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28
November 2003
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NSW
Taxi Inquiry To Include Disability
Issues
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NSW,
Australia — The peak body of people
with physical disability in NSW said today that
the NSW Minister for Transport must
include the needs of people with physical
disability in his taxi inquiry. The Physical
Disability Council of NSW (PDCN) calls on
Michael Costa to ensure that when the Taxi
Advisory Council meets to “consider and
deal with poor cab standards”, it does so
for people with disability too.
Among the matters that
need urgent consideration PDCN believes it is
essential that the following are
considered.
- Many wheelchair users
wait unreasonable lengths for a booked taxi.
In some regions of the Sydney conurbation
(western suburbs, northern beaches and the
south) waiting periods are often in excess of
an hour.
- NSW has the lowest
proportion of wheelchair accessible taxis in
its fleet of all States and
Territories.
- Global Positioning
Systems (GPS), which are fitted in the taxis
of all major networks, are not used by all
networks to direct wheelchair accessible
taxis to the nearest wheelchair user waiting
to be picked up.
- Many wheelchair
accessible taxi drivers persist in breaching
regulations by not giving priority to
passengers in wheelchairs.
- Network standards for
wheelchair bookings have still not be
agreed.
- There has been no
definite commitment to introduce smart card
technology for the Taxi Transport Subsidy
Scheme.
David Brice, President of
PDCN, said today:
“Given the
Minister’s interest in the NSW taxi
industry, PDCN believes it is essential that
his inquiry includes issues of equity for
people with disability. The problems he
highlighted for the population as a whole are
experienced on a daily basis by wheelchair
users. We feel it is long past time for firm
action. We hope the Minister will require the
TAC to report on disability issues at the
same time as the matters he raised
yesterday.”
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Release Index
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this
page updated 7 September 2006
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The
Physical Disability Council of NSW Inc. is an
independent community-based organisation
providing
education, information, support and advocacy to
people with a physical disability in New South
Wales, Australia.
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