Accessible Taxi Services
22/11/2011
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Transport Services questions regarding accessible taxi services in South Australia.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: The minister will no doubt be aware that there were discussions on Matt and Dave’s program on 891 ABC radio today and yesterday regarding access taxis on Christmas Day, or, rather, the lack of. A caller phoned up and explained that he had tried to book a cab for his two family members to attend Christmas dinner on 25 December. He attempted to make this booking more than five weeks out from Christmas.
As both family members are wheelchair users, they needed access cabs. He found that there were no cabs available—they were already booked out. This left the caller pondering as to whether he would need to hire a horse float on Christmas Day to transport the aforementioned family members to this dinner.
This was followed up on Matt and Dave’s show this morning when they discussed the issue with Bill Gonis from the transport department and he confirmed that up to 50 people could miss out on this service on Christmas Day. My questions are:
1. Does the minister acknowledge that there are not enough accessible cabs in use to service the disability sector on Christmas Day?
2. What will the minister do to ensure that people with disabilities can get to Christmas functions on 25 December?
3. Does the minister acknowledge that if her public transport bus fleet in Adelaide was 100 per cent accessible—rather than only 82 per cent—there would be less need for the provision of access cabs?
The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for her very important question. I, too, heard the program today, and I must say that it does raise questions. I will refer these on to the Minister for Transport Services and endeavour to get an answer back as soon as possible.
