Accessible Taxi Services | Parliamentary question with response provided
31/07/2013
Here is the response to a question asked by the Honourable Kelly Vincent MLC regarding accessible taxi services. The response was provided in Parliament on 25 July 2013.
In reply to the Hon. K.L. VINCENT (22 November 2011) (First Session) The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation): The Minister for Transport Services has received this advice:
- Officers from the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) met with you (the Hon. Kelly Vincent MLC) on December 6, 2011, and provided an update on the 2011 Christmas Day services provided through Adelaide Access Taxis (AAT). Christmas Day is the busiest day of the year for Access Taxis. Licence conditions attached to Access Taxis require the drivers to work on Christmas Day. The issue with Christmas Day services is the inability for some clients to book an Access Taxi for their preferred times, rather than the number of vehicles available for the day. As with other general Christmas Day services, such as the hospitality industry, requests for Access Taxis at the popular times are booked quickly. The 50 people referred to in the Question Without Notice were people who were waitlisted for their preferred time, they were not people who could not be provided with a service at all. Every year people cancel bookings when their circumstances or travel arrangements change. Bookings that become available through such cancellations are offered to the people on the waiting list. As at December 15, 2011, Access Taxis had 1,407 booked jobs for Christmas Day and 56 customers on the waiting list. Viability for Access Taxi operators and drivers would be impacted if Access Taxi licences were released on the basis of demand for one day in the year.
- 96 Access Taxis were working on Christmas Day 2011. Organisation for Christmas Day 2011 commenced from September 2011. The planning process for 2011 included the following. Bookings for nursing homes and similar establishments, such as Disability SA, Highgate Park (formerly the Julia Farr Centre) were contacted by AAT several months in advance to obtain preferred bookings times for customer. A continual assessment of the number of bookings that were able to be accepted, taking into consideration the total number of vehicles available/ Gradually closing bookings at various times across the day as the number of bookings reached capacity. Customers were then offered alternative available times. Customers can also be placed on a waiting list for preferred times if any cancellations become available; Four additional vehicles were sourced from Disability SA, Highgate Park, and accessible minibuses were also sourced from the Adelaide Metro service providers. These vehicles were used as standby vehicles to cover emergency/breakdown situations or difficult bookings. AAT accepts bookings regardless of the distance or location, and the government vehicles were used to assist with distant and isolated jobs. This enabled the taxi fleet to transport the majority of people as efficiently and effectively as possible. Disability SA and Highgate Park, provided a co-ordinator who, together with Mr Bill Gonis, Manager, Passenger Transport, Public Transport Services Division, were able to ensure customers were available to be picked up when the taxis arrived and assisted where required with taxis, Disability SA vehicles and clients; An additional employee was rostered on by AAT to specifically address any customer complaints or commendations; and In instances where the vehicles are running late, AAT will contact the customer to notify them of the delays.
- DPTI ensured the entire bus fleet deployed on Christmas Day 2011 was Disability Discrimination Act 1992 compliant, alleviating the pressure on Access Taxi services. This initiative was first done on Christmas Day 2010. People will still require door to door transport and it is not envisaged there will be less need for the provision of Access Taxis in the future. Access Taxis will continue to be an important mode of transport for people with disabilities. In summary, a total of 1,439 jobs were dispatched, including 1,304 pre-booked jobs, with 96.1 per cent being picked up within 30 minutes, with the average waiting time for all customers being 5 minutes. Christmas Day 2011 was AAT’s busiest Christmas Day to date, with well over 2,000 (estimated) passengers carried on the day.
In response to;
ACCESSIBLE TAXI SERVICES 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.
