Edition 53, January/February 2008

Tasmania to make changes to taxi licences

Changes are to be made to the issuing and operation of new taxi licences in Tasmania. The changes follow a comprehensive review of the Taxi and Hire Car Industries Act 1995 and will introduce a new type of licence.

While existing standard perpetual licences may still be leased, no new ones will be issued. Instead, standard taxi licences released from 2008 will be owner-operated licences. These new licences must be operated by the holder of the licence, cannot be leased, and can be cancelled in the event of a breach of the licence conditions.

The new licences will be offered for sale by tender and will be available at lower prices than existing licences. A reserve price will however be set, though it will vary between taxi areas. For example, it will be $60,000 in Hobart, $35,000 in Launceston and $23,000 in Burnie and Devonport.

The new legislation, which is due to be introduced into Parliament this year, will also include:

  • making wheelchair accessible taxi licences available in all taxi areas on application from the Transport Commission, as is already the case for wheelchair accessible taxi licences in non-metropolitan areas
  • relaxing the requirement for a new vehicle for wheelchair accessible taxi licences in areas classified as remote, while retaining the requirement for these vehicles to comply with disability discrimination legislation
  • clarification of the distinction between the taxi and luxury hire car industries. Rather than designating specific makes and models of vehicles as luxury hire cars, criteria relating to wheelbase and original retail price will determine whether a vehicle may be used as a luxury hire car.

The Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources can be visited at www.dier.tas.gov.au

This page was generated on 12 January, 2010

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