.#$$,34T8V8;;==z>AA0AXA [(@(NormalB*mH 4@4 Heading 1$@&5mH <A@<Default Paragraph FontUr s 80 ;$ %  3 &35T  U V  Sue & Pete Simmonds2C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of Document1.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.docSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.docSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.doc@@v(/0 ( / : ; t &'()* pr "/RW Ug 0%&'*0=U\]fgtuvxyz~.8CMsu|}P@Q.QJ@Q.Q`@Q.Q@Q.Q@Q.PZ@Q.P,@Q.Q@P@QQ P@Q&Q @Q*Q!@Q,QD"@QVQQ Q&Q(QhQQQQQQh Qp Qz Q Q Q!Q!Q!Q!Q !Q:!QP!QX!Q "Q$"QX"QZ"Q\"Qn"Qp"Qz"Q|"Q~"Q"Q"Q"Q"Q"Q"Q"Q"Q"P"P,#QX#Q.Q#Q.P#P$Q$Q$Q$Q$Q%Q"%Q.%Q0%Q<%Q>%Q%Q%Q&Q&Q&Qb'Ql'Q'Q(Q(Q(Q(Qv)Qx)Qz)Q)Q)Q)Q)Q)Q)Q)Q)Q*Q*Q*Q*Q*Q *Q(*Qb*Q*Q*Q.Q.Q /Q+Q+Q/Q,/Q./Qh/Q/Q/PH"@G:Times New Roman5Symbol3& :Arial"h* WW& S$$,,,,,,;(ItAny requirementby The service must either operate at a profit or the Government is prepared to subsidy such a service. S Ratcliffe-Simmonds 11 Melbourne Street ABERDARE 2325ort in New South Wales should be wheelchair accessible. ,,,,,,;(ItAny requirementby The service must either operate at a profit or the Government is prepared to subsidy such a service. S Ratcliffe-Simmonds 11 Melbourne Street ABERDARE 232520F SUBMISSIONSue & Pete SimmondsSue & Pete Simmonds [(@(NormalB*mH 4@4 Heading 1$@&5mH <A@<Default Paragraph FontR 45lmklZ[HIw x # $ # $ LM)=TzA ;XA % TTSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.docSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.docSue & Chronic driver shortage remains an ongoing problem in Newcastle.vert those licences to WATs.remains The DoT should be in possession of this data.-this may be due to WAT drivers doing able-bodied work as a matter of economic necessity, then Measures to ensure sufficient proportion accessible: Incentives to drivers and to operators of existing licences. In Newcastle and many other regional and country areas where the Network is controlled by a Co-operative the WAT service is run at the goodwill of the members. The DoT may require that a Network, as part of their operating Authority, operate WATs, which may be in the public interest but not in the interests of the members of the Co-operative controlling the Network, as is the case in Newcastle. However, the solution may lie in the Government encouraging existing Licence operators, by way of subsidy, to convert those licences to WATs. Effective use of accessible fleets: In small markets the only effective way to ensure acceptable service levels is to increase the representation of WATs within those fleets. What needs to be carefully underst. A!"#$% be -customer education. However, many people, of all ages, with mobility problems find it difficult if not impossible to use non-standard vehicles. Many drivers, both male and female, for various reasons would find it beyond their physical capabilities to load wheelchair bound passengers ( It is my recollection that over the years Newcastle has had three amputee drivers). Any requirement by the DoT that all taxi drivers be able to load wheelchairs, would be in itself unreasonable and discriminatory. The 100% fleet accessibility, while desirable, is simply not achievable without causing disadvantage to other users and taxi drivers. Dedicated services: A dedicated service would not be a viable proposition, however, to make the taxi pay its way drivers chase able-bodied work, which in turn creates the problem of waiting times. Economic factors: In Newcastle the DoT issued  nexus taxi Licences which, in theory, are supposed to run at a profit to offset any losses incurred by the four WATs, however due to a range of circumstances in the financial year ending 2000 the WATs and  nexus Licences lost $184,000, this was then reflected in higher administration Fees spread over the rest of the taxi Operators. Again due to various circumstances (driver shortages, rising running costs) the loss in the 2001 financial year is expected to be much greater. Put simply a group of approximately 135 individuals are directly subsidising disabled transport, this could be seen as causing  unjustifiable hardship . The economic disincentive is the initial cost involved in the purchase and set-up of a WAT at approximately $50,000 more than a standard vehicle, on the current fare structure and levels of patronage such an outlay could not be justified. ood is that Sydney is a vastly different market from the rest of New South Wales. New technologies have proved to be beyond the financial capabilities of regional/country Networks, and competition is not an issue. While I agree 100% that people with dis Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete Simmonds3C:\windows\TEMP\AutoRecovery save of SUBMISSION.asdSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.docSue & Pete SimmondsC:\My Documents\SUBMISSION.doc@viiabilities who require wheelchair accessible taxis are entitled to the same levels of service as able-bodied passengers, the issue, at least in Sydney, is complicated and there are no magic solutions. 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