Louise Smith is an amputee and uses an electric wheelchair, but said that a current shortage of maxi taxi drivers had left her virtually housebound.

Last month, Ms Smith travelled to the LGH for a medical appointment and prebooked a return trip to her home in Legana.

Ms Smith said that when the maxi taxi failed to arrive at the pre-arranged time of 2.30pm, she was left with no other option than to keep calling the company and wait on the footpath until 5.40pm.

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The fear of being stranded was something that Ms Smith said had left her increasingly socially isolated.

"You can't go out, because you don't know if you're going to get home again," she said.

Ms Smith said the taxi driver shortage was disproportionately affecting wheelchair users, something echoed by disability advocate Jane Wardlaw.

Ms Wardlaw also uses a wheelchair and said the taxi industry was fraught with issues at the best of times, but the driver shortage had exacerbated the problem.

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"It's very hard to find good drivers," she said.

"The shortage is just another blow and people with a disability, especially wheelchair users, we don't have any other transport options.

"It feels like we're being further punished just because we use wheelchairs."

Ms Wardlaw said the driver shortage also had the potential to directly impact her ability to work.

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"If I can't get transport, then I can't go and do my job at Newnham at the university campus - it's a risk," she said.

"So I'm thinking about how I'm going to manage that, if I can't get a regular taxi to take me to my place of work."

Launceston Maxi Taxis managing director Mel Wilson said COVID had a severe impact on the number of taxi drivers available, but she had several new recruits currently in the process of completing their accreditation. "It's been a huge issue, and there was just nothing we could do about it," she said.

"We had vehicles sitting because we just didn't have any drivers to work the shift. But steps have definitely been taken and I can see there are a lot of drivers coming through now.

"It's only a matter of time to get them on the road."

Last month, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson announced a range of initiatives to tackle the taxi driver shortage.

Mr Ferguson said the government was working to make it cheaper and simpler for people to become taxi drivers, including payments of up to $600 for each new driver to cover the cost of training and authorisation.

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