The public will be the big winner following yesterday’s announcement by the Transport Commissioner that ride-sharing is now legal in Tasmania.
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It’s not exactly the green light to open the floodgates for Uber drivers to pour out of the woodwork, but it does mean that the we can expect an announcement some time before the end of the year regarding a start date.
The ride-sharing service Uber was founded by two Californian entrepreneurs in 2009.
The phenomenon reached Australian shores in late 2012 in Sydney and is now available across the country, including Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and the Mornington Peninsula.
It is estimated the company is now worth in excess of $50 billion.
Obviously, Tasmania’s taxi industry will come under the most pressure from any ride-sharing service.
In Victoria, where ride sharing was legalised earlier this year, the government compensated existing taxi drivers in a $378 million licence buy-back scheme.
It paid $100,000 for a single taxi licence, and $50,000 for the second licence off owners.
When the state government’s legislation cleared the upper house in August, the taxi industry at the time said it was confident it could survive Uber’s impending arrival.
The Tasmanian Taxi Council put the onus back on its own drivers, saying that would simply have to do a better job.
A number of safeguards have been rolled out as part of the new legislation.
Drivers must be registered and their vehicles will need to comply with vehicle inspections, with annual inspections on any vehicle older than three years.
Drives must also use a cashless computerised booking and payment system, while passengers – as is the case with all Uber systems – can rate individual drivers based on their performance.
Given Tasmania’s relatively small population compared with many regions around the country where the service has already rolled out, there’s a likelihood it may only operate – originally at least – in the state’s capital.
It is hoped, however, that as the service increases in popularity, larger regional areas such as Launceston will also benefit. Given the obvious upsides for consumers, let’s hope that happens much sooner rather than later.
