Scrap passenger licence rules today, not a year from now

Proposed changes to passenger licencing rules, such as scrapping the requirement for a $600 passenger endorsement course, could be signed into law today, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“A number of passenger licence rules are set to be scrapped whenever the Land Transport Amendment Bill passes. These revisions could be approved today by the Minister, so why tie them to a broader bill that might take a year to pass?

“The Government now accepts that current rules impose costs on drivers without offering significant benefits. The $600 cost of passenger endorsement courses, for example, is stunting the uptake of ridesharing right now, so let’s scrap this immediately.

“The lesson of Uber so far has been that technology moves at a faster pace than regulatory change. The Government’s latest delays only serve to reinforce the sense that regulatory dithering is holding back innovation.”

The proposed rule revisions are not part of the substance of the Land Transport Amendment Bill, but are described in the bill’s explanatory note, as below:

The proposals in this Bill are to be part of a package that includes revised rules. The package will remove a number of the current regulatory requirements that impose costs on operators but no longer offer any significant benefits. Those include the following requirements:

· taxi vehicles must have mandatory signs (including information about fares, mandatory branding, and information supplied in Braille):

· taxi drivers must—

· have an area knowledge certificate:
· pass a full licence test every 5 years:
· have completed the passenger endorsement course:

· taxi service operators must—

· belong to an approved taxi organisation:
· provide small passenger services 24 hours per day, 7 days a week:
· hold a certificate of knowledge of law and practice:
· monitor driver panic alarms in taxis from a fixed location 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

ENDS

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